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.

J's leg is stronger than brick!

Scratch the wimpy attic door installation, we went tough this weekend and whacked out the ant-infested back steps with a sledgehammer. The steps were several layers of soft bricks set onto a rough pile of concrete with many gaps serving as bug nests, and worsened over the years by tree roots. The tree wrapped itself around the corner of the laundry room, 10-ish inches from the steps, and was one of many cut down last year before we bought the house. Maybe the tree company wanted extra for the intricate work of dislodging the stump from the corner of the house. Maybe they just suck. The 2' tall stump needed to be reduced to make way for the 2x10 ledger board, so I carved chunks from it with the reciprocating saw. The heart of it is knotty, red and hard, as it's somehow still alive, and it took about 25 minutes to slice an 8x3 section out of the top. So I stopped short of my stump-removal fantasy. Enough was carved away to install the board for the new 7' square deck section, which replaces the steps and gives us somewhere to stand with the groceries while we unlock the door. By the time we get to the deck extension the stump should have dried enough to cut away.

We weren't sure what to do with the remaining rubble from the steps; few of the bricks in the step section were stronger than the ant-infested mortar holding them together. Especially the purple ones. We finished off most of them and are filling in the mystery ditch under the dining room with the rubble.

As a purist, it hurt to remove the original steps and metal tube handrail, but the steps hadn't been cared for, and accessing their poor-quality guts to stop the bug problems would have required the destruction of the brick sides anyway. There was a somewhat modern flyswatter embedded in an internal patch; perhaps the ants have been there for years. The mortar in the side sections was soft and damp, like white sandy clay and must have been ant tunnel heaven.

A bag of frozen brussels sprouts and three aspirin before bed worked great for J's minor leg+sledgehammer accident. J is concerned that if the step bricks are this soft (softer than his leg!), will the house foundation bricks hold the ledger board screws? I'm hoping so, they seem to be a different type and are still in good shape, despite the tree stump and roots.

From VanDykes Restoration I ordered a new mortise lock set, $16, for the non-functioning bathroom door latch. It had the option of a thumb-turn or skeleton key lock, and I chose the key. It seems cooler, plus you can peek into the bathroom when the door is locked!