Here’s a back of the envelope by Misha:
Month: May 2011
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.
Stair Painters
I think I’ve pointed this out before: Part of what takes me so long is I have to do much of the work more than once. When laying out the stairs, I was aware that it’s very important to keep the dimensions of each step identical. I waited to build the stairs until I’d bought the tile for the landing. I measured it, and included an estimate of the thickness of everything that goes under the tile. The building code requires the variation be less than 3/8″.
After building the stairs, putting on the Kerdi (same as in our shower) waterproofing membrane and starting to lay out the tile, I realized there was a problem.
(Above right) I was doing a last minute check that the stair heights were consistent. OOOoops. As you see, the top step is almost an inch higher with the tile installed. I’d not realized that the tile I bought has varying thicknesses. The pieces that are at the nosing are twice as thick as the tile I’d measured. Also, the combined thickness of the thinset under the cement board, under the Kerdi, and the membrane added up to almost 3/8″. Lesson: Assemble a mock up of the entire assembly including any waterproofing membranes and the actual tiles that will be used if the thickness of tile is important.
I had to tear out the landing and lower it. Fortunately I had John to help (above right).
After a full weekend detour, I was back to the start. Above right shows the waterproof membrane attached to metal flashing that goes over two layers of building paper under the cement board.
Using John’s tile saw, mole cut out the tile for the landing. Here it is all laid up, before sticking it down with thinset.
Thinset time! The little diamond shapes are hand made tiles from Mexico that a friend gave to me three years ago.
What? Think I can resist putting destructamonkey photos on the blog? Bella figured out how to jump from the bathroom counter onto an open door. Arwen can destroy a toilet roll in under 15 seconds.
Above left, Janeen’s family came to visit to celebrate birthdays. Above right, Misha came to stay for a week; so I put him to work…
Grouting and painting the front steps.
After much indecision on my part, we decided to paint the fronts of the steps (risers) to match the main house color, and we’ll paint the tops (treads) in a brownish caramel. I didn’t have any porch paint in that color, so to fortify the steps before the oncoming rain, we put a coat of the blue on them.
Before Misha’s visit was over, Reirin, Leo, Dan and Dad showed up. Dan is allergic to cats – he looks a bit pensive being the subject of Janeen’s test of our cats’ hypoallergenic qualities.
On the last morning of Misha’s visit, we met up with my “older brother”/friend/mentor Bob for breakfast at San Francisco’s best – and snobbiest – coffee place: Blue Bottle. Misha ran there in his North Brooklyn Runners shirt.
Three cuties working in the office…
new stairs and other stuff…
Other stuff: Janeen ordered carpet tile from flor which we put into the front lobby.
The kittens helped with cutting the tiles to size…
And Arwen was in charge of inspections.
The front stairs for our unit have been in sore need of replacement for quite a few years now. Engineer friends of mine won’t even walk on them (wise). I finally got round to replacing them over the last few weeks.
My goal was to pre-fabricate as much of them as possible so that we don’t have to go without a front door. Above, I’m cutting the stringers (structure that supports the steps.) This has to be precise, as any variation in step length or height is dangerous: People are much more likely to trip. The building code restricts the variation between any two steps to 3/8″ at the most.
We also cut out and painted (above right) all the parts for the steps themselves. The stringers and steps are made from pressure preservative treated wood, and I’ve also treated all cut edges.
The top landing was the most derelict of the whole stair (if that’s possible). Once I’d chipped out the mortar under the tile, the wood was completely rotten and just fell away.
This was Janeen’s view out of the front door. And the black hole is where I would have gone when I walked through the front door if we’d waited much longer…
We completely tore out all the stairs and framing underneath; it was too rotten to save. Above I’ve got the framing for the landing back in place, with help from John (sorry no action photo).
When the stairs were built, they were built right over windows in this area. Above left is the view out of my workshop; it’s never had daylight since we’ve been here. One neighbor told me that he’s lived here over sixty years, and has never seen this window from the outside. The window on the right I filled in so that it did not interfere with the new stair framing.
Our neighbor’s son helped me tear out and rebuild these stairs in two days. It helped that we’d already cut, assembled, and painted most of the stair parts (just the bottom riser was cut to fit). Still more to do: I need to seal all the edges, and put a couple more coats of paint on the stairs. I also need to lay tile on the landing. More about that in another post 🙁
Bella liked the new tile for the landing. Here I’m laying out pattern ideas to include hand made tile that a friend gave me years ago.
Visit from baby brother Elijah (well, he’s getting closer to seven feet). He and dad are comparing methods of cheating in scrabble with your iphone (what’s the point?)
Breakfast time neck-warmer anyone? This was a once-only performance, but it really did warm up my neck nicely.
These cats love watching fish almost as much as they like eating them… Sadly our fish Ludwig died last week after thirteen years. Above left, Bella is wondering where the fish went. Above right is what happens if you let the kittens into the closet with Janeen’s dresser: they get into it, and clothing gets pushed in and out as they scramble up and down inside it.
I wasn’t feeling well, so I went to lie down for a nap (above left): The kittens came to investigate. Above right: They are helping to (dis)organize the paper recycling in our office.
Arwen has turned into a rubber band thief. And she does not care if it’s attached to a roll of drawings.
Happy Easter!