Here's where we left it, once we had concreted in the supports for the posts, put in the small set of stairs, and built the landing.
Once again we very carefully measured and re-measured and did the maths and re-did the maths, to figure out exactly where we could concrete in two more steel brackets to support the bottom end of the large set of stairs.
Aside from waiting for the concrete to set on those two extra brackets, the other reason it took us so long to get any further was these.
They are H.E.A.V.Y. Really really REALLY heavy. We needed four of us to get them up and into position, and there was a lot of mucking around to get them perfectly level and locked into the landing nicely.
As you can see from the peek at my work shoe in the bottom left of this photo, once the heavy lifting was done I showered and dressed for work, and left the boys to finish getting the stairs nicely into place.
Then it was a matter of bolting the stairs in at the bottom, since all they wanted to do was to slide downwards and out of place with the weight.
We recently decided to invest in a new battery drill (and a matching impact driver), since our existing battery drills were driving us crazy with their uselessness. Tom was pretty excited to christen them on this stair project.
I believe this would be a Happy Drill Dance. Hmm...
Anyway, I returned home from work that night to this gorgeous view.
Allie came with me to inspect the workmanship and make sure it was up to scratch.
Can you believe it? We have STAIRS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But of course it definitely wasn't over yet. Then began the process of putting in hand railings. And the first thing we needed for that was posts at the bottom end of the stairs.
Tom did an admirable job of notching away a diagonal section of the posts in order to slot them nicely over the angled side of the stairs.
As you can see, he suffered a few war wounds in the process, but fortunately the circular saw didn't get in on the action this time.
We also decided that because the large set of stairs is 11 steps (12 if you count the step down to the ground), it would be sensible to also put a couple of posts half-way up to the landing to avoid an almost four-metre stretch of unbroken (and therefore likely to bend in the middle) handrail.
We're pretty proud of the angled notches Tom managed to cut into the bottom of the posts, so they fit perfectly onto the step on one side.
So once the stairs were nicely in place, it was time to move onto the next stage. Sanding them! And then cleaning them. The latter included both washing them down with a hose and a cloth (soaked in water with sugar soap mixed in), and then vacuuming them once they were dry to catch any other dust.
Vacuming stairs is not easy! I developed this hold-the-vacuum-with-one-hand-so-it-doesn't-topple-down-the-steps-while-actually-vacuuming-with-the-other-hand technique. Whatever it takes to get them clean, right?
I then decided to pull out the old putty again to cover up any nail holes and imperfections in the timber on the stairs.
The landing didn't miss out either. Allie seemed to like it.
And here they are in all their puttied glory (minus the halfway posts, which haven't been bolted in properly yet). Stairs!!!!! We have front stairs!!!!!
We've still got quite a way to go, but the fact of the matter is that we have a solid, fixed-to-both-the-ground-and-the-house set of stairs! It's such a giant step forward from our current tied-on back stairs, and we couldn't be happier with how they're turning out!
Just look at the difference!!!!! I know the angle isn't exactly the same, but I'm sure you get the idea.
It's proving to be a slow and very careful process, but it's going to be so very worth it!
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