June 17-18 -- every tool known to man

... or so it seems. Dust, noise -- where is this peaceful lakeside existance ???

Anyway, it was a very productive day. The quickest and most dramatic change was accomplished by assembling the closet shelves / clothes hanging system from Home Depot. That was a joint effort, Sandy and me. If you have ever assembled Ikea furniture then you know what it was like -- screw-and-lock + pegs -- quite well done actually -- and a lot easier than building from scratch. It's more expensive than building from scratch, but not much. The melamine itself (no pet food here ...) is pricey and you have to get the stuff that has pre-drilled holes for moveable shelves because there is no way that you can drill all those holes in perfect alignment without a machine designed to do so. Sandy then spent some time deciding where she wanted the shelves and hang bars located, plus where she wanted the basic units located to balance hanging area for short clothes vs long clothes. I'll post a picture at some point so that you know what I mean.

The finishing touches for this project are two-fold -- a) put screws into the wall and the hang-bar supports, which is a 10 minute exercise; b) using some melamine that I have up in the barn, box-in the hot water exhaust pipe. I may or may not get to that today -- probably should because then this particular project is "finished" and it's always great to get one off the list that I keep mentally. Whoops -- I also have to put baseboard in place -- straightforward, but now the project is growing ... typical.

I have to decide on whether or not I want to put a similar setup on my side of the closet. It's pretty clear that it is a more efficient use of space than my side at this point, which is the traditional hang bar with shelf on top.

So ... that was the project that only needed a screwdriver. Back to the stairs -- miter saw, table saw, router, planer, belt sander, drill, finish-nailer, hammer, chisels, vacuum, leaf-blower ... leaf-blower ? -- I'll explain later.

Today I put in the 2/3 posts that are up against the wall and also put in the accompanying shoerails and handrails. The handrails I already had but needed cutting lengthwise with the table saw; the shoerails needed to be manufactured because a) I didn't have any and b) since there were not going to be pickets they have a different profile. The table saw is a 10" saw which is great for most purposes, but will not cut 4x4 posts without flipping them over to complete the cut, then of course any minor inaccuracy has to be planed flat. Also -- I only had one post so had to make another out of a spare 4x8x12' piece of pine left over from the construction -- a lovely piece of white pine that finally found a purpose. Three lengthwise slices -- one for the post and two for the shoerails. After much mitering, sawing, planing, routering, (there's that word again), chiseling, nailing, drilling ... the stairs are complete.

So far I've decided to not put pickets in these two sections -- pickets serve three purposes -- a) they support the handrail (not needed since up against the wall); b) they stop children from falling through the sides of the stairs (not needed since up against the wall); c) they are decorative and complete a "look" -- this is the area that is up for debate and will not be decided until after we finish painting and staining the stairs. You can decide when you look at the pictures below, but be aware that I only want your opinion if you agree that it looks ok as is ... just kidding !

But wait ... we're not finished yet ... it's late in the day but before I put all these tools away ... there are small pieces of flooring that need to be put into place between where the tiles leave off and the stairwell itself -- these are odd shape and odd thickness which require ... you guessed it ... miter saw, table saw, planer, router, belt sander, nailer, chisel (for wood and for excess grout) ... and now these pieces are in place.

I'm exhausted at this point, but I cannot leave all these tools outside and have to find a use for the leaf blower. The vacuum has an obvious use -- inside cleanup. The leaf blower is the outside cleanup -- not the ground, nature will take care of that, but the tools need blowing off before moving inside.

... and that then brings me to the most difficult chore of the day -- moving the miter saw inside -- always more difficult than moving it outside since I'm now very tired. When we decided to put sliding glass doors into the basement and create a walk-out (not in the original plan) we went with a four foot door. You would think that a four foot door is great for most purposes, right ? No. A four foot slider has less than a two foot opening when the one side is slid open. People fit through a two foot opening, but deck chairs ? -- with maneuvering; table saw ? -- on its side; miter saw ? -- it's a killer. It is very heavy and on its side it just clears the doorway, which is great, but where is the person carrying it ? -- it is not something that you can hold at arm's length and carry through a door.

When I was working on the deck last year I had the miter saw upstairs sitting by the fireplace each night. The sliding glass doors in the great room are five foot doors, which gives you slightly more than a two foot opening. I was able to pick up the miter saw by its sides and walk through the door with the saw up against my chest and then place it on its stand. THAT is what we needed downstairs. Hindsight is great.

So much for my complaints ...

Today I want to truly finish off the stairs -- cut the flooring that will finish the underside of the stairs (see the pictures below) and, if I get around to it, the plugs for the screw holes. That last is a real quickie. Doing the flooring should be fairly easy, but I will need many of those same tools again.

Of course you know that the stairs will not be truly "done". I have one piece of baseboard to put in, which will need to be stained first (Sandy) and grouting around those pieces of wood where they come up to the tile -- I'll do that as I tackle the tiling in the basement since I'll have grouting stuff out.

Today I also want to get out for a bike ride. It is supposed to rain this morning (already started) and then clear and warm up to the mid 80's (30C). With a little luck I can also get into town and pick up the plumbing parts that I need ... but I can always do that tomorrow.

However, right now it's time to start moving tools outside again.

Pictures -- the first from the top of the stairs to the basement, also looking at the stairs going up. Do you think that they need to be stained ? That's a retorical question in this case the answer is yes.



View number 2 -- from the basement -- here you can see the pickets on one side and the open handrail on the other -- it will look different when painted and stained and remember I only want your opinion if it involves no more work ... You can also see the underside of the stairs going down that I need to complete with flooring to be truly ready for staining and the plywood floor in place over the DRIcore, ready to start tiling. Groan. That will be a new experience.



View number 3 -- through the cast iron -- here you can see the stairs going down, the open handrail on the far side and, if you look closely, the flooring insert just past the cast iron up against the tiles.