Friday was a good day, deckwise. I more or less wrapped up the Fiberon on the upper deck. All that's left is using the table saw to rip down the board at the house. I'll need to do this for the stair treads, as well, so might as well wait and do it at once.
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| Missing a few surface-mount screws, but the hidden fasteners are easy. |
Saturday, the Fourth of July, I started by cleaning up the jobsite. Sawdust and wood pieces everywhere, not to mention the plywood and other lumber leaning against the house. I did this for one outstanding reason: I was a little frightened of the stair stringer project.
Here's the deal: the existing concrete slopes away from the house in both dimensions. The bottom of the stringer slopes up, not level. The height of the bottom step is different on each of five stringers. I cut the first stringer and used it to layout all five against the deck framing, then to figure out how to cut for the two slopes. I went to install the Simpson connectors and learned that they need 8 specialty nails each into the deck framing. Simpson screws are okay, but they have stubby heads that would interfere with the stringer geometry. Road trip! A box of the special nails was just $5.
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| Five LSCZs, only the right-most installed flipped |
LSCZs are the "good" kind of Simpson, just $2 apiece. But eight 10d nails each into the deck framing. Peace of mind for $10--I love adding the strength of cleverly-designed steel. Also, I used five, not four, stringers because I want these stairs to be heavy-duty. I expect I'll use the more-expensive screws into the side flaps--8 each there, as well.
Turns out I've practically forgotten how to nail. The ones on the ends were hardest.
I was finally ready to cut the other four stringers at 7:15 in the evening. I marked a 2x12 and made the first cut. The saw makes a huge racket, followed by the sound of wood falling on concrete. With that din echoing away, I could hear my neighbors--on four sides!--having outdoor parties. I could almost hear what they were saying. Well, I figured, if I don't cut tonight, I'll cut early Sunday morning, and they won't like that much, either. I made another cut. In the silence that followed, the parties resumed. I couldn't go on. It was time to clean up for the night. Happy Fourth, my non-social-distancing neighbors.
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| Just placed there--the bottom bends up to meet the wood. |
The stringers need Copper Green wood preservative on the cut edges, followed by Valspar black stain.
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| 2x12 x 12' (left) are not easy to carry. Once cut, paper doll-style, into stringers, they're much lighter. |
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