What did you do today?

[highup]

Between measuring, I'm getting a reeeealy slow start on my stair installation.
I removed the upper railing and started some OCD measuring.
There are metal baulister holders bolted to each step, and they need to go back, exactly back, to where they came from in order for the railing to be reinstalled to where it came from, after the stairs are removed, recarpeted and replaced.
.....reassembly made easy (easier) using high tech. The fun has begun.
Start your guessing

 

[highup]

These are on every step. Either a baulister "drops" inside these cupholder thingys, or these things fit up and inside a square corner post. On the 8 straight stairs, there are one of these.
On the 5 curved steps, there are two of these per step, all of them positioned at different angles to each other.
Once these stairs.....and these metal posts/ cupholders are removed and the carpeting is removed and replaced, there will be reassembly.
......and it would be really, really..... really nice, if all 10 "cupholders" were placed back in the exact same spaces in time, so that when the curved section of railing is reinstalled, baulisters could be lowered back into place, nice, neat and square.
Martin had a dream, a really good one.
I have a plan....
...I hope it's better than my dreams.
(Nightmares)

 

[highup]

Ha!!!!
The first episode of Beverly hillbillies just started. This was as good as they got.

 

[highup]

Getting new to laser levels, I discovered that they can be fun.
When the laser level is just barely above carpet level and some of the fibers are sticking up, they light up like neon.
Here's a circular set of stairs with laser shining parallel to the carpet surface.
I had it set up this way and when I walk up the stairs it bounced a little.
Kind of like this. No, exactly like this. I bounce, the laser bounces and we all bounce. Kind of Christmas like isn't it?

 

[JPfloor]

......and it would be really, really..... really nice, if all 10 "cupholders" were placed back in the exact same space

Can you use the same hole for the bolt to position them back where they were?

 

[zannej]

I wish I had some thoughts on what to do with the holders. My brain is not wanting to work. I had a flooring related question but I can't remember what it was now. LOL.

The neighbor's dogs were back so I went for a brief walk trying to figure out where they went in my yard. My dogs stayed inside for the most part, but Princess finally came out to see me. I got her back inside. It's too damp outside right now. I asked Fippy if he wanted walkies and he wagged his tail but refused to get down from my bed. I think he might be too sore. He's almost 14 years old now.

I'm feeling cruddy. Kept coughing last night so I couldn't sleep well. My plan for today is to do shoulder exercises, eat soup, and rest.

 

[highup]

Can you use the same hole for the bolt to position them back where they were?

Yes but the stairs come totally off, the bracket comes totally off and the stairs need to be put back in place. The top four and the bottom four steps just sit on the stringers. There's nothing to locate each individual step, right left forward backwards, square to the wall, parallel to the railing or ...anything. The railing is fixed to the start of the curved railing where the pie stairs begin. The upper part of the railing connects to an extension about 8 in out from the wall, so for the railing spindles to drop back into these square steel pockets, the stairs have to be realigned straight down from the railing.
Because of this being new carpet, when fastened, the stair might set a quarter inch lower than it set previously. The old carpet is a thick stiff Berber. The new carpet is a cut pile.
What makes this a bit of a pain in the butt is the nut down inside of that steel tubing isn't welded in place. You need to tighten it with two sockets and once you get all of these brackets in place, then you drop the railing and spindles back in place. If something is slightly out of alignment you need to pull the railing back up and out, loosen nut, tweak the bracket, tighten the nuts back up and try again.
I don't think this is such a big deal on these first or last four steps. They only have one post and it shouldn't be difficult at all getting them parallel to each other.
The laser has already told me the location of the upper and lower mounting points and now I'm confident where they are in relationship to the steel brackets and I have absolutely accurate locators on the wall and with my laser. I've got the locations written down so on a reposition everything I can put it exactly where it came from. Like I said these top stairs are a test more than a necessity.
Here's an exaggerated drawing of the posts and the angles they will set at on each step. There will be 10 of these and as two people are holding the railing to reconnect it if one two or three or four of these are a little bit out of whack it's going to be real pain getting the spindles back inside these brackets. Some of the balusters fit more snug than others, they aren't all loosey goosey.
Where these curved steps fit to the round steel pipe, they don't fit tightly to it, meaning you can't just shove it against the pipe as a locator. It would be easy to mislocate the position of these pie shaped stairs, possibly by 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch.
Could all of this be a total waste of time? Possibly, but if alignment becomes an issue later and I have no measurements and nothing to go from..... then each step is going to be hit and miss so the railing will connect back to the last four straight stairs. I just want this to go back smoothly, so I'm going a bit off the deep end with measuring. I wish each step had a locator pin..... and trust me, I've been trying to think of a way to do that

 

[highup]

If I get lucky, when I remount the laser on the new carpeted steps they will line up with the same marks on the wall.

 

[highup]

This is where the laser marks on the wall might be most important.
If the laser mark on the wall is 10 or 15 ft away then I'm certainly not going to be 10° off.
I just want everything to drop right back in place on the first attempt.

 

[highup]

Today I had an ah ha moment.
I can make the R&R much easier.
A brain fart appeared out of thin air. The four upper and four lower stair treads are resting directly on the stringers. I removed sections of carpet and pad directly over the stringers, then I marked the center of the stringer onto the tread. I'm drilling a 3/8" vertical hole in each thread, going all the way through, plus an inch or more into the stringer. I'll cut some 3/8 dowels to be my locator pins. That's gonna make life MUCH easier when I reinstall them.
Not sure if something similar can be done on the pie stairs. I might only need one hole per step, and closer to support pole. it would act as a pivot point. That would have to be drilled upwards, through the lip of the steel stair support.
Doing this would put the stairs in the exact same location. All I'd have to use the laser for is to orient the steel pockets to their original angle or position. That part would be relatively easy because the tread itself would already be back in its original position.
.........so tomorrow, I'm finally going to remove some stairs and undress them.
.....and maybe put on their new underwear. Maybe do a dress rehearsal too. If that goes well, it's on with the show.
This is what I cut out so I could drill the 3/8" holes .
....sorry, I forgot to take a picture before I left tonight.

 

[JPfloor]

What holds the step to the stringer? I’m kinda lost on why you can’t just measure from the end and front of the step to the stringer?

Would it be possible to cut a hole in the new carpet and just slide it over the brackets so you don’t have to remove them? Or is the old carpet under them? Even so still might be easier to cut the old around them? I’m sure I’m missing something here..

I think I would have cut around everything and left the steps in place… or called in sick! lol

 

[zannej]

Highup, I'm glad you figured it out!

I'm still trying to figure out what I can do with my shower situation. My new wall panels are 58" high. The old ones (which suck) come up 60". So I still need to cover that 2". Additionally, the showerhead needs to be moved up above the new wall panels (its currently too low). I need to make sure the flange has clearance above the lip. That means I need to carry the cementboard up the wall a bit more. From what I can tell, it has an ugly texture and can absorb moisture (although I'm getting moisture resistant type) so I'm thinking of painting the exposed part with Drylok and then going over that with latex paint. I can cover any messy transitions with pvc trim boards or something. But, I'm trying to figure out the best way to deal with the few inches before the edge. the new panels are 29" deep but the tub is ~31" deep. I've currently got 1/4" wall panels but will be putting up 1/2" cementboard under the glue-up fiberglass surround. Additionally, the wall on the right side comes out another 2" from the edge of the tub. The builders covered it with some rough wood strips that I can reuse. I can sand and paint them. But that still leaves a sliver of uncovered cementboard that I will have to paint and I'm trying to figure out the best way to cover it and keep it dry. I don't want it to be an area that gets mold/mildew or gets stained.

Thus far today I called HD to let them know that my full order arrived (their website showed it hadn't been delivered), went for a 20min walk, petted the cow, took out trash, swept the hallway, and brought some water bottles to mom's room. My brother actually helped me with the trash. He also helped me with checking the showerhead height. His head is just a little bit above the shower arm.

I was going to clean litterboxes but got a bit dizzy when I bent down. So I'm resting.

I wish the temperature was this cool all year round. I was out in a spaghetti strap shirt and wasn't cold but didn't feel hot either.

 

[Bogdonovich]

Polished and sealed some concrete for 12 hours and came home to make music:

 

[Incognito]

I enjoyed that music

 

[highup]

What holds the step to the stringer? I’m kinda lost on why you can’t just measure from the end and front of the step to the stringer?

Would it be possible to cut a hole in the new carpet and just slide it over the brackets so you don’t have to remove them? Or is the old carpet under them? Even so still might be easier to cut the old around them? I’m sure I’m missing something here..

I think I would have cut around everything and left the steps in place… or called in sick! lol

Working with the brackets in place would be a real pain, especially on the curved steps. It'll be a bit of a pain with that bracket sticking 3 in out on one corner. Besides there is a hole through the step so the bracket will go back where it came from after the carpet is put on them.
This new carpet and the pad are different thickness and I don't know how that's going to affect the bracket if at all. I removed a section of railing and once carpeted it still needs to line up with the curved railing which I'll remove next. If it drops right back in place and everything's peachy keen, then I'll know what to expect when I take off the difficult steps and that railing.
If it was just these four steps a couple of measurements would be all that was necessary to be sure the brackets go back where they started.
The angled steps are more of a concern. Practicing with the laser on the upper steps has taught me a lot about the positioning of the baulisters and also the position of how the railing mounts to the wall at the top of the stairs and to the curved railing.
Let's pretend I didn't measure anything.
Let's pretend the railing and balusters werent installed straight and pretty.
Now picturing me, and my self diagnosed OCD, trying to put everything back together straight and true when it's not supposed to be.
No, I just need to know things before I take these apart so I can be assured they're going to go back smoothly.
The straight stairs have a given me an education that may be useful, and maybe necessary on the curved steps. If something isn't lining up right and all the balusters don't go back in looking like they should, I wouldn't have any reference to anything.
The upper four stairs each had four humongous finish nails driven straight through the carpet, straight through the two by 12 and straight into the stringer....... Well, not perfectly straight because the front edge on one riser was split apart because of driving that nail in.
Instead of using nails, I found some Simpson brackets that I think will work good for holding down at least the front edge of the step. I'm thinking of putting these on the underside of the stringer and screwing straight up into the tread. To secure the back side of each tread, I can probably poke a hole through the carpet with an awl, and drive in one three and a quarter inch torx head screw. They make deck screws with smaller heads, but I only find them sold in boxes and they are a bit spendy.
I'll just paint these black or dark brown

 

[JPfloor]

The upper four stairs each had four humongous finish nails driven straight through the carpet, straight through the two by 12 and straight into the stringer.......

Yikes!

I guess that's one way to do it!

Sounds like it should be a fun job...

You certainly do go above and beyond the call of duty more than any carpet guy I ever met...

 

[highup]

Yikes!

I guess that's one way to do it!

Sounds like it should be a fun job...

You certainly do go above and beyond the call of duty more than any carpet guy I ever met...

Somebody's got to do it. Originally, his contractor was going to remove the railing. Can you imagine him removing the railing as they originally planned and me removing and replacing the stairs and they're all off a little bit, but in different directions?
I just told him I'd do it. My brain is wired to overthink things. It does that pretty well. I just thought up another way to map the stairs as I'm typing.

 

[Incognito]

Trying to get my Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Laws belongings in order to downsize from a 2100 square foot home they crammed full with crap (nice crap) to a small studio apartment (assisted living) for the surviving mentally disabled sister. It's an accumulation of furniture, decorative items, personal belongings---------------just TONS of crap to divide between family, sell and donate to charity. We're actually paying an extra 2 3/4 months rent to allow time for the sister to transition, mostly emotionally to the new life. Going in there and selling off her lifetime's accumulation of crap is very disturbing to her. Luckily, there's just enough money for her to live well. We'll have to do a crap load of work for a few thousand dollars, selling most items at fractions of what was paid. I tried to discourage them from this home they rented and live more modestly. But after all they lived 11 years and were very happy with the home. Landlord was extremely generous not raising their rent until this year. Crazy thing is he's only getting the 3 months at the new rent price of $2100. House across the street was asking $3300 a month and someone moved in recently probably very nearly at that price. They (we) took great care of his home so he appreciated that a lot

 

[JPfloor]

The upper four stairs each had four humongous finish nails driven straight through the carpet, straight through the two by 12 and straight into the stringer....

After you pry the steps off the stringers can’t ya just use the old nail holes to realign the steps when you put them back? Stick a nail in them. Or pieces of the old nails?

 

[JPfloor]

Trying to get my Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Laws belongings in order to downsize from a 2100 square foot home they crammed full with crap (nice crap) to a small studio apartment (assisted living) for the surviving mentally disabled sister. It's an accumulation of furniture, decorative items, personal belongings---------------just TONS of crap to divide between family, sell and donate to charity. We're actually paying an extra 2 3/4 months rent to allow time for the sister to transition, mostly emotionally to the new life. Going in there and selling off her lifetime's accumulation of crap is very disturbing to her. Luckily, there's just enough money for her to live well. We'll have to do a crap load of work for a few thousand dollars, selling most items at fractions of what was paid. I tried to discourage them from this home they rented and live more modestly. But after all they lived 11 years and were very happy with the home. Landlord was extremely generous not raising their rent until this year. Crazy thing is he's only getting the 3 months at the new rent price of $2100. House across the street was asking $3300 a month and someone moved in recently probably very nearly at that price. They (we) took great care of his home so he appreciated that a lot

That’s a tough time. Very disturbing to get rid of all your stuff. I went through that a number of times with parents, in-laws, and now my sister.

Amazing how little beautiful, high quality old furniture is worth… In good condition too. Nobody wants it.. Or they wanna offer peanuts for it. I donated most stuff. Even the thrift shops don’t want it.