Lying Around on the Steps

Now that the front stairs are done, we’ve got to finish the painting. And of course, there are other projects.

On the left is the new landing, grouted and sealed. I finally took off the ugly metal gates from the front of the house. When they put them in, they tore out the rail and balusters that ran along side the landing.

Almost three years ago, my neighbor was tearing out and replacing his deck. He had these balusters left, and gave them to me. Quite fancy for a deck (I think he got them cheap used).

The reason so many wood Victorians were stripped, or torn down: Maintenance of exterior painted wood, even if it’s old growth redwood, is incredibly labor intensive. Sanding these balusters before we could use them took ages.

I don’t think these are redwood, but they are beautiful tight grained fir. I cut the balusters to fit in their new locations. Nothing is square in an old house, so every one is a different size, and the angles of the cuts vary. To keep the bugs from feasting on the wood, (right) mole is treating the end grain with nasty smelling wood preserver. We have to let it dry 48 hours before painting, so I couldn’t get them in this weekend.

Janeen and I spent the sunny Sunday afternoon lying around on the front steps (with paint brushes). Last post, I said we’d decided on a new color for the stairs. It’s not really a ‘new’ color; we’re just sticking with the color scheme of the overall house until we repaint the whole house. The photo above right, for me, is acceptance of how long it will be until we get around to repainting the outside of the house: Probably not until next year.