all right so here's the story we got
these steps outside the back porch and
they're crooked they've settled they're
unlevel and we just don't like them
we're going to upgrade to some decking
type steps and one of the first
obstacles we have to come
overcome is finding level on this Rascal
let me see if I can show you what I'm
talking
about I think you can see how it goes
slanting down
at an angle that way and it also has an
angle going that way so I have to
compound Cuts in order to get my
supports level and I have to be able to
find a good starting point that's going
to be
level you see that Gap under the door
you can see it's
settled several inches at
least and I
have this little laser
light which I had intended to use for
this I I was going to turn it on and
level it up and
find level there and then I could
measure down and get my measurements
that way
however in the house you can see it but
out here in the daylight you can't see
it so that's a no that's a nogo I'm
going to have to get out my good 6t
level and just do it the old school way
so I'll be making calculations and doing
Cuts we've got all this
Lumber that we're going to be
utilizing and I'll show you more as it
progresses
woohoo all right so several hours later
that's what I've got
done uh I had to
custom calculate and cut each and every
board due to the yaw and the wag of
things slant and downhill this way slant
and downhill that way and some of the
boards even though those are 2x 12s some
of them I ended up having to shim
up on this
end I think you can see there had to put
a shim under it to get it up to
level and there comes the air
conditioner so I'm going to stop here I
gotta screw all that
together and then I can get on with
it there's my little helper for today Iz
he's hanging out with me I know the air
conditioner is running I'm sorry about
that so I'll give you a quick sneak peek
at what's going on in
here I've doubled these so my picture
frame board can rest on it and so can my
main
flooring and I had to cut all those
out around that existing step and each
one was different measurements because
of the way it had sagged and before any
of you say well if it's
sagging now what's going to keep it from
sagging more
later well I have a feeling that this
amount of sag which you can see where
it's
dropped has taken
years and I'm hoping that this little
step project will get me through
10
years you know by then the deck will
probably need refreshed anyway so
uh I'm looking at it as
being cheaper than tearing this all out
and pouring new concrete cuz I can only
imagine what that would cost and how
much labor that would put me through so
anyway now I got to flip this up and put
screws into the back side of those Joys
and then I can begin working on the top
part of
it and then the Next Step will be just
to repeat this down lower and screw it
toenail it into this one and then again
at the bottom to make my final
step all right enough chatter let's get
on with
it I'm using East SL East Side Lumber
Yard Supply they're torit screws these
are 2 and half inch long and you still C
like this it doesn't tell you how many
screws are in there it's a pound and it
comes with driver but I'm going tell you
what the driver don't fit the screws
with the D it slips out I'll be
surprised if I use up all these screws
before that pit driver is
ruined
anyway you get the
idea I know it's starting to get dark
and this is where I got
done I still got to go around and screw
everything
down but that's the general look of
it
let's have a better
[Music]
look it's just going to be nice to come
out here and not feel like you're going
[Music]
sideways I can't believe how much time
it's taking me to do that little
bit all right there's what I'm looking
at first thing this
morning
all right I'm going to take a moment and
show you how I calculated my
measurements so I could get everything
level and what I did to start out with I
used that 6t level and I just propped it
up until I found level up against the
house underneath the door and then what
I
did make sure you can see what I'm doing
here CU I took a straight
edge I propped it
up and then I would measure down like
this and I would write that measurement
down and then I'd move over to my next
spot and repeat that let's do for an
example 10 and 3/4
here but over
here
13 and a
half
so and you just have to write that all
down and then transfer it into your
piece that you're going to be working
with and cut accordingly see my next
step is going to be 8 inch
rise which means I need to go 8 inches
down from the top here
and this right here 10 and
3/4 well that would be two and 3/4 down
here and then whatever it is out here
because this is different this way too
anyway I think that kind of explains it
it's a it's a lot of
work cuz each board is custom
cut so I hope that helps expl explain
you how I went about doing this finding
level and getting the boards cut
right then after you've written down
your measurements you get some gobbly G
that looks like
this
yeah but it'll makes sense to you as
long as you keep track of what you're
doing see I wrote down how many inches
across I was taking my measurements at
and then what it was up against the
house and then what it was on the down
onward
stroke and over here I was just I quit
writing them down I was just
transferring them
immediately but now I'm starting to
square one again so I got to start doing
that all over
again I tell you this is no joke it's
been all day this is all I've got to
show for
it I'm about to run out of
light and once you turn the lights on
around here the bugs are so bad you
can't stand to be out here
but it's closed now put the border trim
on I don't know what you call them and
then put the decking on top and that
level we'll be
done however I don't think I'll finish
it
tonight I'm running out of the time too
quick all right so you saw where I left
off last night kind of I came out here
this morning I have to work today but I
had a few hours to work on it and I was
able to get these front boards on and
get all the second tier steps cut and
laid out I got to screw them down yet as
you can see and uh and then one more
layer and I got a couple tricks I want
to show you as to how I'm calculating
some of these weird
angles hang on we'll see if we can do
that for
you I made this
jig and it's 9 in in from this lip to
the
end and what that allows me to
do let me back up to the bottom
tier is I can hold that over and put a
mark and then I'll know that that's
where my
next set of risers needs to go and I can
measure from here to
there and it'll be level all the way
around since I've already got my level
established and then when I'm
calculating for the angle that goes
downward toward the
house I was using the
level and I'm not going to get my level
but I'm going to show you set it up here
and I'd make a
mark and then I pull the level up until
the bubble was
true and make another mark
and then measure the distance in between
those marks and that would be how much I
needed to take off back
here
so that might help you if you ever come
across this kind of thing yes we're
getting a fine collection of scraps and
bits all right so here's what's
happening I got sunburnt like 10
freaking
tourist and to the point where I
couldn't sit I couldn't stand my back I
just had my shirt off for two days I
heard some without realizing it and I
got toasted so I've waited
till I didn't do anything yesterday I
couldn't stand it just my shirt touching
my back like to anyway enough of that
anyway waited till the sun's getting
Shady out here and I come back out here
and what I've done is I've taken a
router to this Edge
which will be the edge you uh on the
outermost TOP Step which I went all
around this on the Outer Edge and just
gave it a nice half round and then I did
this one and this one you can see with
the difference in color there and of
course this piece here goes over
there and uh cuz you can't get the
router up in the corners up in that
corner there or up is the house over
there so you wouldn't be able to get it
all if you tried to do it with it on
there and what else here I'm getting
ready to screw these
down and while I've got them unscrewed
I'm going to take advantage of the fact
we right here my bottom step I think is
going to be three boards wide so while
I've got it here and I can see
it I can take advantage of this and pull
a
measurement from up here
I cross the three boards to right here
and I'll know exactly how long that
board needs to be coming out this way
which it does change especially on these
angles like it'll be longer here in the
corner and longer out there on the end
where the 45° is that it will be right
here in the center so I'll be able to
cheat that way and go ahead and get
those measurements real easy so when I
get ready to do that bottom tier it'll
just make it that much nicer
and I'm sorry for the wavy camera I just
wanted to shoot a little bit before I
got to
work but yeah I'm going to go ahead and
put the rest of these screws in this
second tier here and
uh and then we'll see what happens from
there I may wait till tomorrow to start
working on the bottom tier but I want to
at least get these screwed
down and one of those hummingbird
feeders
dripped on it here here you can see it
there I moved it but uh I sanded that
down a little bit but it's going to need
some more and you can see where I did go
over it with the sander and smoothed out
some of the edges where they just
weren't exactly
right so I got that part screwed down
and the edges sanded
everywhere got that hummingbird feeder
drippage sanded
down and I went around all the joints
where all the boards meet and in case
some of the boards were Twisted a little
bit and it might stick up a little bit
and I sanded them all down you can see
some lighter spots here and
there or I hit it with the
sander there was a couple spots one or
two spots where I actually had to take
the angle grinder with a 60 grit flapper
wheel on
it to break it down enough to where the
little mouse finish Stander would smooth
it out so anyway yeah all right so
here's how far we are at the
moment one more tier of top deck and
assembly will be
done oh yeah looking good so I'm taking
a break here to talk to you and uh on
some of my angles where I would normally
use the speed square like on my 45s
but they happen to be a little bit off
for whatever reason because I don't do
this for a living I have found that this
is very helpful and it's just a
machinist angle
finder but I can put it in there
wherever I need it to be and keep moving
it until it fits right up to where I
want it to be and I can take this over
to my Lum and transfer the mark and uh
it's proven to be invaluable but plus if
you want to find degrees it's all
incremented out like for
example over there would be
90s but you see the pie l on top those
are
45s over here in this corner that should
be a 45 however I used the speed square
on it and it was off just a hair so
that's where I used this and it turned
out I don't know I moved it now but
anyway I was able to get it towards dead
nut and uh this one right here in the
center these that would be a 22 and 1/2
cuz it's a 45 cut in half so having this
has really been a bonus for this kind of
stuff especially if your stuff is not
exactly completely true and even if they
are but your standard skill saw doesn't
have a setting for 22 1/ 12° you have to
guess at it well again you can use this
put it up against your blade and up
against your guard and it'll let you
know right where you need to be I just
thought I'd share that with
you I'm
currently preparing to cut these deck
top deck boards for this last tier
that's what I'm doing I got that piece
cut that'll be there to match the
picture frame like on
those and you just saw I've got that end
piece on so now I got to start running
these pieces
and I'll get here get them all three
lined out and draw one continuous mark
across all three of them so they're all
cut the
same and then I'll make the other ones
from here back down to there where they
butt up to that
board oh yeah that's where we're
at all right so I got my miters all cut
my boards all positioned down on that
end I come down
here
where that 22 and 1 12 degree angle is
going to
be and in an effort to get my cut to
look
straight this is what I'm going to
do
and I'll cut each one of them and screw
these down and that's
fixed
[Applause]
all right so now that I cut them we go
back we place everything in place like
it's going to be make sure the gaps
everything look good then we come over
here oh look at that oh just look at
it oh yeah I can live with
that so before I screw anything down now
I got to get the router out and go
around that outermost board on the edge
and that farthest most board on its Edge
cuz I want that half
round routered on all those outside
boards so yeah I'm got to do that before
I screw anything
down and I I realized that I've been
doing a lot of work off camera
and uh that's why I'm just showing you a
couple of these steps here at the end
before it's too late and I can't back up
there's been several times where I was
like oh I should have showed them that
it's like when I was routering you know
I should have showed you that and uh the
way I cut that angle right there for
that 22 and 1/2 it may not be a 22 and
1/2 but by doing it that way the way I
did
it they'll be straight and when I butt
my other boards up to it they'll match
you know what I
mean so yeah all
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
right
[Applause]
I like
[Music]
that all
right
yeah
oh don't be flipping off my friends I
didn't all
right all the way you could do that to
him all right
now there it is all assembled I still
got to do a finished sand on on
it and I also need to put up a handrail
over
there uh our insurance company told
us that uh anything with a more than a
24 in drop had to have a handrail on it
and I never did put one on there so I'm
going to do it
now I bought some I think they call them
balls and it's pretty much pre-made
handrail boards I'm just going to screw
them to the side over there and then
I'll rip a piece of this 54 board and
screw it to the top and probably router
it
off and uh something to that effect I'll
let you know when I get done what I
did I hadn't really planned that far
ahead yet except for I know I needed to
do it anyway there it
is and all his
glory
and think Gizzy likes
it then of course I'm going to have to
stain it or water seal it or
something but that's for another
[Applause]
day yeah and there it
is I calculated my lumber pretty
good
I got just enough five4 board left to do
the
handrail and I got two extra 12T 2x
12 which I threw one on top of what I
had accounted for and I've actually got
two half pieces they're like five piece
5T long laying there so I got a little
bit extra Lumber that I didn't need but
better to have too much on the jobsite
then not enough and have to go get more
anyway that's that
yers I can live with that I can sit out
here look at that have my morning coffee
and not be cussing and sitting here
thinking and plotting and creating plans
in my
head it's been a real challenge but it's
been fun too I've enjoyed it I don't
know if you can tell by my face but I
got sunburnt like 10 mofos out here
doing this the other day
so that actually slowed me down a lot
cuz there was a a day and a half where I
couldn't stand to move and I didn't
touch it and then from then on I
wouldn't come out here until it got
Shady out here in the evening and then
the next thing I knew it would be dark
and I couldn't see to do anything so it
really held me up so it should have been
a 3-day project turned out to be closer
to a
week but anyway got a big mess to clean
up and finish my
handrail got all this
kindling scrap bits and saw
some of this wood I'll be able to use
for other
projects I think if I have enough left
over I'm going to take a piece of this
decking
board the 54 board which is what I used
on the top for the actual
steps and uh put them in this
swing for those cup holders I was
telling you about I wanted a place to
put my cup and I think I think I should
be able to just screw them this is flat
surface
here just cut them out to fit in here
just drill a hole through there and run
a screw from the backside into it and
also screw it into this post towards
level and I think that'll work fine for
a cup of coffee and a whatever else I
might have to have on my hands this time
so we'll see if I have enough left over
for
that
the one piece I got left is 12T long but
look at the way it worked can you see
that just laying out here in the hot sun
it looks like a
ski anyway I'm babbling I'm getting off
here and getting back to
work if I don't see you again in this
video thanks for stopping by hope it
helps you out hope you enjoyed watching
me do this and uh till later
cheers
[Music]
bye-bye