Stuck in the Shower

Our shower door has been getting harder and harder to open.  We have stared at it multiple times, trying to figure out what could possibly be adjusted.  It looked to be out of square, with the bottom corner hanging too low.  Short of taking it completely apart, there wasn't an obvious answer.  So we just kept having to push hard.  Lately, I've been afraid it was going to break under the pressure, but obviously not enough to insist we do something about it.

This morning the hubby showered just fine.  I got in right as he was leaving for work.  When I went to get out, I couldn't.  The usual amount of pressure wasn't doing it.  I added a little more.  Nothing.  I tried a couple more times.  Nothing.  Hmm.  Started hollering for Little M who was up and getting ready.  After several minutes of this she shows up, peeks in the door, and asks if I was calling her.  (Duh, yeah.)

I explain the situation and we attempt to open the door together, one from either side.  Still nothing.  At this point I am starting to sweat from the exertion (not great post-shower) and having trouble trying to work and hold a towel up.  So I ask for undergarments.  She spends quite a lot of time in my closet getting them, and I discover why when she comes back with the brightest things I own, one orange and one purple, "So you can be colorful" she says.  Not sure that colorful was at the top of my priority list right then, but that's my girl, so I went with it.

We tried a couple more things before I sent her to wake up Big M.  We try pushing on the bottom where it's stuck.  Nothing.  We know the door has slid too low, so we even try putting our hands up on the glass across from each other and try to slide it up enough to clear the ledge.  No dice.  At this point we call Dad, who is nearly to work thirty something miles away.  Oh, and he wasn't driving.  It wasn't his day for carpool.

He suggested sliding a towel down the crack from the top to the bottom to allow us to put pressure on the very bottom.  We dutifully tried it, pulling like crazy at the bottom.  Didn't budge.  I'm now contemplating climbing up over the top.  I have the girls bring the two-step ladder and pass it in to me, and put a chair on the other side.  I climb up and realize I am still quite far from the top.  And the railing at the top is going to really hurt.  And there's no guarantee it's going to be pretty getting down the other side.  And I'm not too sure it will support my weight anyway.

Big M has the idea that if we work a towel under the bottom we could lift it up.  We try.  The problem is it's so tight we can't get the towel under the corner.  All we succeed in doing is putting a hole through the towel.

At this point Little M is nearly late for school, and has definitely missed her safety patrol duties.  I send her on her way to walk by her lonesome and Big M and I continue plotting.

We move on to disassembly as an option.  Big M brings a screwdriver and we start taking out screws.  The ones that come out easily do not gain us anything.  The ones we really need to move to get the door off are corroded and won't budge.  At this point we call the hubby again.  He more or less commands me to not try climbing out, and he has a point.  If it breaks and I impale myself on breaking glass, that wouldn't be so great.  He and his co-worker have badged into work to get credit for being in the office that day before they turn around to come rescue me and work from home the rest of the day.

And in the meantime, Big M brought me clothing, a book, my phone, and a pillow to make my wait comfortable and finishes getting herself ready for school.

After a couple of chapters I hear the front door.  My rescuer has arrived.  He assesses the situation, and we again try to remove screws to no avail.  We succeed in taking the top railing off, but without being able to remove the door, it doesn't do us much good.  Next he tries to bend the metal that is blocking the door.  At this point we don't care what we destroy, but it's not budging either.

He has a similar idea to Big M's about getting underneath it and disappears to the garage, returning with a really big, long screwdriver.  He can just get it under the corner on the side, works it under and uses it at as a lever, and the entire piece of glass rises inside the frame.  A couple more lifts at different spots, and I'm free!  My bathroom looks like a construction zone, but I don't care.