I can now mostly, safely, traverse from the first floor of my house, to the basement, without having to leave the house. The last step is a bit of a doozy since I haven't completed the landing, so there is a double-high step at the bottom.
As per usual, my design far exceeded any actual skill I might possess. Overall, I believe the stairs look pretty nice, albeit, with a few imperfections showing here and there. On two or three of the treads, the nose does not seat completely against the stringer, leaving a very slight gap. There is one noticeable notch in the corner of a tread where I made a booboo with my router. I was using a plunge router with the multi-step little doodad. Well, I turned the doodad the wrong way, and instead of plunging 1/4 of an inch, I plunged 3/4 of an inch before I realized what I did. Apparently, looking from the bottom up, the illusion is that the steps are sloping. The problem is that the treads are dead level, but the kitchen floor isn't. So when you are looking up the stairs, you see a noticeable difference between the edge of the top tread, and the kitchen floor. I completely screwed up the bottoms of the stringers, but can essentially compensate for that when I build the landing. I routed a decorative Roman Ogee profile on the inside top edge of the stringers. Lifting the stairs into place was challenging, but not impossible. I just kept lifting the upper end and wedging boards between the floor and one of the treads, until it was wedged into place. I hope to finish the lower landing this week, then I just need to think about a railing at some point. I'm just happy to be able to walk up and down to and from the basement again. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [email protected] Tel: (412) 268-9081
