June 15-16 -- change of project

Friday and Saturday I worked on the stairs. I've been avoiding this too long, thinking that it was a 2-3 week job. Instead it turned into a 1.5 day job. Why did it take 2-3 weeks to do the railings on the upstairs ? A few more pickets ? ... yes; More planning ? ... yes; More posts ? ... yes ... but based on the variables the upstairs should have taken no more than 3 days. I did have several advantages -- a) I could follow the pattern of what has already been done, eliminating any significant planning time; b) I could do my cutting outside, only steps away from where the work was taking place ... a minor impact since I did it assembly-line style, but if I had cut each piece separately it would have added a lot of time.

I approached it as an assembly line -- doing the 15 degree cuts and routering (is that a word ?) the tops of the posts, then using the router (that is probably the proper English) to make the deep notch where the posts fits up against the stair stringer... using the chisel for the top posts, cutting all the pickets at once, cutting all the inserts for the shoerail at once -- then assembling each run does not take long. The posts are glued and screwed into place; the shoerail is finish nailed; then I run a bead of glue on the shoerail and the underside of the handrail then stand up the pickets between the shoerail inserts, finish nailing the inserts between the pickets. Lastly the handrail is screwed from the post. The finishing touch, once all the posts are in place will be to use a plug-cutter to fill in the holes left by the screws.

I'm not finished yet, because I'm not quite happy with the result -- the original plan was to put posts, railings, pickets on the inside of the spiral stairs ... done. I had also planned on putting posts at the top and bottom start of the stairway on the wall side ... done. I held off until seeing the "look" putting posts at the bottom of the first run and the top of the second run, on the wall side -- and have now decided that they need to be there. Those posts will be split lengthwise because they will be up against the wall and not be full width. I'll put those in place today and see whether or not I then do a companion partial railing and if I do, whether that railing should have pickets or be attached to the wall or attached to a railing bracket.

The other companion projects for the stairs are: a) wood inserts between the tile and the stairwell all around and b) flooring backing for the underside of the stairs facing you at the bottom. I'll have everything outside today -- miter saw; table saw; router; planer -- dust will be flying in all directions (actually it is quite windy so I hope that it will only be flying in one direction and I'll stay upwind !).

Sandy picked up more DRIcore yesterday at Home Depot along with the closet package -- so I'll probably start on the closet Sunday or Monday. Sandy will finish cleaning out her side of the closet on Sunday to prep for me moving into there -- it should be relatively straightforward to assemble but then I'll have custom work to do at the end of the closet to seal off the exhaust piping for the hot water.

I now have enough DRIcore to finish the darkroom and about 2/3 of the games room. Before finishing the darkroom I have to get the plumbing in place and the final drywall sections that would cover the plumbing. When I went into Port Loring on Saturday for Mass, I also stopped by TimbrMart to see what they have in plumbing supplies for hot/cold piping -- I then assessed my needs and will pick up the required plumbing parts on Monday. They carry the Pex pipe along with the compression rings and fittings. I've never used Pex before so that will be something new ...

It rained on Friday so I put a tarp on the deck above and did all my work under the deck -- that worked out very well.

I'll post some pictures soon.