Railing all cut & dry-fitted

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It's about Finish
Posted Oct 26, 12:54 AM

Thanks guys :) Well, I’m celebrating tonight! I was so very very worried about the railings- it’s probably THE most technically challenging part of the entire addition, even moreso than the kitchen or the plumbing or the HVAC, just because of the difficulty not only of design and technique, but also adding in the tweaks and the imperfections and trying to make it all fit perfectly despite no clean angles or points of reference- but when we cut and fit the last 2 pieces of railing tonight, the straight sections that go at an angle along the stairs, it all came together perfectly! I cut both pieces 2” too long, and I must have trimmed the long one 6 times on both ends trying to make it match perfectly before I was happy.

The angle of the dangle is the inverse of the square of the hypotenuse. Or something like that.

Honestly, the secret to attempting something like this is planning, planning, planning and patience. Maybe some more patience, too. The railing will be stained the same color as the stairs & newels. But first, we’ll dismantle this all tomorrow and glue & reassemble it, then once it’s up, put the rest of the screws in the newels to permanently fix them into place. (The lower 2 are loose to allow connection of the railing.) Then, probably 2-3 days of sanding and 2 days of finish.

Railing, 100% dry-fit in-place!

Two of the iron balisturs are up, too, as I wanted to check and make sure we could fit them in after-the-fact before we glued the railing in place. The upper hole is ever-so-slightly overdrilled so that it slides up into the hole 1/8” too far, then drops down into the lower hole. They’ll all get cut and glued in later. Still have to drill the ones along all the stairs. Those will be difficult…

Oh, also, Home Depot called today and our carpet is in. With any luck, we’ll be done-done with the stairs AND carpet by next weekend and moved on to trim :D