At first my client and I thought this banister just needed a little TLC... But within a few minutes, we discovered that it needed to be completely replaced: Whoever built this used untreated lumber, and the concrete stairs were wicking water into the wood and rotting it. The wood was basically just compost held together by a coat of paint. Luckily that made it easy to remove, and I soon had it chiseled out. Once the banister was removed, we were left with these galvanized threaded rods, which were fortunately in great shape to re-use! If you think about it, building a wooden railing on concrete steps poses a major problem: how do you attach the railings to the concrete? Despite his oversight in using untreated wood, the original builder actually had a very sturdy and ingenious design for these railings. He started with galvanized threaded rods drilled and set in anchoring cement. Then he added a base-plate that was glued, bolted and screwed into the concrete floor. He built the post around the base-plate and tightened it down. I decided to copy his method, with a few improvements of my own. (For example, I used treated lumber!) This system really does seem to work well for attaching wooden posts to a concrete floor. These posts are solid! Once the posts were finished, I installed the railings, trim and copper caps. This was an enjoyable project to do. It was a "thinking man's" carpentry, with a lot of detailed design hidden inside. I'll take some wood samples home with me to test the moisture readings. Once they reach around 15%, we'll be ready to paint. Do you need a banister or railing repaired? If so, please get in touch. I'll be glad to help. Keep Reading
Ah, Spring! First the flowers begin to bloom... then the birds begin to sing... then the mosquitoes begin to bite. That's right, it's time to get the screened-in porch out of storage. If your porch needs a little TLC, you might get inspiration from a project I recently finished on an historic Asheville home. The Puppy Porch Peril One of my clients owns a lovely home in the Montford neighborhood. It's 75 years old, and although it's in great shape, it needed a little help here and there.
Her first concern was the aging porch. It has screens going all the way down to the floor. Her cats had already clawed a few holes in the mesh, and she was about to adopt a puppy, so more damage was on the way unless we could find a solution. A tour of Asheville will eventually bring you to a gorgeous historic neighborhood full of old Victorian homes interspersed with Arts-and-Crafts bungalows, plus a few modern houses designed with a sensitive vintage touch. The streetscapes are just right—the perfect balance between casual and beautiful. That's the Montford area, and it's my favorite place to work. One of the challenges of fixing up a Montford home is the requirement that all exterior improvements must be in keeping with the historic nature of the community. I recently finished a project for one of my clients who needed a custom stair banister to match the railing on her 100+ year-old home. It turned out really well. First, a before-and-after shot: Now let's look at a slideshow of a few process shots. It all looks so easy when I put it into six pictures, but in fact, there were a lot of processes on this job that don't show up in photos. Historic homes like this one often have little idiosyncrasies (that's part of their charm). For example, the stone steps weren't symmetrical or level, which made it a challenge to place the railings. Luckily it turned out well.
Another point to ponder was the fact that the stair banister will be more exposed to the elements than the porch railings are. For this reason, we opted to use treated lumber. As I have discussed elsewhere, treated lumber can't be painted until it has seasoned for a few months. That's why the wood is still unpainted. The historic design was also a challenge. Compare it to the utilitarian railings I recently did for an apartment complex. On those stairs, I could use standard lumber from the hardware store, but here every piece had to be custom milled and then routed with a custom router bit in order to match the existing porch. But I'm not complaining... this kind of work is really rewarding. I've made lots of music and other art, but somehow it's projects like these that make me really feel like an "artist." A big thank-you to my clients for the opportunity to build this for them! I've been "too busy to blog" lately, but I thought I'd take a moment to show you a few repairs and improvements I recently made for my client Debbie. Debbie really loves her home, and she plans to stay in it for a long time, so she made a list of "little things" she wanted done to make her house just right. Everybody has those; even if you buy a great house, there's usually that one little thing that you want to change. In Debbie's case, I was able to make a few simple changes that updated the house and brought it out of the 20th century and into the 21st. In this post, I'm going to show how just a few small updates gave a fresh look to the porch. Here's a "before" shot: Her chief complaints about this porch were the railings (which were rotten and peeling) and the dated light fixtures and shutters. I replaced the railings with new Trex composite railings which will never need to be repainted: Then I updated the light fixtures: And last, but not least, I updated the windows. She wanted the windows to look taller, so I added white trim at the top and bottom of each window, and then I updated the shutters with something more stylish: Now she has a porch with solid railings that will last a lifetime, and trim and details that make it look fresh and contemporary. This is yet another example of how a modest budget can make a big difference.
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