We’re about to start season 7 in our never-ending episode of a reality series of the Money Pit. One of the most major internal changes we have looked forward to doing to this 106+ year old home is to tear out and rebuild the stairs. It took lots of saving up, lots of OTHER remodeling, etc. to get to this point. But the stairs have been the major hold up to all other remodeling advancement in the house.
Stairway to Hell
We’re really bad about missing “before” shots. We always realize we haven’t taken one until we’ve done something irreversible and then we go “Darn! we didn’t take a before shot!”. On this project that moment came right after we tore the old nightmare out. But when you can’t stand looking at something, can’t stand it in your life, and live for the day you can get rid of it – who needs a picture. I could barf a perfect replica for you if you’d like.
We knew the stairs had been torn out and changed at least once before because we could tell by the marks on the subfloor on the bottom floor. At some point in their previous life they had started at least 10 inches and as far as 2 feet east of where they did when we bought the house. We didn’t realize just how bad the extent of the “remuddling” until we started tearing them out. Come to find out they had been originally built at a decent angle, had a landing, turned 90 degrees and went on up to the second floor. That was not revealed until we started tearing out the upper floor.
When we bought the house the stairs were a straight run. They were at a 36 degree angle (which is real damned steep!) were only 30 inches wide (which is real damned narrow!), and when you got to the second floor you walked into a wall and had to make a hard right and step up another 8-1/2 inches to get onto the second floor proper. If you’ve ever been to the Winchester house you’ve got a good idea of the freakazoid feel of these babies. It was like some one with a true mental disorder had built them.
And they were built wrong. When I say wrong, I mean they defied gravity. And while we knew that about the stairs themselves, what we didn’t know until we started the demolition is that not only the stairs defied gravity but everything you stepped onto at the top of them. 107 years is plenty of time for idiots to butcher a house. What should have taken 3 days took 4 because we had to rebuild the entire middle section of the second floor. That extra work is because we’ve got some kind of character defect that makes us have almost an addiction to walking on floors that actually connect to something. We’ll get therapy later.
Yes, they were built wrong. The stringers (just two – one on each side) were 1-by’s nailed to the wall. Note I said WALL – not walls. Because there was actually only one real wall, even though the stairwell was fully enclosed. The second wall was 1-by decking with 1-by wood planking. lol And that fake wall was 3/4 of an inch too tall – which gave you an added funhouse effect when you made upstairs and walked down the 29 inch wide hall that ran along side the stairwell. It was like one of those gravity houses at fun parks.
And I didn’t mention that when they stuck the poor stairs back in wrong, they didn’t bother leveling them either. So on any given step you had an almost 3/4 inch slant over a 30 inch wide step. So as you climbed the stairs you were listing north, but when you finally leaped that last 8-1/2 inches to the top floor you immediately went into a list to the south. Kind of like weebles wobbles but they don’t fall down.
And did I mention they were built wrong. When the cornholio who tore them out and slapped them back in did his nightmare on Elm street routine, he didn’t bother buying new treads. He used the original ones even though when he tore the stairs out he split every single tread pulling them up. So there was at least one crack running the full width of every stairs. Which means EVERY SINGLE TIME some one came down the stairs it sounded like you were listening to a horror film where the freaked out chick is hiding in the closet listening to the mass murderer come her way. CREAK CREAK CREAK – 14 times, for 14 steps.
Oh, and then there was the deal about them not being built right. So this landing that had originally been there was still there! It was just covered up by the muddled up second floor that was just laid down over it to create the leaning tower of Piza 29 inch wide hall. Only – when they tore out the top portion of the stairs (the last few stairs that were originally there after you made the 90 degree turn on the landing) they tore out all the support to the landing. So for no one knows how many decades the entire east end of the stairs and the second floor was just hanging in mid-air.
So picture this…my son is 6’4″ and probably 220 lbs. His cousin (his best friend) is 6’7″ tall and probably at or exceeding 300 lbs. They walked up the stairs together many times over the years. And then when I think about the things we hauled up and down the stairs.
Oy.
Yeah, and then the point about them being built wrong. Code requires a minimum head height of 6′ 8″ at the lowest clearance. My 6’4″ son had to duck every time he went up stairs because they had been moved east almost 2 feet leaving about 6′ clearance on the third step.
I didn’t tell you about the handrails, did I? Oh, you’re going to love this. Two handrails (in a 30 inch wide staircase) MADE OUT OF GAS LINE PIPE. Hubby’s still poking fun at me because I didn’t want to reinstall them. No – I’m not kidding, friggin’ gas pipe as handrails. Painted, of course, but still with the threaded ends on them. LMAO
Okay, enough of the past. About what we pulled off. Keep in mind that all measurements to design these stairs (a feat we had never attempted before) were done blind with the old stairs still installed. We decided to do it that way to minimize the time without stairs (because we had to get to the second floor on an extension ladder). So we did the best we could on height to the second floor as well as any difference there might be between the starting floor and the floor of the original house. Because you have to keep in mind we were turning the stairs by 180 degrees so that they start in what will be our library, instead of sticking out in the middle of the kitchen and obstructing the traffic path to what will be my dining room. The library is part of a two-story 10 ft x 30 ft structure we completely rebuilt from foundation up ourselves. So there is a slight difference between the subfloor of that structure and the original house….because we’re not perfect.
So we did the best we could on measuring and estimating and I designed the stringers. It took 4 weeks to find clear enough 2 inch x 12 inch x 20 ft long lumber (because they don’t grow Pines that big anymore!) to use as stringer material. Then we precut the three stringers.
Old Stair Specs:
30″ wide
36 degree angle
two 1 x 10 stringers
no two steps the same height
treads approx. 10″ in depth
direction – west to east starting from center of house and ending at a wall (lol)
New Stair Specs
36″ wide
32 degree angle
three 2 x 12 stringers
all steps the same height (last step up will be less than 1/8″ difference from all other steps – pretty damned good!!!)
treads 11″ depth (to fit Hubby’s ski-size feet)
direction – east to west starting from library and ending on – of all things – a 4 foot deep landing!
The Big Reveal
This first graphic shows the difference in angles between the old stairs and the new stairs.
This second picture is of the backside of the new stairs shot from the kitchen (look at the storage space we have! and we can actually have a coat closet now! – OMG!!!) The white box I’ve inserted in the picture shows the footprint of the old stairs.
And then just pics of the finished product. Of course, we only have 1 x 8 decking down right now as temporary treads. We have to save our pennies now to get the finish material.
Sorry for rambling on like this about an off-topic issue here, but in case you haven’t noticed we are very proud of our work and extremely relieved to have this portion of our most excellent adventure behind us. We can now start doing major finish-out work in several areas of the house that have been on hold until this major change was completed. Hubby always leaves me a note in my coffee cup to read in the morning. Today’s note read “Turn around and look at how you just got down here and SMILE! :D ”
Valhall.
P.S. Not a SINGLE tread squeaks! hahahaha
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