Stairs - Just Deux It!

This is part II in the story of our stair treads.  Part one can be read HERE.

Oh man, I get the sweats just thinking about this project.

After loading all of the beams into the garage I drove home and got an average night sleep, woke up and stood in 100 degree heat at a swim meet for 6 hours, and then drove to Spicewood to begin the real punishment.

Step one was to take the raw planks and cut them down to the appropriate length.  You may recall the staircase still has temporary treads in place so I decided to simply work my way up to the second floor.  I systematically removed a step, measured the span, cut the PSL beam and then dry-fit it into place.  Perhaps you are asking your computer screen, "why doesn't he just measure the width from left stringer to right stringer and cut all the treads to that width?".  And I would agree that is a logical plan, but believe it or not the width varies as you ascend the steps.  Partly due to some theta rotation of the stringer in relation to the floor.  And you will recall we tacked the left stringer to the wall to prevent swaying, and this made the center of the span slightly (.5") wider than the first and last treads.

The first step up to the landing was nearly 5 ft wide and you can see it in the picture below.  It weighed approximately 1 million pounds.  The reason why I know this is true is I made all of the cuts in the garage and then carried each tread into the house and placed it onto the steel brackets to make sure it fit.  By the time I got to the top of the stair case carrying each tread felt as though I was carrying a body across the yard and through the house.

Eventually I made it all the way up the stair case.  And that was enough for one weekend.  I removed each tread and wrote its location on each end of the board so I knew where it belonged, then carried everything back into the garage.  And then re-installed the temporary treads.   Time to go home, have a shower and a beer.  In fact, I recommend having a beer while you look at these pictures.  You may feel like you deserve it.

Raw beams set in place.

Landing platform is made from 5 beams edge to edge.

I just placed the upper treads on top of the temporary ones.  I didn't have a ladder with me to reach them.

The next weekend I returned fully recharged and with an orbital sander.  The mission for the weekend was to sand these babies down so they were smooth like butter.  I purchased a 6" orbital sander and a ton of sanding disks of descending grit.  Which reminds me, just based on my own Home Depot visit frequency in Q2 2014, you should buy some of their stock now.  The boards were rough so I started with 120 grit sand paper and hit them on all 4 sides.  The worst part was removing the factory inkjet markings from the edge.  It felt like trying to remove a tattoo with a feather duster.

The ink on the beam was difficult to remove.

The kids and Berta brought lunch and gave me a break which was nice.

The PSL is comprised of thousands of wood strands and glue put in a casserole pan and cooked until hard (or something like that).  Through the course of sanding some of the strands would break loose, or would poke above the surface like a prong.  So i would trim these off, fill the cracks and voids with wood putty, and sand it down when dry.  This added an extra day to the process but should save me hours of "splinter surgery" on the kid's feet.

The final step was finishing.  I chose to use a clear (colorless) polyurethane in satin finish.  This really enhanced the natural colors of the material, and should protect it for a long time.  Again, the catch with a stair project like this is all 4 sides need to be treated.  Which was a hassle with the sander, but a flat out PITA when applying the urethane.  I had to apply to the top and front edge, then let it dry for 8 hours before I could flip it over and coat the bottom and the back edge.  That has one coat, and I applied 4 coats.  After the first coat I hit all the surfaces with 220 grit paper to smooth it out again, but from then on it was just brushing on urethane and letting it dry. I placed the treads on strips of quarter-round molding to keep them off the floor while drying.

Here is a tread with the first coat of polyurethane on the right side.  

The final weekend was dedicated to installation.  Once more I started at the bottom, aligned the tread, clamped it to the stringer to prevent movement, drilled 6 pilot holes and then anchored it down with 2-7/8" HeadLok wafer-head spider screws (I loved these screws).  Of course, there were challenges along the way but I am pleased with the finished product.  Here are a bunch of pictures which should be worth a thousand words, or something like that...

You might notice the landing has the cut end of the tread exposed.  I had to sand and finish the ends, and they have a unique grain pattern which was a nice surprise. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Stairway to Heavin'

As we noted in earlier updates (aqui y aqui) we have a welded steel staircase with temporary treads in place.  The time has come for our staircase to lose it's baby teeth and get some sexy chompers.

Before putting in the treads we wanted to get the railings installed. The main reason for this was to minimize heavy traffic on the treads and reduce opportunity for damage.  Welding the rail to the stringers will throw some sparks, and some sweat, so best to keep the wood out of that equation.

The top rail was installed first and it only took a few minutes to discover a problem.  The bull-nose trim used where the bamboo meets the stairway is about 1/8" thicker than the floor.  This was not known when the welders designed the rail and the mounting plate was now half on the trim, with the other half hovering above the floor.  After the requisite grumbling and fussing the welder decided to fabricate thin steel plates to slide under the mounting foot and fill the gap (although I don't have pictures of the solution for you here!).  After that the stairway railing was welded into place and the stainless steel cables were routed and tightened.  Everything turned out nicely.

The cute toenail does not belong to the welder...

The upstairs rail mounted to the wall, and the foot plate is partially in the bull-nose trim

There was one other item we had the welder address.  The stairway is a long span (20 steps before hitting the landing) and when we tromped up and down it would develop a slight sway side to side.  This was solved by cutting a notch in the drywall, welding a small L-bracket onto the wall side stringer and bolting it to the stud.  This will be covered by the drywall crew when they come back for touch-up.  Test tromping confirmed the sway was neutralized.

Now, on to the wood.  What you are about to read is the story of man with marginal wood working experience (me) attempting to convert structural beams into stair treads.  The process took 4 weeks because I was only available on the weekends, and even then it was after Saturday swim meets and other commitments.   I would head out to the house by myself, and it was like a one man play without an audience.  I dished out drama, suspense, profanity, tears, laughter, madness.... for no one's benefit but my own.  Although the results were critically acclaimed by my kids, I don't think I have a future in finish carpentry.

The whole mess started with sourcing the wood.  The beams can be ordered in whole-foot lengths from a few feet to impressives spans like 60 feet.  I ordered mine in appropriate lengths that would fit in my truck and allow me to trim off rough ends as needed.  Once it arrived I went to the builder supply store and they brought it out with a giant fork truck.  It was palletized but wouldn't fit in the bed of my F150.  So we had to cut the straps and load the beams into the bed by hand.  This would prove to be one of dozens of times I would be handling these things.  I'll tell you now, this stuff is ridiculously heavy.  The spec claimed 13 lbs per linear foot.

So I loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly, Texas Hill Country, that is... And the next thing you know ol' Me was exhausted.  Rain was looming large so I hustled and stacked all this stuff in the garage before the deluge started.  This all happened on a Friday.  The next morning we joined all three kids at a swim meet, and then I went back to begin the metamorphosis from raw material to indoor furniture, and from construction ignorance to painful enlightenment.

 Check back in a couple days for Part Deux of the Stairway to Heavin'.

Stair Master

Now that the floors are complete Kevin and his gang returned to the house to install the staircase.  The base was attached to the floor with concrete anchors.  The stringers were attached to the 18" thick header with some enormous lag bolts.  They welded the stringers to the base and that's all there was to it.  

The railings were not installed for fear that they would be damaged by trades going up and down the staircase with boxes of tile, wood, tools, etc.  Plus, the upper railing will bolt directly to the bamboo flooring after it is installed so waiting makes sense.

And as mentioned before we chopped up some 2x12's to use as temporary treads.  Before we knew it, access to the second floor was once again available.

You can see one of the PSL treads on the left side of the landing.  This will be the final tread material.

Our plan is to run a long PSL beam under the horizontal window above.  It will mount on the wall just beneath the receptacles on the wall.  The beam will be 18" wide PSL and align with the 3rd tread, then extend to the right, stopping short of the front door.  This will be a discrete work space that could host 3 kids working on home work...

Everything looks great, right?  Not quite.  Apparently there was some confusion during install (we weren't there) and everything didn't fit as well as it did in the weld shop.  There were 2 issues.  The first one was obvious to the welders during install.  The second one would be discovered a couple days later when we were checking out the work.  Here's the first problem:

Initial install with a 5" gap between the wall and the landing. 

You can see in the above picture that the landing does not reach the wall.  Obviously this was not the design intent.  The stringers are mounted to the 2nd floor header but when mounted to the landing base they fall short.  We were bummed about the gap, but if this home build project has taught us anything it was to turn an 'oops' into an opportunity.  So Roberta and I began making plans to have a small planter box made from 18 gauge steel to fill in the gap.  We would fill it with black rocks and bamboo plants and make it look like an intentional design feature.

The second issue was more significant.  The pitch from tread to tread is 7.5".  This keeps us within Austin code* and gives us a safe staircase.  But the first tread up from the landing was 12.5" high.  You can see it in the image below.  There are 23 steps in this stairway and if all of them are 7.5" apart except for one you know that there are going to be some wipe outs.  

There is a 12.5" rise between the landing and first step... no good.

I called Kevin and explained the problem with the first step rise.  He listened and was having trouble understanding the problem.  He stated that they had the entire thing measured and assembled in the shop and there wasn't any issue with step rise...  So I sent some picture with measurements.  And a day later Kevin called and said he knew what the problem was and that he would take care of it.

A couple of days later the welders returned to the scene of the crime and made good.  Basically, the C-Channel stringer was cut too short.  In fact, all of the steps were slightly 'downward' sloped.  They cut the stringer free from the base, moved it against the wall as it should have been, and welded a 2" piece of steel to fill the gap.  Below you can see the result before sanding and touch up paint.  They added another bracket to create the step between the landing and the (previous) first step.  And the landing was cut free from the concrete and moved against the wall as initially designed.  Problem solved!

Modified Stringer to allow for additional step and placement of the landing against the wall.

While the stairs were going up the kitchen cabinet installers began their project.  So the next post will be a kitchen update.  Thanks for checking in.

Stairway to Anxiety

I am not sure what it is about staircases.  There is an invisible, but substantial, negative energy around the task of constructing stairs.  To be clear, it IS a technical endeavor.  Calculating the appropriate rise and run and accommodating the thickness of beams, treads, and brackets all contribute to the voodoo.  And once you embark on finding a contractor to whip up some stairs you start to recognize the look their eyes.  The ghosts of past stair projects haunting them.  Particularly when you are talking about steel.  Wood isn't as demanding a medium (no offense carpenters).  If you make a mistake you can rather easily re-cut or repair without devastating cost, but if you botch a solid welded stringer, or make a mistake on tread spacing a redo can get expensive.

Of course, after considerable investigation we decided we wanted a steel staircase in our home with big, chunky PSL treads (you can read about earlier stair discussions HERE).  Roberta contacted a dozen welders in the Austin area to bid the project.  Some were interested but were scared off early on and never followed through with quotes.  Others priced themselves out of the job (perhaps intentionally to avoid the challenge).  A couple were so unsure of the design that I fully expected to get a Dr. Suess style stairway to Cukooville if we handed over our money and faith.  We did find one shop that had everything we wanted - tons of experience with stairs, dozens of references and great prices - but when the time came to get to work they were inundated in work and were booked 8 weeks out.  Go figure.

3.5" thick PSL prototype tread in the garage.

In the end we located a great shop in Lakeway and they jumped right in to the project.  The shop owner is Kevin and he did a great job measuring and sketching out the design.  He also will be providing us with support struts for the door overhangs (future post).  We pretty much gave him artistic liberty with the handrail design and we chose to use stainless steel cabling for all of the horizontal railing elements.

After a week he announced everything was ready to install.  Roberta dropped by to check everything out and grabbed a few photos of the hardware.  Since there will be a lot of contractors going up and down the stairs in the coming weeks we decided we will install 2'x12" treads as a temporary solution so the PSL beams don't get roughed up.  However, we delayed the installation until the floors were complete so you will have to wait a few days to see the result.

Here is the landing - it's 58" x 40".

This is the handrail that will mount upstairs along the hallway before doubling back to come down the stringer.

Close-up of the handrail detail.  Stainless steel cables with run through the holes.

More railing after powder coat.

The stringers.  These are quite long as the floor to floor depth of the staircase in 12.5 feet.

Framing Continues

We went back out to the site this weekend.  Progress continues - they have started framing the 2nd floor, installed some temporary steps and started the breezeway.  Snapped a few pictures shown below.  We actually crab-crawled up the stairs to get a sneak peak of the 2nd floor view.  The view was breathtaking, but the process was heart-racing for Berta.  Once she arrived at the top she lost her mind thinking she would never get back down.  There were several minutes of drama as we coached her back down.  I also need to introduce the dog, Travis.  He belongs to one of the neighbors and comes over to say hi every time we visit.  He is the size of a bear, but gentle, and always hunting for belly rubs.

Garage

Berta ascending the temporary stairs and remembering her extreme fear of heights.

View from 2nd floor...lake water MIA

Looking down the house from the mud room.  The short wall is where the kitchen island will be.

Addie hanging with Travis, the bear dog.

Standing in the slider opening contemplating the stairs.

Gavin and Addie ready to take your order in the kitchen.

Temporary Stairs - final install will be steel with PSL treads.

Front door

Panoramic house shot.