Porch Stairs

Ah, haven’t been able to log much lately. However, I have been able to spend most of my evenings working on the house. Probably the main achievements have been made on the porches. I wrapped the stairs and put down decking on half of the front porch and part of the back porch. I’m impressed with the stairs. I decided to use 1x cedar fencing for the risers and the sides of the stairs. I started off by just covering the outdoor wood on the front stairs, but soon discovered that it was better to extend the fence boards clear to the ground, enclosing the space underneath the stairs to prevent critters from getting in under there. I did the remaining stairs this way but will need to return to the front stairs to get this part right. I also decided to cut the treads flush with the edges of the stairs, without overhang, so that I can tack on some trim on the edges. This will cover the butt end of the boards and I think it will look nice and professional.

I ordered some 12’ and some 18’ 2x6 cedar decking from Parr Lumber. The 12’ boards were very nice, but I have to say the 18’ boards were kind of dirty and ‘old’ looking. It looks like at least some of the 18’ boards were left out in the sun and rain for several months before it was delivered to me. I know some light sanding will make them look better, but I’m a little disappointment that I will need to do this. I’ve got enough to do already…

The painting still limps along. The master bedroom has been painted, but much of the brushwork didn’t turn out that great and will need at least one more coat. I still haven’t done much with the hallway, but I hope to tackle it this weekend. I still need to paint primer on the edges of the stairwell and below the stairs for the closets walls. Also I’ve noticed that the initial painting left a lot of texture grit on the walls which need to be sanded off. This has been a huge pain in the ass. I’m going to have to sand parts of the master bath and hall ways too. Lots of work. Although we are going to paint the yellow ‘cane’ color of the living room in the stairwell and hallways, Jenn found some ‘copper’ colored yarn that she wants to use as the color for the upstairs ‘office’ area. The copper color seems to compliment the cane very well and will help to break up the abundance of the cane color. Mostly, I just can’t wait to get this house painting so that we can get the electricians back and move on to other projects.

Speaking of other projects, I attended my first of 2 wood floors classes. The class was pretty elemental, but I did pick up a few details and got to practice with the power nailers. I was a little scared at one point when the instructor said that you absolutely cannot nail into particle board sub floor. However, it turns out that our sub floor is not actual ‘particle’ board but a chipboard call OSB (oriented strain board). He said that particle board would have to be replaced or covered by ¾” plywood, neither is really an option for us (whew!). I also got a chance to figure out more accurately what grade of flooring I will need. I thought I could get away with what they call common #2 (which is relatively cheap but varies in color greatly), but after seeing some samples I’m pretty sure that I will need at least #1, but more likely ‘select’ grade 2 ¼“ white oak. I also learned that I will need to use the air-compressor power hammer as the manual hammer is far too difficult and exhausting to do nearly 1000SF for one person. I can rent the air-hammer and compressor for about $70 a day. I can hardly wait!