Have No Fear: The Cousins are Here.

 

 

The cousins were up bright and early the next day and eager to get started on the first set of stairs for my deck.   The evening before they’d demolished the stairs that had collapsed, so the building site was clear.

 

 

Some measuring, some figuring, some contemplating, some discussion and soon Bob was laying out and cutting the first stringer.

In this photo, Bob has cut most of the treads and Bud (with his back to the camera) is approving the job.

Moving one stringer into position for the final measuring.

Bob cuts the stringer to length while Bud attached the L brackets that will hold the treads.

 

Time flew by and a lot of progress was made.   In the meanwhile, I had to make a quick trip into Seward, 72 miles round trip, to get different screws because the ones we bought in Anchorage at the lumber yard needed a screwdriver bit that no one had.

 

Pretty soon, both stringers were ready and I found out how they planned to attached the bottom treads to the stringers.   I could not understand how they could get several screws into the underside of the treads when those treads were only a few inches off the ground.

 

They showed me how.  Moving two stringers with three fastened treads into place was a heavy, back-breaking job.

 Next time I checked on them, they were busy attaching all the treads and inserting long screws into the treads through the stringers.

 

Then, it was time for a test.

 

Voila!   One set of stairs in one day, plus demolition.

 

They were on a roll.

 

 

 

Cousins Construction Recap

I know, I know,   It’s been a long, long time but I have been very busy and, unlike my younger cousins, I cannot work 10 and 12-hour days.

 

That was Gatorade they were drinking.

You’ve probably forgotten, but my cousins came from Wyoming and Montana to replace three sets of exterior stairs.    If you haven’t forgotten, then you’re probably wondering if they managed to accomplish that or if I have to use a ladder to get onto my decks.

They started with this one that collapsed from rotting wood and heavy snow load.

This one would be next.  Rotten treads and cracked stringers.

 

Have no fear; the cousins are here.   

 

Bud is five months younger than me and I’m 82.   His brother Bob is five years  younger.   Just a whippersnapper so he got to handle the enormous circular saw that my neighbor brought over for the project.   Besides that, he’s a journeyman carpenter.   His second career.

 

Bud is a jack of all trades and master of several.   Until he retired and sold his business, he dealt primarily in heating and cooling and sheet metal.   He’s remodeled his own place and worked on others.   Right now he has a huge garage/shop project going as well as helping his daughter add-on and remodel her new house.

 

Anyway, back to the stair story.

 

The first item on the list of lumber I bought should tell you everything, but I’ll tell you anyway because that’s what I do—I tell stories.

 

First item:   12 ea. 4x12x12.   

 

In lumber-ese, that means I bought 12 pieces of lumber and they were 4 inches by 12 inches by 12 feet.  That’s all the material it took to replace the two sets of rotten stairs to my decks.   

 

Oh, and a bunch of “L” brackets and a bushel of screws.

The green marked lumber is for my two sets od deck stairs.

The red treated lumber is for exterior stairs to the second floor of another building on my property where my friend Julie lives.

 

We no sooner arrived at my place after I picked them up at the airport in Anchorage than Bob wandered outside without saying anything.   Bud and I were talking and noticed that Bob was missing.

 

Right then we heard a crash and found Bob well into demolishing the first set of stairs.  The heavy snow load this past winter caused the rotting stringers to break lengthwise and down went most of the steps.

 

Bud got into the act and soon the area was littered with rotting wood.

 

 

And that was that for the first night.   A couple hours and the site was ready for the next step.