I recently submitted a home safety project (which are highly encouraged for all employees to do each year) to add a peep hole to my front door.
Let me back up just a second and tell you how I came to this home project. Before the time change I was walking Murphy every evening to get out some of his nervous energy. I never walked the same route but always walked in my neighborhood. Typically I walk and listen to a podcast (Shout out to Young House Love) and as its nearing the end I know my 30-45 minute walk is up and I head towards my house. On this particular night I was headed home, technically I was one street over, and turned a corner noticing a man in a beat up sedan pulling over and stopping. It was odd because he pulled to my side of the road and didnt park in front a particular house and never acted as though he was getting out of the car. He just sat and talked to himself and rummaged around his car. As usual Murphy wanted to pee on everything in sight and it took us a bit to get past the car and turn the corner. I made sure to look directly at the car to let the man know I saw him. After turning the corner on my street and realizing he had not followed me I felt a bit in the clear. I swear the same moment I thought, "okay all is well" is the same moment I looked over my shoulder and saw his car driving very slow behind me. In a moment of clarity I started to walk up the driveway of a neighbors house (maybe 4 houses down from me) and made gestures as if it was my own. I stopped to "take Murphy's leash off" and slowly walked towards the open front door. As I did this the man speed off down the road and left. I quickly headed home and only went inside after looking around to make sure he was no where in sight. The last thing I wanted was for this person to know where I lived. Fast forward about 2 hours and I am in the shower and what do you know... my doorbell rings. Y'all, my doorbell NEVER rings. Ever. Murphy starts barking and my mind starts racing. I quickly rinsed off and jumped out of the shower. By this time who ever was at the door had to be gone but the only way I had to check was the peek out the window. Dead give away that I am home. Not only do I not want just anyone knowing if I am home or not, I don't want anyone to see me peeking through the blinds in my towel or robe!
After this I decided I had to get a peep hole put in my front door STAT. I started researching to see if it was a difficult task and came away rather surprised. Turns out peep holes are extremely easy to add to an existing door and rather cheap too.
I looked into buying a wide angle view but realized the hole size (9/16th) was not a common drill bit size and, to be honest, I didn't want to have to scour for a new bit. I settled on the standard peep hole for a whopping $4.
There is something rather unnerving about drilling a hole in your front door and knowing it needs to be centered/leveled/straight. My front door has a steel panel on both the inside facing and outside facing parts of the door so a bit that was capable of going through metal was a must. I started with a small pilot hole using a 3/16th drill bit.
My drill has a level on the top of it - which I have surprisingly never used. To make sure I was getting everything leveled just right I decided to stand on a chair and look over the top of the drill to make sure that little bubble stayed right in the middle. For me it was easier to eyeball if I was straight side to side (left to right) rather than trying to eyeball if I was level up and down. Does that make sense?
After drilling the pilot hole I jumped down off the chair to change my bit to a 1/2in size and realized my hands were shaking. The pressure to get this drilled just right was on!
The 1/2in hole went rather smoothly but I did get a few little steel snags around the hole. Using my pliers I pulled on the little shards and they came right off. Just be careful not to cut yourself on the rough edge. After that all I had to do was feed the peep hole through the 1/2 in hole and screw the two sides together. Seriously, so easy.
I always feel so empowered after taking on new projects around the house. Knowing that I have the capability to do it myself gets me all fired up. Plus, now I have a sense of peace knowing I can always see who is at the door.
Just for reference, I also looked into the video doorbells that shows who is on your porch and also provides motion censoring but didn't want to commit to the price tag. They are so cool though, especially the ability to talk back to whoever is outside your door even if you aren't home. But I think my new peep hole will suffice for now!
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