Present Joys

Today Jordan got almost all the treads and risers installed on the long main run of stairs, which also involved delicately fitting one more skirt board into a wonky wall. About halfway up the main run, the steps transition from being open (wall on one side) to being closed (between walls). I’m calling this area the “pendant”, although that’s not precisely the architecturally correct term. Anyway, the pendant involves some complex planning, so we didn’t finalize two treads right there. That’ll happen tomorrow.

As expected, we also received delivery of the newel posts:

• One large primary newel with a flat top, which will have a light fixture on top
• Two secondary newels with turned tops
• One half-newel which will be applied to the wall on the platform
• Two “pendant” boards with turned ends which will be used where the handrail dies into the wall and ceiling.

The newels look precisely like the Illustrator drawings I sent away for production. It’s really uncanny! They are also extremely solid. I’ve been planning to run electric through the center of the primary newel for a light fixture installed on the top, and since the design was completely square (no turnings), I naturally assumed they would be built hollow. But no; the maniacs up in Holmes county (and I mean that in the most complimentary way) built a solid 5.5” square block of quarter-sawn white oak and then carved out all the chamfers and surface decoration. It’s lovely, and incredibly sturdy, but unfortunately it means I’ll have to drill a hole myself through about 40 inches of white oak. Live and learn!

Today there was even less working time than usual because Jordan got caught in traffic on the way here. It’s just one of those unfortunate liabilities of working with a contractor who lives two hours away. Today he attached the long apron piece, which the exposed treads will lip over, installed the long skirt board, with notches carefully placed for each riser, and put in four treads and five risers. It still doesn’t look like a whole lot, but it’s nice to finally have some of the white oak pieces in place.

I spent Saturday putting an initial coat of varnish on each of the treads. That part was easy; they don’t get any color added at this point, though I anticipate needing to touch up with a gel stain after everything is installed. I put an initial dye stain and wash coat of varnish on some skirt boards, but left exposed risers and lower open skirt board (what I’m calling the apron) unfinished since they still will be installed with delicate miters. Right now the patchwork of raw and partially finished wood looks pretty messy, but it’s getting there. As always, I am hoping for a lot of progress tomorrow. I’m also looking forward to receiving my newel posts, which are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow.

Jordan spent the entire second day of work on our staircase finalizing the framing. While it’s a little painful to see this part of the work take so long, it also gives me a bit more time to pre-finish more white oak pieces before they go in, so that’s not bad.

Before Jordan left for the day, we finalized where the pendant will hit the stairs. Drywall and studs need to be cut away “below” the pendant, and “above” the pendant, the wall needs more drywall added. I’ll work on this over the weekend so it’s ready.

Today Jordan (a finish carpenter from Amish country) started on our stairs. The day was spent carefully planning the new rough framing and cutting one stringer. It’s painful to see so little progress after one full day, but I know a lot of ground has been covered and things will go faster from here.

It ended up working out that I also received delivery of most of the unfinished white oak stair parts from Hiland today. The foyer is filled up with treads, risers, skirt boards, handrail, and other odds and ends.

After Jordan left for the day, I put dye stain on a few pieces of skirt board. We have been going back and forth on the wisdom of prefinishing certain pieces of wood. There are many advantages to finishing everything in situ, but it also sounds like such a pain. So I found myself staining skirt boards at 8 pm on a wednesday evening and frantically applying a wash coat of Arm-R-Seal to lock it in. I think I’ll plan to pre-finish certain especially inconvenient pieces.

Today I removed what remained of our old staircase: treads, risers, and closed stringers on either side. (I’d already removed the plaster and lath basement-stairs ceiling attached to the underside of the stringers a few months prior.) This staircase needed to go so badly… At some point (in the early 80s, I think) someone replaced all the treads and risers with unattractive plain-sawn red oak. I’ve never been able to figure out how exactly someone replaced treads and risers of closed stringers without disturbing the ceiling below—since in that scenario, the only way to safely fasten these structural stair parts is from beneath. The point is that the old stairs were both moderately unsafe and unattractive. The closed stringers, visible as skirt boards, were majestic old chunks of pine with many visible signs of hand tools. It was a shame to remove them, but there really isn’t a way to salvage them at this point.

Later this week our new stairs will start going in. We’re using the spiral stairs in the back of our house while we’re without our primary staircase. It now takes five minutes to go upstairs and entails walking through the decrepit, blazing-hot back porch area.