A simple, quiet door closer

[CharlesWaugh]

In our house we eschew heating much of it - saves a ton on utilities and makes us Stronger and Smarter and Tougher (and sometimes whiny-er).

The office is upstairs (one of the two bedrooms on that level), and we like to keep the door 'kinda' closed - our cat NEEDS to go in and out of that room over a zillion times per day (OK, OK, I'm rounding up a bit there!)

So, the door can't be totally locked shut, and we want it close quietly, since my wife's bedroom is right across the hall and she goes to bed about 3 hours before I do (hey! she's older than me by 13 years, so she needs that sleep!)

I hacked this door closer together from junk in my shop and adjusted the placement of the attachment on the door top to get 'just' the right amount of pull and closing speed. In the second pic you can see my initial attempts at getting the right point-of-pull (if at first you don't succeed, screw it up a bit more!) Those are sliding screen-door rollers (I use 'em for all sorts of stuff!)

I also added a hunk of foam on the door jamb on the latch side to quiet the final 'bump', and to keep the door open just a little for the cat to be able to hook it with her paw and open it enough to jam her face in the crack and push her way through.

Above the door trim you can see my fancy pull-up bar in the hallway. I can now do almost two pull-ups! Well, I could before I broke my left radius and had it in a cast for a month. . .




P.S.: You'll notice the sign on the door: 'Office' - we are older and get lost in our palatial mansion, so it helps to label things.