Floor is over

[roadrunnertwice]

The stairs are done. The landing is done. All flooring-related program activities are done. We gave back the power tools we borrowed. I can hardly fucking believe it.

Installing new stair treads took just an outrageous number of steps, if you'll pardon the pun. And we REALLY wanted to finish before our holiday breaks ended, because we knew we couldn't do anything else for however many days it lasted. The overhead of starting and stopping made doing it piecemeal impossible. Sooooo we marathoned it.

The short version is, the original stairs were carpet over plywood, and we wanted hardwood because fuck carpet. There's a couple ways to get from there to here, and our approach (the standard method, afaict) was to tear it down to the plywood, cut the bullnoses off the treads to leave plain box-like stairs, then install single-piece oak treads and poplar risers on top of that with a combination of nails and a really advanced glue. Basically entomb the old stairs under the new stuff. (I had a brief fantasy of future people forgetting this had happened and doing it AGAIN with the upper stairs, until they had like five layers of stair material and the top step disappeared entirely.)

That "short version" is one of the biggest lies I've ever posted on this journal. Even the first part, "tear it down to the plywood," is actually like a seven step descent into madness. We had to tear off the rest of the carpet, tear off the padding, crowbar out the carpet tack strips, vice-grip out the staples from the treads AND risers (SO MANY STAPLES), chisel or plane off the lumps of spilled drywall compound and paint or whatever was underneath the carpet, vacuum up the nasty dust and bullshit (by the way, please wear a respirator mask and safety glasses for all this), and pound in any nails sticking up. Congratulations, you still don't even get to start construction for another five or ten steps.

Sawing off the old noses was the worst and most dangerous part. I used a circular saw to make a plunge cut across most of the tread, then used a pullsaw to cut the ends it couldn't reach. (Then lots of cleanup with the pullsaw and a plane.)

Natasha in our old house loaned me her cordless Milwaukee circular saw for this, so I experienced the difference between good and bad circ saws. The last one we borrowed was harrowing to use, but this one seemed like it was sympathetic to my problems and wanted to help?! And even then the nose-cutoffs were total heck. Awkward positioning, difficult cuts, way too much exertion, and sawdust all over the living room.

Then we floored the tiny bottom landing, which was kind of like an encore performance with Whack Friend returning to take their final bow. AND THEN THE ACTUAL STAIRS. About which maybe more anon, IDK.

Comments

[bzedan]

I'm very enamoured of the idea of stairs-upon-stairs, btw. And congrats! FLOOR!!!

[roadrunnertwice]

THANK U 😭

Stairs-on-stairs ranks right up there with my idea to use a system of inverters and rectifiers so each room could use a different country's power outlets. Exploring the theoretical limits of how much what-the-fuckery can fit in one house.