Railing

Our house is plain on the outside; all the brickwork and original stucco is hidden under the 70's stucco, and most of its limited period woodwork was removed with the installation of new electrical service and also when the stucco was put on and porch rebuilt. A passing neighbor commenting on the improved state of the yard even mistook her 1940s house as older than mine. We look like more like a run-down house rather than the more charming run-down bungalowesque house. Because of this, I'd like to have a different deck railing, that didn't look so everyday. Not only is it a deck, it's also our back entrance.

I think this Chippendale bench pattern would be nice as a deck railing, but slow to piece. I also wonder that if I made it, it would become convex and net-like, if one leaned against it.

Pockets of trellis squares framed into the railing?



The eventual pergola will give it some character too, but it won't be visible from the street.

more decking

I planned on using concrete paving blocks and bricks to make a stair pad and a path, but J was outside and said, "hey, can you use this leftover bag of concrete for something?" And there it is, immovable and gray. You may see in the bottom picture how its lack of mobility could induce frustration in someone who has a picky personality; it nearly almost lines up with the stair bottom. It's just a visual thing; the pad does support the steps.



Here is John Quincy Adams, literally claiming the stairs. The stairs were only about 10 min. old but there she was and she growled when I called her inside for dinner. Maybe she growled because her name is John Quincy Adams.

Here you can kinda see how the stair bottom and concrete pad unevenly match. The stairs come off the deck at a slight angle; what angle that is, I do not know. Perhaps that's where the pad went wrong? Also, the sun was going down when we poured it and J was tired of me telling him what to do. With the house, it seems I'm the tactician and he's the grunt.

If the stairs were fabric, I'd make a pleat in the right riser, where the top joins the joist, and re-cut the top step from scraps. There would only be a slim angle of step to step on, then, but since the stairs are fabric, falling wouldn't hurt too much. Then pad & stairs would line up.

Anyway, the stairs avoid the cleanout and buried pipes yet stay in the logical flow of traffic. I'm very proud of my angle and use of skewable hangers. The Strongtie website listed an angled riser hanger but neither of the local Lowe's or HD had it. When I remembered the small hardware store on the corner I was cranky and three blocks from home and skeptical they'd have it either. Now I'm going to figure out the post location for the railings.

deck time-elapse

My elaborate system of garden stake, chair and stool helped me achieve a decent square, within 3/8". All by myself, whilst J was at work. But really, it's job for the stakes and twine. The ledger board is on posts rather than be attatched to the house, because the bricks and mortar are too soft to support it. Which was a relief because the hammer drill was $60 per day plus bit rental.


4" Posts are cemented in, outside box mostly attatched. Part of the steps still remain, for my purist self, but we bonked up most of it and used the rubble to fill a hole under the house. The few salvageable bricks are going to be the footer for the steps. In an unrelated moment of frustration I found a mauve-y half brick that has "28" drawn into it, but I couldn't find its other half or its meaning.


Half of the deck boards are on now, with pretty fall leaves on top. The three posts (plus one later) will hold up the railings, and the steps come down the left side, curved to the right to miss the pvc sewer cleanout and buried pipe. J hammered in half the joists. Thank you, J!

Ironically, the only place in the yard with super green, thick grass (I thank the day in May when the sewer cleanout overflowed) is being covered up by this deck and its steps.

Eventually, another section of deck will come off the right side, ending below those double windows. On that section, I'd like to connect a pergola near the roofline, integrating the posts supporting the deck. The Jax Building Inspections Dept. said this requires a permit because it makes the deck more than 32" tall -- although my deck surface itself isn't more than 32" from the ground. Perhaps she misunderstood my explanation. Perhaps the inspector who comes for the shed can elaborate.



Resident opossum. It's so ugly and moves so slowly.

"Don't mind the cat"

It was an indoors sort of day. So I made a neat improvement to our bathroom door. The door will close but nothing will keep it closed; the knobs didn't turn the latch. Ralph is very curious about closed doors, like most cats, and she loves the sound of all running water. She drinks from the sink, and sometimes from the toilet. I think she's just offended when we close the bathroom door. And no matter which guest is sitting on the throne, she pushes the door open to say hi. Last week I found a lovely new mortise set and with some modification to the setting in the door (notched out the knob and lock holes 1/4" more towards the jamb) I installed it. Everything is flush and it stays closed like a dream! I lock it just because I can. What fun to have privacy from the cat.





















Look! It has a skeleton key! The key is far cooler than the thumb lock. And if I get tired of that I can switch this set to another door that needs latching capability (There are four more with lesser need). I'll try opening the original to see if it's anything I can fix.

I cleaned the paint off the knob hardware by soaking it in hot water with dishsoap, and then vinegar and a toothbrush seemed to put a nice patina on it. The other hardware I've cleaned in the house looks bronzed, but this definitely has remnants of a sealed shiny brass finish. Which maybe gives me a clue to the finish on the missing original light fixtures in the rest of the house? Another house we toured nearby before chosing this one has its original ceiling fixtures, polychromed, flowery brass. I'm waiting to repaint or refinish the door and trim until we decide what to do with the 2006 builder's-special bathroom.