Siding and Stairs- DONE!!!

OK so it's been a while since I posted anything and I'm going to have to apologize for this post as I sorta forgot to take enough pictures as we were doing the work.....
But,
ALL THE SIDING ON THE BACK OF THE HOUSE IS INSTALLED AND THE STAIRS ARE FINISHED! (I hope)

Here's a shot of all the siding that I bought to finish the back of the house.....holy-freaking-mackerel is this stuff expensive! These 16' pieces of siding were almost $25 a pop!

A very, very nice professional carpenter who is a friend from the online world offered to come over and help me install the siding!!!! Hurray!!!!! Actually 'help' is kinda a misnomer....he did the bulk of the work and I tried to help and not slow him down too much....I also mopped his brow and fetched him cold Mexican cokes.
We decided that the old tar paper was too trashed-weathered so we pulled most of it down. It did go around the door framing and into the opening so we left that stuff there of course.

We had a HUGE amount of material left over from the previous siding job.... Side note...don't let some one work time and material +20%...if they are dishonest they will go and buy a BUNCH of stuff and not use it and tack on their 20% to pump up their bill..... Here we are using the DuPont Flex wrap to flash the sides of the door.
We decided that it should be attached to the door frame, bridge the gap between the door frame and the wall framing and then cover the king studs and come up on the concrete foundation to separate it from the trim.

We wanted to put metal flashing on the wall to separate the bottom course of siding and the foundation. I bought a 6" wide roll of galv metal flashing and we nailed it up and tried to hammer form it to take the 45 deg angle of the foundation.

After installing the metal flashing we applied the top lengths of flashing to the sides of the door frame and the sheathing overlapping the flashing.

Now, wow, I have to say a few words about modern weather proofing practices....its really, really fricken confusing!!! I'm not 100% sure we even got it 100% right....

Here we've installed the head flashing on top and installed the door trim and a spacer. The plan is to have the siding (which is the same thickness as the spacers) tuck under the door casing.
Problem is, the door is plumb but the wall is not!!!

Using the same 6" flashing we are creating a head flashing for the casing. We had to do this because no lumber yard stocks a 3" deep 'Z bar' flashing (I think that's what its called) which is what we needed to go over the spacer, the door casing, and the applied molding which is yet to be applied in this picture. I'm not sure if you can tell but I actually had to hand crimp the drip edge of the flashing with a pair of sheet metal flanging pliers.

Here's the first new layer of tar paper overlapping the metal flashing....super exciting.
Here's one thing that I don't get...if you staple up the tar paper, its not self sealing, don't you get little leaks at all those places?
We overlapped the tar papers uh, 6" I think so the staples are well covered but still.... Is fancy-pants house wrap self sealing? Don't you have to staple in the field with house-wrap???

Ta-Daa its all done!!!! See, I told you I skipped some steps.....
Look at all those white spots!
To maintain the warranty on the siding I had to drive 2 8D nails at 16" OC into the wall framing.....then I had to set the nails just below the surface,....then I had to prime the nails with this special primer, then I had to spackle all the nails,...then I had to sand all the spackle, then I had to prime the spackle.....man, that was a lot of holes....I feel like I know each one personally..... Look, theres timmy, and johnny, and nathanial....

Here's the door in its semi-finished state. Those thin strips on either side of the door are spacers not the door trim. I've still got to cut it and figure out how I'm going to fit it around the foundation. Then I have to apply the molding around the outside of the casing.
Though, I still haven't worked out how I'm going to do the casing sides exactly...as the door is plumb and the wall is not and the casing needs to come up on the door frame with a small reveal....
Look, theres jimmy, and susan and ivanka, and mark.....

The Stairs Are Done!! Here's a shot looking down the stairs.

Here's a shot looking up the stairs!! Super exiciting I know...

Some of you are noticing the open risers.....I'm going to argue that the stairs don't need to conform to the modern codes and that the codes enforced back when this deck was built didn't require closed risers.....we'll see how that goes....

I decided to build a bottom landing because that first step without it was kinda a doozy. That, and I'll need it to pass the inspection.
See how the first step lands on the concrete wall? Eventually the ground in that area will be raised up to be even with it then I won't need the landing.
I went round and round with the friggen Winnans designer about this stair. She SWORE that there was no way in the world that you could build a staircase and have it end on the wall...her stair was built with like 3 additional steps into the side yard! Arrrrrrrgh, professional designers...bahhhh...
Actually, it turns out that the stair is super walkable. Tons of 'experts' told me that it wouldn't be comfortable at all but its really nice to walk up. We've already had a party and only one person who was wearing high heals caught her heel on the first step but she was okay after that.

Of course no building post would be complete without my list of f-ups.....

At the top of the stairs I thought it would be simple to cut the rails even with the post....it wasn't so simple and I marked up the post a lot and the cuts ended up looking pretty ugly...

Also, all the dang PT wood around here is now brown yet all the preservative stuff is still green! Why in the heck don't they make brown PT brush on preservative to match the wood? I'd look a lot nicer.
I actually did 3 heavy coats of the preservative on all cut surfaces on the stairs...hopefully they'll last.

This top post I ran long and then cut it on the angle of the railings. I should of done this with all the posts, as if I did I coulda fit 2 lag screws into each one... Don't know what the inspector is going to say about that but the hand rail does feel very firmly attached.

I have to say that the stairs seem to of turned out pretty good. Of course the inspector will have the final say.... But, they feel very solid, the handrail and railings feel very solid, they are wider than the stairs they replaced and they are very walkable. Hurray!

One Step Forward 23 Steps Back- Stair Building Part 4

Okay, so had time this week to get a little bit more work done on the back stairs....man did I screw up a lot......
Sit back and enjoy a pictorial tour through how not to build stairs.

Having learned when drilling the 4by4 ledger that free handing the drilling is a bad idea I set up this fancy 'jig' with the drill press to get nice straight holes. Worked out pretty well except I could only do the bottom hole on each post....had to rotate the set-up 90 deg to be able to drill both holes.....and then the drill press didn't have enough travel so I had to finish all the holes with the hand drill anyways....

I didn't take a bunch of pics of setting the stringers (only 2 cause I can't set the last one till I reside the back of the house...) I didn't think to level the 2by4 kicker or the ledger before I tried to set the stringers...I notched the ledger a bunch and it turns out I didn't need to...so, lots of shims where hurt and destroyed in this production. The Simpson angles that I used here really firmed up the stringers. I plan to use two on each to help tie them to the ledgers.

Also, see that big bolt in the left hand corner...that's one of the two bolts that hold on the posts for the guard rails...The bolts I bought where too short by 1/2" so I rummaged around and found some bolts that where 1/2" too long! So I used some extra washers and was able to get the posts up nice and tight.

Here's a shot of one of those posts...look at all those shims! It is plumb in both directions though... This also shows that that stringer was not set plumb...well...parts of it are and parts are not...it kinda twisted in the sun and heat...

After attaching the posts I REALLY didn't like how easily they twisted the stringer. I used the off cuts from the stringer as blocking between the posts to tie the one stringer into the other. When I set the final stringer I will continue the blocking on to it I think....

After doing this the posts firmed up dramatically.

Here's a shot of the guard rails installed....They are a bit more uh, visually imposing than the standard way of doing 2by2's between the guard rails. In this shot you'll see that the spacing is not even, there is slightly more space between the top guardrail and the next one...this is a design feature and not at all a f-up cause I couldn't get my little brain around how to properly divide up the 21.5" space between the top of the bottom rail and the bottom of the top rail. The rails do all line up nicely with the bottom riser though.

This shot shows the guard rails from the other side. You can also see the two stringers attached to the dropped rim joist here. The little triangle cut offs worked well and the stringers where able to sit completely in the hanger...

Not I gotta talk about another f-up. I didn't realize that the deck slopes at 1/4" per foot for drainage...that means that the level line I struck to set the stringers to varied in distance from the deck surface by an inch!! So the riser height went from the correct 7 3/8" to 8 3/8"!! That 8"+ height is two far by code... I was stumped...this HAS to happen every time a level stair intersects with a non-level deck right? You are supposed to make the stairs level across them...

I sought out the consul of some pros and they said to basically split the difference so that measured in the middle of the riser I would get the correct 7 3/8" and one side would be a little more and the other a little less but as long as I didn't exceed the code restrictions I should be okay.

This meant setting the stringers at slightly different heights than they were designed for which caused some extra shimming on the other end.

This shot is meant to show another f-up...See how the lag screws aren't in a nice-pretty line...I'm sure a pro would of thought ahead and had them all lined up nice and pretty...Also, I again bought the wrong size lag screw...the ones I got where too short by an inch...so had to buy a box more...

I do have to say that the 3/8" lag screws and the washers seem to make for a really strong attachment.

This shows the 1" spacers I had to cut outta the PT scraps from the treads. I ran a single lag screw through these and into the existing deck rail...I'm going to have to reinforce the existing deck rail here as its not really connected to the deck at the bottom.

This pic shows multiple screw-ups...First, I cut the 2by6 guard rails cause I thought they were going to have to change direction at that vertical 2by4...nope they don't...the deck having that weird little nook is causing me some issues...

But, the two long rails that are lagged to the existing deck guard rail there feel really firm.

Second, if you extend out the top guard rail and have it intersect with the last post in the same way it does the other two...you learn that that post is several inches too short!!! hurray!

I was planning on the top guard rail being the hand rail also and its set at a comfortable 37" above the treads. Which BTW, was a measurement I KEPT screwing up as you have to make sure you're measuring it at the correct point... With the setup I have here the guard-handrail will be 37" until it crosses the last riser, which is the deck....past that its going to go above 37" until it lands on the post....I don't know if this is okay or if I'm going to have to cut the guard rails even with the last riser and make them go horizontal until they end on the post....If I do that I won't have to buy another post but it will be a much bigger PITA to finish the guard rails....

Annnd finally, I don't now think that PT is a wise idea for the hand rail...After I route an officially graspable handrail out of it its still going to be splintery, and poisonous......So, I'm probably going to replace it with a redwood rail that will be much easier on the hands...

Here's a pic that shows how short that last post is if I don't make the rails turn horizontal. This also shows why I couldn't move this last post any closer to the last riser. Its all wood in the way. I could of put the post where the original one was, on the inside of the stringers but that would of cut down on the width of my stairs significantly...to where it would of been very hard to get the required 36" minimum clear tread length.
This also brings up another question...these framing members here are only 6" deep...I don't know if that's deep enough to support this post correctly...I do happen to have several 9" long 1/2" lag screws (why I own these I don't know) that would be long enough to go through the post, both 2by6's and into the 6by6 but I don't know if that's going to be enough... I think that I'll have to figure out an additional bolting-strengthening strategy...
Oh yea, the bottom of this also shows that I used the Simpson screws that where too long for the hanger...

Well that's it for now...anybody want to hire me to build them some stairs??? I'm slow, but sloppy and expensive!

This project is basically on hold until I can figure out the final post issue and then go buy supplies...but even then, that's all I can do until we reside the house...then I set the last stringer and screw in the treads and I'm done!!!

Oh wait, I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do about the risers...they have to pass the 4"sphere rule...

How Not To Build Stairs...Stair Building Part 3

Or maybe I should say, 'The stairs that PL Premium built.'

This is the last stringer I was cutting. I was almost done with it. Just finishing the cuts with a jigsaw and this happened... A previously unknown check-split caused this section to just fall out!

Holy Moly was I pissed off....so close...I thought I would have to go buy another 2by12 and start all over again.....But a pro told me no, just glue it back together with PL Premium glue and the repair will be stronger than the original wood..

So I went a little glue crazy as you can see from this picture. I glued the original f-up and wow it does appear to be stronger...but then, but then, I noticed a ton more cracks in the stringer? WTF!?!?!? I swear they where not there before. So I went through the stringer and glued those also...Then I dropped the other stringer and caused a crack in one end so I glued that too.

Lets just say I glued the heck outta that stringer...

I also glued on little triangular tabs so that the joist hangers would bear fully on the wood.

The pros that saw this original set up with just the two Simpson brackets holding up the dropped rim joist where very suspicious that it would be strong enough. So, I took several of the triangular off cuts and used them as braces.

I admit that with just the Simpson brackets that there was some deflection in the joist when I shoved it hard....Now, wow, absolutely no movement. When I shove it hard with my shoulder the entire deck shakes...I think we're good with this set up.

Another major issue the pros' found with my set up was how the left hand side of the stringer was unsupported. That all the force from the stairs are carried in that corner and leaving it unsupported the stringers were guaranteed to crack.

If I was smart I would of jiggered the rise/run so that the heal would of landed on the concrete wall...now I'll have to add additional support here.

Enter the concrete anchors...It was suggested that I use 1/2 lag bolts to support a ledger that would take the stair load. I had an extra piece of PT 4by4 lying around so I decided to use that. To use the lags you need to drill a hole in the concrete 3/4" in this case deep enough to set the lag shields in. Then, when you insert the lag bolts the shield expands and locks everything in place.

WOW, drilling these holes was a huge painful PITA... It took me about a half hour per hole...luckily I have a heavy duty drill but geez, I surely coulda used an impact drill....I kept the bit cool by spraying it with water but there was nobody to keep me cool as I worked in the oven that is our sunken living room.

Turns out, using a 4by4 probably not the smartest way to go... Keeping the holes your drilling on the right path is pretty tough with that much wood to chew thru. As one pro suggested, 'I shoulda used 2 2by6's'...I had to adjust one of the holes in the wood but the other two where spot on. Man, I hope 3 bolts is enough...I tightened it up with my impact driver and WOW does this seem sturdy. Hopefully it will be sturdy enough...

I completely aggravated the two bulged discs in my back doing this...If I have to drill another couple of holes I'm going to cry like a little girl...

Here's a shot looking down the concrete wall. I'll have to shave off a bit of the new ledger probably but I'll do that as I need to when I set the stringers.

Next up is to take it easy for a day at least...it's just ice and Advil for me for a while.

Then I want to cut the treads, coat all the cut ends, I'll set the outside stringer. I'll probably install the posts and the railings-guards on the outside stringer...and install the middle stringer, but I'll have to wait to install the final stringer and to screw the treads down until after I finish residing the back of the house...

Ouch my back hurts...

I'm Not Stringing Ya Along...Stair Building Pt. 2

Or maybe I should of titled this post, 'Your Carriage is Here.' (Framing Humor)

Okay, so, after the deconstruction now I have to turn this pile of wood into a set of stairs...

I double checked my measurements after the area was clear and got the same measurements (whew). I set the stair buttons on my framing square to 10" and 7 3/8" and started drawing some lines...then I noticed something...the edges of lumber are pretty rounded..which means I had to kinda guess at the intersection between the previous line and the square...I found that my estimating was not so good...I was getting a systematic error... I needed to figure out a better way...

Enter my rule from one of my machine squares. I could line this up on the previous line and extend it down so that I had the square intersecting with the correct extension of my rise/run lines. I guess pros just 'eyeball' it?

Skipping a bunch of steps...I used my sidewinder to cut the treads then my jigsaw to finish the edges...and look what we have, a sorta finished stringer.

I was trying to figure out how to attach this stringer to the dropped rim joist and came upon this conundrum. The stringer, being at an angle doesn't fit into the fracking joist hanger? All the books I have show the stringers being attached with joist hangers and since the stringers are always on an angle this has to ALWAYS be a problem right? This can't be good can it with the stinger not bearing on the hanger correctly?

I decided that what I am going to do is cut a little wedge from the bottom of these offcuts and glue it to the stringer with some super-fab Elmer's nano-glue. That way the stringer will be in contact 100% with the hanger. Should work right?

In mucking about with the joist hangers I got to collecting all our Simpson hardware.....dang, we have a lot of it...

Even more hardware....look at that bin of bolts....that's left over from when we did the deck at our last house! Why did I think I needed 8" lag bolts?

Here's what I decided to do about the dropped rim joist. I used two Simpson brackets and their structural screws to attach it to the 6by6 joist. I also sunk 3 screws into the joist on the edge that you can just see the bottom of here. It feels pretty solid but maybe the left side has a bit more flexion than I'd like. Once I decide where the joist hangers are going to go exactly I might add another bracket on the left hand side.

Watch that first step! Here's a shot of the 2by4 kicker bolted in place.

And voila the stringer fits!!!!

Some how I F'd up the notch for the kicker...I mean I really got it wrong....I'll have to add some wood back in on the left hand side to stabilize the stringer. I plan on attaching the stringers to the kicker with Simpson brackets also.

Buuuuuuut, check this out. The fricken stringer is basically perfectly level!! Woo-Hooooooo!!!

Next up is to trace this one good stringer onto the other two (not including the messed up notch for the kicker) and hopefully be able to replicate it pretty closely. Then glue my little wedges into the top edges of all three. While the glue is drying I'll cut all the treads@ 44" wide.

I still haven't exactly figured out where the posts are going to go but I'm working on it....

Bye-Bye Old Scary Stairs

Its Time for a Deconstruction.

Okay, Today's the day to deconstruct the rear stairs....I've been trying to put it off as long as possible but they are getting more and more unstable and I feel veering towards being officially unsafe soooo.....

Just to remind everyone, here's the stairs...with the super slippery unsafe ramp that I slapped on a couple years ago...

Here are all the tools I think that I'm going to need to do the deconstruction. I'm using the term deconstruct instead of demo because I'm not going to be smashing things with 20# sledges. I'll be unscrewing and cutting nails to take the rear stairs apart.

Yes, on the left is a super-fab $20 Harbor Fright sawzall...at that price, its pretty much disposable...I did put a decent demo blade on it and I'm hoping it will last thru this project and the siding project.

After removing the ramp I was treated to this scary sight. The wing-dings that built this stair used untreated plywood as a spacer and it is mostly turned back to dust now.

A couple of taps from the 5# sledge loosened things up enough that I could slide the sawzall in and slice the nails off the railings.

I rigged up the ryobi impact drill to remove the big honking lag bolts holding the posts to the rim board. The lags where a pain to remove with a wrench but with the impact driver they just zipped right out...highly recommend one.

Here's a shot of the right side stringer after I removed the top step. its not nailed to the rim joist its nailed to the post! The post which I just un-bolted! Luckily the post was also nailed in place from behind through the rim joist.

Here's a shot after all the treads had been removed. That left side stringer wasn't even toe nailed to that piece of wood supporting it. It was just sitting on top! Also, see the top right side next to the post? Those pieces of 2by12 nailed to the wall? I can't figure out what the heck they where for. They where not structural at all...I think they were just put there to fill up space...and they nailed the heck outta them...

This piece of wood gave me the most trouble. This is the 'dropped rim joist' and a 2by6 nailer behind it. I'll have to use a dropped rim joist also as the last riser will be this framing but I'm thinking that I can figure out a better way to do this.

Anywho I wrestled with this and it finally swung free...

But it got away from me slightly and smacked the bottle of 'blood vodka' off the top of the bar...man that stuff stinks and the red dye is probably going to stain the patio...

Here's a shot of the demo complete and cleaned up with the wood stacked. It only took me 2 hrs to do which I think is pretty good for a chubby-hubby non-pro with a bad back.

the wood. Most of it looks like all-heart redwood. I'm hoping I can get a Craig's List scavenger to take it away for me.

Next up, I have to lay out and cut the stringers....hope I don't screw up as I didn't buy any extras....