For as long as we have been in our house, (22 years) there has not been a door at the stairway leading down into our basement. Well, we now have one.

In an effort to contain the warmth of the basement and to keep the cold drafts out of our basement computer room, I installed a door. But the door is proving to be a challenge for the family who is not used to a door being at the top of the basement stairs.

Since we live in a split level ranch, we have a series of short stairways that function kind of like a switchback. As soon as you reach the end of one set of steps, you do a 180 and go down another set of steps.

Now, the family is used to going down these steps rather rapidly, rounding the corner and going down the next set of steps. And this is fine. The only problem is that there is now a door at that last set of steps.

You hear them going thump, thump, thump down the first set of steps. Then you hear them going thump, thump, thump down the next set of steps. Then you hear a bam! followed by some muttering. Fortunately, it is a hollow core door so it is not that hard.

We may have to paint the door with yellow and black strips.