August 28, 2011

Just Another Hidden Snag - That's All - No Biggy!

Right.




Remember this?

Take a close look at the steps and compare in the next two photos.

 




Dwayne had to replace the entire staircase.

Huge difference in depth.  Makes it so much easier to walk up and down.  Jen took a " test drive " and felt the difference - immediately.

Dwayne told me it could have a lot to do with the problems I’ve been having with my legs and hips.

 



There’s even a landing now.  An additional step will be added on each side during the next round of days off.

( Check out the " temporary light switch ".  LOL  I'm not going downstairs anymore than I absolutely have to - until he gets that fixed! )

 



But here’s a problem.  Look above.

Our daughter, Jen, is 4’ 9” in height.  By the time anybody reaches the 3rd step from the landing while going down - at the moment - they have to bend over - or - face missing some time in their life when the lights go out upstairs - in their head - literally.


Even Jen has to bend down.

So - what’s upstairs that’s creating that mess?  A closet.

 



This is the wall and closet above the stairwell.  We’re taking out the closet.  ( There's an Antique Armoir out there - somewhere - with our name on it! )  All the wood stripping will be removed.  Bead-board will be installed 24” from the floor.  Sheetrock will cover all the remaining wall area ( for now ) - and a nice mellow but light-colored paint will brighten up the room!

 



Eventually - we’ll be finishing construction on the downstairs enough that we can turn this wall into a half-wall.  And that door to the stairwell will be removed.

 



Until this staircase is completely overhauled - and the closet removed - the barn waits - again.

 



This huge snag became necessary - all because we needed to re-adjust those black jack-posts due to settling of the house from the elements - before we can begin on the kitchen.

Up to this point -


We have had to tear out and re-construct the front porch staircase and landing - the basement staircase - and the piers for the entire back porch ( which made a huge difference in making it level ).

 



But - the issues of getting this portion of the barn ready for this winter come first.

And that’s after the other small barn is built out in the hay pasture for the cows.

And then the cows will show up.

Not until then.

2 comments:

Deb said...

What a pain! To bad you have to loose a closet I don't think you can have to many of them, but it will be nice to be able to stand upright all the way down the stairs. :)

Shim Farm said...

I feel your pain. Our barn is waiting, too. We can't find any hand-workers to do timber-frame repairs. That's not to say there are no timber-framers, there are, it's just they're more interested in residential high-end construction than barn repair. Ergo, we wait.

I've been living with an electrical switch like that for 3 years, since we started our "knotty pine purge" LOL...haven't electrocuted myself...yet.

I'll keep tabs on your progress!

Wishing you well from Montreal, Canada!

Ann @ Shim Farm