Sunday Night Status

Deja vu. Haven't I done a status report every Sunday since the before times?

Update: Yes, yes we have. https://treeshousejournal.blogspot.com/2020/07/sunday-night-status_19.html, https://treeshousejournal.blogspot.com/2020/07/sunday-night-status.html, https://treeshousejournal.blogspot.com/2020/07/saturday-night-status.html, https://treeshousejournal.blogspot.com/2020/06/sunday-night-status.html

Painted the house last thing Saturday.

Sunday was all about the "frame."

So many problems with the frame. The non-45-degree miters were tough. The "ladder" blocking was 1/16" low (to avoid being high), which made the east and west frames "sag" and required shims. On the plus side, adding the silly little triangle by gluing it with cyanoacrylic glue (because it was too small to screw) worked perfectly. There's a reason the woodworkers I watch on YouTube like CA glue. Can't use it much, though--Fiberon expands and contracts with temperature. 

Cyanoacrylate glue to the rescue. (I just like saying that word.)

Only the lowest tread is screwed in, but two more are cut and ready. (The others are just for show.)

Note to self: Saying you want a 4' stair is fine, but make the stringers 3'-10" so you can get four full treads from a 16' board. Next time. These are 4'-2", wasting a lot of $3/LF material.

Running Out of Supplies; Fear the End is Near

As the lower deck turns to Fiberon, I thought it would be useful to conduct an inventory.

(4) 16' solid

(9) 16' groove

(20) 12' groove

I think that's not enough solid, which I need for: the frame, the treads, and the handrails. There are six frame pieces; let's number them from 1 at the west to 6 at the east.

16' board: #1 (4' 2"), #2 (4' 2"), #5 (5' 4"), 2' 4" left

16' board: #4 (8' 2"), #6 (6' 10"), 1' left

16' board: #3 (3' 4"), 3x front treads @ 4' 2", 2" left

16' board: 2x front treads @ 4' 2", 7' 8" left

This assumes that I'll use grooved boards for the treads inside, where the edge isn't visible.

I need 28' 6" of railing for the lower deck, 16' 6" for the upper deck. Maybe I should order 4 more 16' solid boards @ $44--that's $176 + $40 delivery, $238 with tax. Or, I could buy 6, 8' boards and sand, stain, and polyurethane them. Dunn Lumber sells C-grade, Vertical Grain (CVG) Douglas Fir 2x6 for $6.58 a linear foot, so $315.84 without tax, delivery, stain, or polyurethane. I'm concerned that a Fiberon handrail won't look as good as it should.

Fiberon boards are 5.25" with 3/16" between them. It's about 3' 8" from the house to the frame at the top of the stairs--we have to use 16' boards for the deck. 44" / 5.4375" is 8 rows and 1/2" I have to deal with. I'll have to verify the 44" in the field, but I'm inclined to hold the deck away from the house to make everything work out. Either way, that uses up the 16' grooved boards with one left over.

I'll fill in the prow with 12' boards and hopefully have some 4' 2" scraps for stair treads. Actually, I realized just now that the inventory did not include a bunch of ~3' scraps from the upper deck. I'd have to pencil it all out, and I'm wasting daylight.

Ten Days

More staining to do. More joist taping. I want to paint the house where it meets the deck. Then, cut and install the "frame" boards and lay down the decking.

Sunday, July 12

Monday, July 13

Tuesday, July 14

Friday, July 17

Sunday, July 19

Tuesday, July 21

Wednesday, July 22

Compared to...

Saturday, June 6

Tuesday, June 23 (17 days)

Sunday, June 28 (22 days)

Sunday Night Status

A fairly productive weekend, considering how long the list is. Not only how long (how many items) but how wide (so many steps, posts, joists, and so on).

This is the weekend that I had to stomp on a 4x4 to finish a cut from my anemic cordless circular saw.

Copper Green Brown (long story)

I cut ten 4x4 posts, then notched them--not a trivial task, since it involves aligning circular saw cuts from two sides and finishing with a hand saw. Once they were notched, I marked and drilled for 20 through-bolts. Just the countersink--the process I developed on the upper deck calls for making the post plumb in both directions and holding it that way before drilling and installing the bolts.

In one big push after dinner on Sunday, I cut the stair stringers and applied wood preservative. You only need preservative on cut edges, so if you cut a 2x4, you just "paint" the cut end with preservative. Now picture the 12 cuts made on each stringer.

I made a note to myself to be careful applying preservative to the stringers. For the upper deck, I lined them up on the wall in the narrow alcove where Casey's bath meets the breezeway. I "painted" all the edges while breathing in the stuff I had already painted. So, for the lower deck, I applied most of the preservative with the stringers in place. Lots more fresh air. You know how cop movies always have an officer who's just days from retirement get shot? Well, on the last board, I flung a bunch of preservative at my bare arm. I washed it thoroughly and immediately. I haven't turned into the Hulk yet.

Tomorrow, following the list, I'll install the stringers (using Simpson LSCZs at the top) and continue down the list. I think the next thing is 2x4 "X" bracing, the Simpson DTT1Z tension devices, then mounting all ten posts. Then I stain everything black with the Valspar "Darkest Night" stuff--the stair stringers are almost all painted, the deck joists almost all not, but I do have to go around the edge of the whole deck. Then I paint the wall of the house where it meets the deck. At some point, I have to install black joist tape on every single joist. I won't get to the decking before August at this rate.

Next Steps, Get it?

Saturday was entirely consumed by my plan to make the lower set of stairs better than the upper set. As I wrote this morning, the idea was to frame and level a box for the first tread, so that all the stringers will be equal.

The problem, as I explained to Casey, is knowing where the stair case will meet the ground. We need the exact height from the ground at the front of the stair to the deck in order to calculate the number of risers. Once we know the number of risers, we know the number of treads is one less. The number of treads dictates where in space the front of the stair is. It's circular. 

My best estimate, from a few days ago, suggested that we need 6R and 5T (unlike the 5R for the upper stairs, and the 5R I had assumed here). Based on that estimate, I drew a careful 1-1/2"=1'-0" section through the stairs. Knowing that the SW corner (lower left in the photo above) would be the lowest point, I decided that the riser at that point would need to be 6.75" like the rest of the stairs. The framing for that first step would taper from there.

Approximate is easy. Any closer to precise is harder than one might think.

I wasn't even sure where that corner would be--extending the line of the west side of the deck (left in the photo) was not as easy as it would be on the drafting table. I came down from the right side, plumb using the level, then measured a distance equal to the width of the stairs as built. My first attempt was crooked because I used just one data point. I thought that a black Sharpie would work, but the concrete needs scrubbing with TSP. 

The edge of the concrete in the photo above is not parallel to the deck, and the rim joist on the right of the photo is part of the prow, so it's angling off in another direction. It's a real world optical illusion, making it very hard to "eyeball" it.

Once I had the tape outline of the first tread, I used a level and a square to calculate the slopes of the bottom of the four boards that would hold up the tread. I cut the long boards first. The bottom of each was cut on a 2.5-degree angle, to accommodate the slope of the concrete. One needed a "shave" to be level--my calculation was off by about 1/4" in 48"--but now they both checked out as level. Trouble is, they were nowhere near level to each other, front to back. I threw out the uphill board and cut it again, because not only was the downhill board level, the western-most corner was the correct height for the 6.75" riser (once a deck board was added).

The sun is setting, but we have a stair tread.

I also worried about that newel post. The typical post has two 1/2" bolts, but the shallow height of the side board would only allow one bolt. (We keep the bolts 2" from the edge of the wood.) Peggy sent me a JLC article on the subject a week ago, and I remembered that it involved a long thru-bolt. My situation isn't like the one in the article, but the long bolt, lots of extra solid blocking, and a bunch of construction screws should make the post pretty sturdy. I haven't installed any of that yet, because I want to make sure the post is plumb in both directions.

In case you're wondering, the newel post has to be in that position relative to the riser board so that it will align with the posts up on the deck. The first small board next to it is just blocking; there will be another block hemming the post in that makes the tread box seem like a simple rectangle. Then there will be two more blocks on the inside in the direction of the bolt tension. The stringers will align with the three little boards to the right in the photo, but the outside (left-most) stringer will align with the blocking that isn't there (so that the stringer's relationship to the posts is maintained).

Next Steps

Update: I don't know about "Next Steps," but I've taken a few Steps in the Right Direction." ToDo list (below) marked up to show progress.

A couple of field changes. First, I'm going to handle the stairs differently than I did on the upper deck. On the upper, I cut the stringers the normal way, which dictates a long, skinny tail where the stairs hit the concrete. I tried to cut each stringer differently to match the slope, and I ended up shimming and adding extra supports.

Instead, I'm going to frame the bottom tread as a 2x6 box and shave the bottom to make the top level. Then the stringers will run from the level deck to the level first tread, and each stringer will be identical. Carpentry 101. Also, I think 4 stringers, creating a 16" spacing, is fine--I went with 5 stringers on the upper deck, and I don't see the added value (and it was more awkward to install the LSCs).

The second change affects the east side. The stairs are on the west, because a tenant should not feel they have access to the whole backyard, necessarily. But where the east side meets the house is less than 30" and if we hold the rail off, we have the option of adding a shortcut path to go from the lower deck to, say, the basement.

Photos like this got me thinking of a path.

The nice thing is, it's optional. If we plant a bush there, it's the same as a railing.

The to do list before we get to the fun deck laying is immense. So, I paused to create this blog post entry instead. :-)

• Draft top of stairs posts--make sure we get the position and connection right
• Clean up the area - deal with scraps, sweep stair area
• Layout bottom tread on concrete; measure using level
• Draw up based on level calculations--decide how to cut 11th stair post
• Cut 2x6 based on drawing
• Assemble the box, test for level, adjust
• Buy a 4x4x8 GC somewhere. Cut in half to fit in car.
• Cut and notch the 10th and the stair post
• Mark 2”, 5-1/4” and drill 1-1/4” countersink on each post
• Apply wood treatment to all the posts
• Mark rim joist for stringers
• Cut first stringer; test for fit, adjust
• Cut the other 3 stringers to match
• Apply wood treatment to the stringers (carefully!)
• Install the LSCs at the rim joist
• Attach the 4 (or 5) stringers to the LSCs and the bottom tread
• Cut and install 2x4 ‘X’-bracing
• Install the last 2 AC4s (@ SW post)
• Mark location of 2 DTT1Zs
• Drill 1-1/4” countersinks, then ½” through rim joist and blocking
• Install DTT1Zs with threaded rods
• Set each post temporarily using post level with clamps and/or screws
• Drill 5/8” at each countersink; install carriage bolts
• Cut and install 2x4 intermediate post
• Cut and install 2x4 sub-rail between posts
• Black stain rim joist all around, ends of house girder, front of the other girders, each post, stringers, and sub-rail
• Paint the first row of siding at the deck
• Cut and apply joist tape to all the joists and blocking and stringers
• Use the solid Fiberon to cut the 6-piece picture frame, notching at each post
• Cut and place the first grooved deck board at the house
• First, verify that the deck board at the top of the stairs will be at least 3” wide. If not, start deck boards at top of stairs and plan to rip the board at the house.
• Place one grooved deck board after another until done

Alastair Knows All the Angles

When you have two boards that meet to form a 90° angle, you can cut each one at 45° to make a miter. Likewise, if the boards form a 45° angle, you cut each at 22.5° and there's your miter. The circular saw has an angle guide that goes up to 45 and has 22.5 specially marked.

So, when the plans call for a 33° and a 21° angle on the "prow," and you're cutting the rim joists on either end, we just split the angle, right? I cut one at 16.5° and the other at 10.5° and I was horribly wrong.

I still don't quite get it. If the prow was 45° on both sides, wouldn't we miter at 22.5°? If not, when do you use 22.5? (Answer: When you're cutting baseboard facets around rounded-corner drywall.)

So, I went back to the drawing board. I simply drafted the 33° corner at large scale. The non-rim joists that hit the prow would be cut at 33°--that much was clear, at least. And that means setting the circular saw to 33°.

But the miter not so much. On my drawing, I confirmed that the angle of the two rim joists was 123° on the inside and 237° on the outside (which makes 360°). So, just split 123 and set the circular saw to 61.5°, right?

First of all, no, because the circular saw only goes to 45. I need a Spinal Tap circular saw. I drew the "perfect" miter on my large scale drawing and I could see that neither board required more than a 45° cut. So, we're looking at the right angle inverse of 61.5, which is 28.5°. Just to be clear: When you're mitering a 33° break like this, just cut both boards at 28.5° and you're good. What the hell?

Furthermore, while that might work, I drew the perfect miter--the line that bisects the intersection of two 1.5" boards at 33°--and the angles were not equal. It measured out at 33° for the straight rim joist and 24° for the angled prow rim joist. They add up to 57°, which is the right angle inverse of...wait for it...33°.

I unscrewed the rim joist and recut the end that had been 16.5° and made it 33°. Then I recut my first attempt at the prow rim joist because I had measured to the cantilevered joist, not the tip of the prow that wasn't there yet. But when I put it together, it worked. Yay for drawings at large scale. Not so much for my conceptual math skills.

Framing as of Monday evening