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Well, there's also blazing summer heat and humidity, where I am, or too many people, and restrictive laws that come with too many people in places with nice climates, like California. Always a tradeoff, I guess.
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May 1, 2020 17:24
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In 100 years there's gonna be a hypernet forum thread where some guy is trying to retrofit the place for some crazy future tech and is all like "what madman built this place?"
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May 1, 2020 21:31
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Resting Lich Face posted:In 100 years there's gonna be a hypernet forum thread where some guy is trying to retrofit the place for some crazy future tech and is all like "what madman built this place?" I've actually been debating leaving notes to future owners on the inside of walls.
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May 2, 2020 01:43
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Resting Lich Face posted:"what madman built this place?" I think it'll be more like "I was going to rip out the entire staircase to put in an elemover, but I got a look at the handiwork under and it's solid poo poo. Whoever owned it after the remodel just ruined it with contractor-grade materials!"
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May 2, 2020 01:58
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I do a fair enough of basic woodwork, and 1/8” tolerance between stairs seems wildly absurd to me If you’re retrofitting, like you are, that seems like an absolute nightmare target to hit
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May 2, 2020 04:05
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Sockser posted:I do a fair enough of basic woodwork, and 1/8” tolerance between stairs seems wildly absurd to me Six months ago he could have hit a 16th. This man is a legend, he's merely running low on patience.
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May 2, 2020 04:50
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kastein posted:I've actually been debating leaving notes to future owners on the inside of walls. Definitely do it.
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May 2, 2020 05:43
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FilthyImp posted:Whoever owned it after the remodel just ruined it with contractor-grade materials!" Don't loving do this to me man what the hell Sockser posted:I do a fair enough of basic woodwork, and 1/8” tolerance between stairs seems wildly absurd to me It's honestly not that bad. Stair gauges will keep you within that unless you're useless with a square. I was lucky/unlucky, I already had a stringer that was well made that I simply copied onto two more 2x12s. Said original stringer was easily within 1/16 and likely more like 1/32 tolerance stair to stair. Whoever cut it by hand knew what they were doing. The guy who did the other one was an idiot though. The only hard part was figuring out what height to adjust it to that would give me top and bottom stair heights that are within 1/8 of the rest of the stairs. Luckily some previous owner had had 3/4 oak put down without adjusting the stairs at all which meant I could jack the stairs up about 7/8 to accommodate the height I'm adding at the second floor with *my* added flooring layer and radiant heat. Anyways. I got some more poo poo done. Finished routing and trimming the blanks for the rest of the stairs. So it was time to trim the ends and back edges to fit and get them in place.  This bottom stair gave me fits because it has the Newell post running through it and none of the edges are parallel, or right angles, and I couldn't get any lined up without the others already being cut.  Then I recalled that I had a scrap stair tread (the crummy home Depot one that I cut wrong and realized was going to be a nightmare) so I cut it roughly to shape, hit the edges with a sander till it would fit, then used masking tape to fill out the size it actually needed to be. Then flipped it upside down on some paper and traced it, cut it out...  Flipped that back over, traced it onto the tread...  Cut the first section out so I could route another edge that only exists on this tread. gently caress off OSHA you have no power here  Trimmed it, sanded it, test fitted, sanded more, test fitted, and... Holy poo poo it's not bad. Not perfect but not bad either.   Tadaaaaaaaa it's done except the last stair at the top, which I need to do differently as well because the top riser is also the skirt board for the edge of the floor around the stairwell and I haven't figured out how exactly I'm dealing with that.  I've also glued in 232 3/8" wood plugs so far with many more left to go, and trimmed some of them down and partially sanded it all. I'm hoping to have it ready for the first coat of polyurethane by tomorrow night. I'm never building stairs like this again. There are easier ways.
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May 2, 2020 06:00
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Your idea of 'not bad' is both terrifying and inspiring. 
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May 2, 2020 06:35
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Liquid Communism posted:Your idea of 'not bad' is both terrifying and inspiring. Looks pretty drat good to me. GJ kastein.
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May 2, 2020 06:40
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Those are some pretty drat nice stairs. Ever since you've started this quest, my own 1989-era stairs have felt bouncy and unsatisfying.
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May 2, 2020 15:53
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I have a strong desire to yolo a router now even though I don't have a significant pressing reason to own one
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May 2, 2020 16:06
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kastein posted:Don't loving do this to me man what the hell That said, I had a nightmare yesterday that BeatmAsterJ and Grover were walking around my house with a list of "renovations" they were planning 
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May 2, 2020 17:20
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FilthyImp posted:Aside from Bob Villa or Norm, I wouldn't trust *anyone* to make additions to the place when you're done with it. The level of detail and care just won't be comparable. Something about Norm rubs me the wrong way. Comes of as a hack for some reason. I want Tom Silva to build me a house though, dude is a wizard.
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May 2, 2020 22:08
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The reason they look nice is my cellphone camera blows rear end and you can't see the up to 1/16" gaps visible along the right end of most of the treads 
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May 3, 2020 01:15
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You're bitching about a gap that will be filled in by the wood finish. Just figured I'd point that out.
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May 3, 2020 01:27
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opengl128 posted:Something about Norm rubs me the wrong way. Comes of as a hack for some reason. I want Tom Silva to build me a house though, dude is a wizard. And Bob Vila hasn't actually done work on a home in one of his shows since the 90s. I don't know that I'd trust either of them. Maybe Adam Savage or Nick Offerman?
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May 3, 2020 06:03
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Plastik posted:And Bob Vila hasn't actually done work on a home in one of his shows since the 90s. I don't know that I'd trust either of them. Maybe Adam Savage or Nick Offerman?  Adam Savage is a genius mad scientist, but hardly on my list for someone I'd want doing permanent work. Temporary Halloween decorations or little shop fixtures/organization? Perfect. Building a set of stairs, Hell no.
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May 3, 2020 16:54
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Ok Nick Offerman or that guy on PBS that runs the Amish Workshop and has hand-powered tools instead of This Old House people. Pro choices for sure. This thread should be sponsored by Lowes or something.
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May 3, 2020 17:05
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Geeze, y'all forgetting about Larry Huan.
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May 3, 2020 17:43
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Geeze, y'all forgetting about Larry Huan. Unfortunately, Larry's stair building days are long past.
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May 3, 2020 20:10
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It's like y'all don't know this dude: https://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/home/
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May 4, 2020 22:43
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sharkytm posted:
I think he maybe meant Adam Carolla
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May 5, 2020 01:09
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Well I got the last (top) stair tread done last night and just finished cutting 9 billion wood plugs flush and sanded everything except the noses of the stair treads and the exposed stringer, which I was waiting for glued plugs to dry on, I had to make those ones myself from Douglas fir to get a good color match. Haven't decided how I'm going to do the nosing sanding without wearing my arms out or making flat spots. Once that is done it's polyurethane time! I walked up and down them a few times today while working on it and goddrat they are solid compared to the old stairs. I never realized how flexible and bouncy the old stairs were.
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May 5, 2020 02:41
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Boaz MacPhereson posted:Unfortunately, Larry's stair building days are long past. If there was one criticism I could give the master framer himself, he overcut his notches in stair stringers rather than cut to the line and finished with a jigsaw. But then his whole purpose was to maximize speed and efficiency, and I'm sure he knew precisely what he was doing re: stringer strength.
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May 5, 2020 03:44
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kastein posted:The reason they look nice is my cellphone camera blows rear end and you can't see the up to 1/16" gaps visible along the right end of most of the treads I think you might need those gaps, just to cope with seasonal changes in the wood length. This is why floorboards are left with a small gap where they meet the wall, and that gap is covered with trim. You should just declare to your audience that those gaps are intentional, sir. Also when that elmers runs out, get yourself some titebond for wood glue. Read up on the differences between titebond I, II, and III, and then get a bottle of each and you'll always be in wood glue heaven. Are you gonna strip/refinish that newell post? Because if so, you could strip it and then actually bring the base square; if not, I'm wondering how you'll match the finish with your new rail. Nick Offerman is a skilled fine woodworker who got started by building stages for stage productions and then graduated to doing stuff like hand-building canoes out of tiny strips of wood. He can 100% be counted on to do Quality Work, it's his mantra. Adam Savage is a prop builder who does stuff that looks OK, but he's an absolute monkey in his shop and if you watch a few of his videos, you'll definitely see him doing all kinds of dumbass stuff, including ignoring the need for PPE, misusing tools, and using prop-builder techniques instead of long-established standards that an actual craftsman would use. I love the guy for his charisma and energy, and his general attitude and approach to life is excellent, but dear god don't copy how he makes things.
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May 5, 2020 03:58
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If I need those gaps I'm hosed because I used urethane adhesive under every tread and they are NOT moving.
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May 5, 2020 05:06
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Leperflesh posted:Nick Offerman is a skilled fine woodworker who got started by building stages for stage productions and then graduated to doing stuff like hand-building canoes out of tiny strips of wood. He can 100% be counted on to do Quality Work, it's his mantra. Adam Savage is a prop builder who does stuff that looks OK, but he's an absolute monkey in his shop and if you watch a few of his videos, you'll definitely see him doing all kinds of dumbass stuff, including ignoring the need for PPE, misusing tools, and using prop-builder techniques instead of long-established standards that an actual craftsman would use. I love the guy for his charisma and energy, and his general attitude and approach to life is excellent, but dear god don't copy how he makes things. I hate Adam Savage’s energy - whenever I watch his videos I always think he’s about to grab at something from a table saw or stick his hand behind a board and drill into it, and anyone in the comments bringing up safety gets shouted down by some brainwormer because “He’s a MASTER and anyway I’ve been a carpenter for fifty years and I have a thumb and one finger left and there’s no time for safety blah blah.” Neil Pask is the man for me, in part because working with Australian wood gives you the proper respect for respiratory protection, and because he’s incredibly charismatic and has two exceedingly fine dogs.
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May 5, 2020 07:27
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Adam seems to be talking about safety a bit more since he almost lost his finger last month.
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May 5, 2020 16:10
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It's weird to attack Adam Savage for using prop-maker techniques when he's, you know, building props, but go off I guess. All his tool racks are dramatically overbuilt for what they are. He doesn't gently caress around when it comes to infrastructure, which is why he also doesn't do One Day Builds for infrastructure, because seeing someone cut out a bunch of wood, wood glue it down, then use screws to secure the joins is not great content. Watch his recent box building video where he makes a display box for some space suit gloves. Each seam is glued and pin-nailed, and the end product is not only the exact dimensions he shot for but also seems pretty sturdy. Also the video is boring as hell.
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May 5, 2020 16:25
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3 layers of polyurethane are now down. I'm calling it quits at this point, though I might block out a bunch of the runs in the vertical faces and recoat them once it hardens up a bit.
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May 7, 2020 17:01
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kastein posted:3 layers of polyurethane are now down. I'm calling it quits at this point, though I might block out a bunch of the runs in the vertical faces and recoat them once it hardens up a bit. I love the gold glow of poly coated light wood. Looks like candy. Kinda clashes with that post a bit but whatever, it fuckin' works eh? What are you doing for a railing?
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May 7, 2020 18:47
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I really have no idea. I'm kinda regretting not replacing that post too, because I may have to replace the railing.
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May 7, 2020 19:01
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Well it's finally hard enough to walk on wearing shoes instead of tiptoeing up and down it only when necessary wearing socks and protective booties. It's really, really weird feeling walking on stairs that don't creak with every step and flex underfoot. I never noticed how much they flexed before but walking on the new ones (3 2-by stringers, outer two attached to studs with 5/16 structural screws, 5/4 risers, 9 hardened decking screws and urethane adhesive holding each tread and riser in place) compared to the old ones (1 2-by stringer, 1 1-by, haphazardly nailed through multiple layers of garbage to studs, 3/4 risers, lovely old nails with no adhesive, stringers not even matching) feels like walking on concrete now. In the meantime I've been hanging sheetrock in the dining room and putting up the furring strips for the ceiling and the enclosure around the HVAC duct and utility chase that sadly had to cut through the corner of the room. And insulated and fireblocked the rest of the basement stairwell walls, and hung the ceiling structure in the basement stairwell. The finish on the stairs isn't perfect but it's serviceable. I'll probably leave it alone until nearly time to sell, then give the globby, scratched, and/or undercovered areas a pass with 220 grit and recoat them so it's drat near spotless during showing. Then they can do whatever they want after I'm gone. If they paint over it I don't want to know though. I put way too much work into making this look nice.  Basement stairwell ceiling structure and light outlet done. Half insulated in this pic, it's now fully insulated. Ignore the pile of destruction at the bottom, that's leftover from the stairs coming down, I've been taking a garbage can worth of stairs out to the curb every week since I don't have enough to justify a dumpster.  HVAC duct and utility chase boxed in. You may notice some dumbass forgot to insulate the bottom of the duct until he had put it in 2x4 jail.  This was a pain in the rear end to do through all the framing and it shows.  Putting up the furring strips for the dining room ceiling. I wouldn't bother but the joists are lumpy (they had bark on them but it fell off and some weren't even square with the bark still on), slightly sagged in the middle from age, and every joist is a different height because apparently 2x8 meant anything from 2x7.5 to 2x9 in 1879. So I had to run furring strips over it and it was easier to level it fully than it was to just make it flat and not-level.  Check out the variation in shim stack thickness, particularly on the right most 3 joists. 1879 construction was fuckin wild.  Almost done. I've been informed that power tools are not allowed anymore at this point because for some reason people want to sleep at nearly 1am (not sure why?) So that's probably it for tonight. The last 1.5 strips aren't fully secured or leveled yet.  Hopefully will finish the last part and sheetrock it in the morning. kastein posted:I use the phone app for uploading (which shrugs and throws all the photos in a random order in the album)
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May 19, 2020 05:56
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kastein posted:Well it's finally hard enough to walk on wearing shoes instead of tiptoeing up and down it only when necessary wearing socks and protective booties. It's really, really weird feeling walking on stairs that don't creak with every step and flex underfoot. I never noticed how much they flexed before but walking on the new ones (3 2-by stringers, outer two attached to studs with 5/16 structural screws, 5/4 risers, 9 hardened decking screws and urethane adhesive holding each tread and riser in place) compared to the old ones (1 2-by stringer, 1 1-by, haphazardly nailed through multiple layers of garbage to studs, 3/4 risers, lovely old nails with no adhesive, stringers not even matching) feels like walking on concrete now. Looking better and better! It makes me happy that you took the time to level out the ceiling. We have a noticeable slope in our dining room as it approaches the center hall that sure as hell isn't going anywhere unless we do a massive renovation. It annoys me a little every time I look at it and wish the guy who renovated the house would have done something about it 18 years and two owners ago.
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May 19, 2020 08:44
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Got the rest of the furring strips leveled and secured, and then put up most of the drywall. Still needs a few narrow strips along one edge to finish the ceiling, then it's just one wall plus a few random wall bits and this room is ready for mud! 
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May 20, 2020 06:04
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Nice
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May 20, 2020 10:53
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That looks awesome. Steps and drywall. I wish I had your motivation and energy! Mine still looks like: 
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May 20, 2020 16:45
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Thanks guys... Maybe I'm just too nitpicky but not doing things perfectly drives me nuts. Yesterday was truck day not house day but hopefully tomorrow I'll have the rest of that room sheetrocked and I plan to start on the living room or kitchen ceiling furring strips soon as well.
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May 22, 2020 08:29
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That looks really great. I've had some people on projects help me that were also very meticulous and it is infectious seeing talented people doing the work to get things right. It helps me try to remember to slow down and things about it instead of just slapping poo poo together.
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Jun 3, 2020 16:25
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