Finished the stairs at about a quarter to one today. Got everything done as planned. The biggest time-sink was staining the steps, but I laid them out on the lawn and used a big roller. I went with a more reddish stain: Sico 757 “Redwood” latex based from Rona. It’s the same shade as the shed, more or less, but the shed was done with an oil-based semi-transparent stain. The biggest question mark was drilling the holes in the 4×4’s and runners for the 8 inch carriage bolts I picked up last night. I had to drill through 7 inches of wood with only about a 4-inch drill bit. Luckily for me, I managed to keep it all straight.
Speaking of carriage bolts, and 104 three-inch wood screws later, I think I’ll go on record as saying that the “bonus” impact driver that I got in my set of Ryobi cordless tools is the best thing since sliced bread. 🙂 It redefines what is possible.
The last step was getting the railings into place. Tammy helped and they were up in no time. So for $139 in materials and labour, the stairs are much more solid than before. Tammy was surprised at the difference when she climbed them for the first time.
Thanks to everybody who helped.
The end product looks great! Maybe we should hire ourselves out for part time work on the weekends!! The painting and staining makes all the difference. Mom says .."Congratulations on a job well done".
Looks great, should get a lot more years out of those stairs now! Good work you guys!!!
Makes my 3 piddly stairs in the garage look like child’s play….