But the main goal, which was the deck boards, is nearly complete. The growth problem stems from the fact that, as each branch of the project advances, as things get fixed, other things near the project become, by contrast, more obviously needy of work.
Scary! This is a dangerous spiral over which I have no control. The "project" is taking on a life of its own. Where will this end? Will I succumb to total renovation? Kitchen? Bathroom? Or the dreaded addition? Help me!
The stairs from the deck down to the pool area have needed attention for quite a while. There is really no sense in painting them until some problems are addressed. There is a unique phenomenon encountered by people who live in houses built on the side of a hill. Students of architecture learn that the problem is, that everything, the house and all things attached to it or not, eventually moves by gravity at varying speeds albeit very, very, slowly down the hill to the bottom.
We have noticed this movement on these steps, which was accelerated several years ago when a landscape company we hired added tons of rocks and topsoil to the slope above the steps. The tonnage has pushed the steps out of alignment with the deck in two planes.
The high corner sits on a column set in concrete. Its hard to say whether the rest of the steps sank down (likely) or whether the column lifted. At any rate, my remedy will be to notch out the landing, after disconnecting the stairs from the facer beam. The hard work, it took me all afternoon to get the spiral nails out. Alas - Success - Level again.
The next challenge is to somehow align the boards on the landing back parallel with the top steps, while keeping them 90 degrees to the bottom steps. There has to be some juggling here but I started by cutting out a wedge (rain starting) which will allow the boards to be pried up and re-installed in line with the steps. The picture below shows the boards reinstalled temporarily (I'm going to replace them all since rot has set in). Fortunately all the stringers and supports looked good.
Not bad for a start. To complete the juggling act and perfect the illusion of straightness I shall cheat the gaps in the new boards to improve the parallelism.
There! The steps look much, much better and visually correct. And I did the railings upstairs this morning.
Hmmm... Now that wall to the left needs work...
Enough for today already. See if "the project" consumes my whole summer while I gouge weeds out of the paving stones. Check back soon.
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