Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Todd Stock

>Nice to see that someone else is being coerced into installing 'graspable handrails' - mine will of course be stolen by thieves unknown the night following final inspection.

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Mark Meier (Ann Arbor, MI)

>Looks great, Bill. I like the railing detail and color scheme of the steps/house. Please post pictures when the turnings are in place.

Mark

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I actually appreciate the handrails - though I'd have hated to install commercially available rails of this type, which can be right ugly. Our previous stairs had 2x4s on the flat, about 2 feet above the steps and way too low to be useful. A few years back, I slipped on the steps going down on a frosty winter morning, and suffered a mighty bruised back that had me stiff and sore for weeks - I couldn't pick up anything heavier than about five pounds without a sharp gasp. So I am grateful for the code-required handrails.

Just don't hold your breath, Mark

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Thanks. We're getting the house repainted this summer, and struggling with the color choices. It will be similar, but more of a gray-blue, if we can find the right one.

I meant to say

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>to explain the message title, that it will be quite a while before I turn the finials. Lots of more urgent stuff, plus I'd like to spend some time NOT working on the house.

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

John Truxell-Svenson (jvs)

>Seconded on the railings and color scheme. A closer look at the balusters would be nice to see, too.

Work on something besides the house? What--did you buy a boat?




/jvs

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Dave Anderson Chester,NH

>I'm sorry to hear of your travail Bill ;-)) what are you going to do now that the project is done? Well, almost. I think a bunch of us have been following this with interest since back in the days of the Pond. I guess this means that we're going to have to harass you about starting some other projects and posting pictures of them. Lt's see now, how about an Goddard-Townsend secretary, or maybe a nice reproduction of a Seymour commode.

Seriously though, I'm glad you have finally almost reached the end. I know it's been a long haul for you. Judging from the picture the results are well worth the effort.

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Todd Stock

>Don't get me wrong, Bill - yours are a good solution to a tough problem - the color contrast even makes the vintage-style low rails stand out. My steps already have code-height railing, but still require the additional railing.

I think the minimum railing height requirement of the IRC is one of the harder things to handle with grace in restoration - there are many bad jobs to be seen here in the DC area, so a decent solution really stands out.

A look at the shot suggests that you did a lot of work to ensure that the 'belt and suspenders' requirements of the code did not end up dictating a bad design. You might consider shooting a copy of the post to FHB for use in one of their compilations of good solutions to common problems.

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>Congratulations on a job well done. In my estimation, you are now ready to move on to building some fine furniture (just like the Norm did when he graduated from TOH to NYW :^J). We'll be here to help and harass you, whatever you decide to take on next, and we'll wait patiently for the report on the finials. Remember, turning gouges are hand tools too, even if you don't use a treadle, or an apprentice, to turn the lathe.

Fabulous Full-Frontal Festoonery, Friend!

David Barnett

>

Perennial Porch Project Permit?

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Permit? We don't need no stinkin permits! ;)

Look great Bill, I bet it feel good to be wrapping this project up! Very nice indeed.

Re: Perennial Porch Project Permit?

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>My county is mixed urbanish and rural. Permits out in the West County, closer to the ocean and farther from Hwy 101 and the urbanish part, are treated as optional. Having seen some of the construction out there in the West County, I don't really object to permits; I'd rather have had the city guiding me to good construction practices, thank you. They've been very cooperative and helpful.

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Wiley Horne--Glendora CA

>Bill,

That is truly a beautiful job--and full of cheer the way the red, blue and white work together. The way the metal handrail curls around the whole assembly, and is bold in front, adds a great deal. It makes the whole house very pleasing, and will repay many times over all the work and thought and planning that you and your son put into it.

Wiley

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Brad in Ottawa

>Bill,

Great job! I remember reading the posts on the Pond about this... nice to see it done... well 99.9% done!

Just hope my wife doesn't see this! She wants a porch on our place, she even checked and apparently we don't need a permit for the porch.

I have too many woodworking projects planned to do real projects!

Brad

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>She is free to talk with MY wife, who is saying, "no more projects for a while," and who has managed to blame this project on me, even though we started it because she was getting paranoid that someone would get injured on the steps that we had to replace right away and then the front rim joist (well, sort of; very creative construction on this thing) was rotten and then the framing was completely inadequate and the decking punky and before you know it we're back to the wall of the house. Her fault, not mine. Really.

Ain't it the truth

Dan Donaldson

>No remodel project ever goes as planned;-) Reminds me of a small upstairs bathroom that needed a floor, so I decided to put in ceramic tile. My momma didn't raise no fool, so I waited until SWMBO went to visit her folks for a couple of weeks to do the job. Tore out the old tile, but then decided to add a fan, which the bathroom didn't have. Went and got a fan, cut the hole and set up to mount it. Every other area that I did in this house (ceiling fixtures and fans in all of the bedrooms) had the wire to the switch going up through the top plate, so I go looking for the wire to the old light. No wire. Hmmmmm....

Take cover off box for switch and check wiring. Goes DOWN;-( Why did they do that? Aha, there is a medicine cabinet in the wall on the other side, and it was probably easier to go under than to drill all of the stuff in the wall with no wall there. Did I mention that this was an upstairs bathroom? No way to get under. So, punch holes in wall to get to studs and drill so I can run wiring. Get wire run, but now have to fix holes made in drywall. OK, no problem. Fix holes, but now have to paint. Can't just paint over patches or will look bad, so...Repaing bathroom. Now I can finish the floor, which was what I started with;-)

Don't even ask what happened when I decided to tear out an old wet bar to build in an entertainment center ;-)

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>Let me chime in and say that it looks like you have done a great job there. Very nice solution to the handrail problem.

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>My town has an historical house* ordinance, that allows you to maintain features that would violate current code. While few people exercise it, because it's somewhat restrictive, the building department has realized that there's no percentage in insisting on everything meeting code when someone does a remodel. So, for instance, they allowed me to install a balustrade two feet high, consistent with the existing balustrade on the porch, as long as the openings in the balustrade were under 4" and the handrail was at code height. Code would demand that the balustrade be three feet high, to provide a real challenge to little kids who might want to dive into the dahlias, but this would have required the balustrade to terminate in the middle of the turned section of the porch posts and would have looked like a noun I can't use in this family-friendly forum. I was quite happy with this solution, and wish that everyone could have such a sensible building department.

*I recognize that, to those from the older sections of the U.S. or (trumping even New England) from Europe, the concept of a house a mere 110 years old being "historical" may be amusing, but by California standards, they are historical.

Re: Perennial Porch Project Passes Perusal

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>If your house were here, I think that it would be the oldest house in the county.