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so you've got yourself what they call a
Triple Decker three different units on
three different floors and I'm on the
third floor and of course there's no
elevator here so of course it's been a
little challenging getting up and down
the stairs what we're getting by um
there's a few more projects that are
going to be done in the apartment um to
make it a little easier and a little
safer for me to get around so well as
you know you know we're working with the
Boston survivors accessibility Alliance
and together we're going to take care of
some of those projects but the first
thing we want to start with are your
front steps and Tom you've had a look at
them I have had a look at them and
there's a couple of things that really
jump out at me well first of all when
they build a wooden stair they always
like to put an overhang on it like this
and aesthetically that's great it also
gives a nice wide platform to step on
when you're going up the stairs the
problem is with someone with a
prosthetic if they climb the stair they
drag that foot they can actually trip on
that overhang that is true and that has
happened to me I have to think about it
all the time when I'm going going up and
down the stairs oh that's definitely
something that we need to fix the other
thing that jumps out at me are the
risers the Riser height needs to be
consistent over the stair run and if I
measure right here I've got 9 and 1/2 in
7
in seven and nine wow now that alone is
illegal and unsafe for anybody right so
the project for us today is to rebuild
your old stairs I'm so excited thank you
all right let's get started let's get
the tools
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wow look at all the work you've got done
yeah we got your old stairs out
completely gone and here is a piece of
the old stair stringer now you had three
steps they were all uneven and they were
also cut at a 90° angle but we have cut
a new Stringer which you're going to
like a lot better right here and the
first thing is is that every Riser is
now exactly the same height right we
also added a step 1 two three four by
adding a step that allows us to shrink
the height of the Riser making it more
comfortable and more safe now your old
stringers were cut at a 90° angle by
cutting it at a 90° angle the stair step
hung over about 3/4 to an inch creating
a trip point for you what we did is we
cut the Stringer on an angle that allows
us to pitch our Riser making the stair
tread flush eliminating that trip point
so now all we got to do to get the
stringers in is to add one piece of
structure right here and we're ready to
go
exactly we have six stringers spaced 16
in apart and this 2x6 will hold them
together at the
top and another 2x6 we'll hold them
across the bottom
this toe kick will stiffen up the bottom
Horizon we'll fasten the stairs to the
porch using Timber screws
now we're going to attach the bottom of
the stairs to the concrete walk with a
masonry fasten so what I got to do first
is pre-drill a
hole we're using solid PVC trim boards
for the risers that we f with a special
screw the screw head drills a perfectly
round hole that we fill with a PVC
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plug all right now these composite deck
fors just get screwed right through the
stringers
wow the stairs look great yeah your
stairs are all built and now it's time
to start thinking about a handrail the
railing is beautiful well this is a
handrail that we made just for you and
we had it built at a local welding shop
now they started with a straight piece
of inch quar tubular steel and they used
a machine Guided by a computer to bend
it in the exact shape that we needed
then they welded the end caps and the
brackets and they sprayed on a good
grade enamel finish now we had these
handrails made longer at the top and the
bottom so you can actually grab the
handrail before you enter the
stairway now the building code says that
the height of the handrail needs to be
34 to 38 in off the nose of a stair
thread now you're pretty tall how does
this feel for you right now this is 30
34 in that feels a little bit low okay
so let's move it up just a little bit
how does that one
feel yeah that's great that feels good
with right there okay that's where we'll
set it all right now let's get it on our
Mark there a mark up there I'm going to
drop it on my clamp down here make sure
I'm in the center of the post okay drill
it
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okay our stairs are all built our hand
hand rails are in and technically we are
built to code we don't need to close
this in because we're not high enough
off the ground but I want to go one more
step and close it in with a ballast rate
system and to do that we're going to use
this right here this is a kit comes with
a top rail a bottom rail the balls the
holes are all drilled in the balls it's
an engineered material and you never
have to paint it nice this is going to
fit a little tight get it in there it's
in
all right Karen your stairs and railing
are complete you want to try them out
I'd love
to no more trip points no more uneven
risers wow that's great
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