DIY Renos

Jes remember Normie, HEAVY ON THE FRAMING. That stuff makes Granite look like bulsa wood. And yah might wanna wait 'til spring before you polk the chute of the ready mix truck thru' the kitchen window. Float it wet AND USE A VIBRATOR TAH GET THE AIR BUBBLEZ OUT NORMIE, THE AIR BUBBLEZ

 

He mounted his jigsaw to a floater board and vibed it down. I tell ya the guy knows his a$$ from page 2. He contracts to the US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, building for them.

Hope the distraction works with HERSELF. Have a good Christmas.

 

Concrete eh, Normy?
Based on what I've seen regarding your front walk I'd suggest something a little less DIY.

 

I didn't have a good mixing recipe, like he provides. It's Normie-Proof!

 

One of the most refined sets of Woodworking books ever. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to scan them and post them. They're huge (67 MB to over 100 MB files.)

The weirdest thing is that they are on a Russian (.ru) site:

The Art Of Woodworking
======================
http://woodtools.10gb.ru/big/TAOW/The_Art_Of_Woodworking.htm

Mirror site for downloads:
http://mirror.woodtools.nov.ru/big/TAOW/The_Art_Of_Woodworking.htm

These are large PDF files. I made a list of all the books. They were originally sold by Time Magazine.

I downloaded them last January, at least 1 hour for each.

Here's the list:
X Advanced Routing (pdf, 84 MB) Mirror site
X Building Chairs (pdf, 83 MB)
X Cabinets And Bookcases (pdf, 99 MB)
X Classic American Furniture (pdf, 105 MB)
X Contents Of All books (pdf, 9 MB)
X Cabinetmaking (pdf, 94 MB)
X Encyclopedia Of Wood (pdf, 112 MB)
X Finish Carpentry (pdf, 93 MB)
X Hand Tools (pdf, 67 MB)
X Handbook Of Joinery (pdf, 98 MB)
X Home Workshop (pdf, 99 MB)
X Kitchen Cabinets (pdf, 95 MB)
X Master Woodworker (pdf, 85 MB)
X Outdoor Furniture (pdf, 103 MB)
X Portable Power Tools (pdf, 94 MB)
X Restoring Antiques (pdf, 80 MB)
X Routing And Shaping (pdf, 101 MB)
X Shaker Furniture (pdf, 103 MB) First site
X Sharpening And Tool Care (pdf, 95 MB)
X Shop-Made Jigs And Fixtures (pdf, 100 MB)
X Tables And Desks (pdf, 95 MB)
X Wood Carving (pdf, 115 MB) First site
X Wood Finishing (pdf, 93 MB) Mirror site
X Wood Turning (pdf, 96 MB) Mirror site
X Wooden Toys and Crafts (pdf, 82 MB)
X Woodworking Machines (pdf, 98 MB)

The "Finish Carpentry" book has the Stair building instructions and an excellent section on building a Router Jig for the risers and tread slots.

EDIT: Main Index to that site. Check out the publications and books! OMG!
http://mirror.woodtools.nov.ru/index.htm

 

Merry Christmas to You and your Family Too Norm. My Bride and I flew down to Wilmington, N.C. yesterday to spoil our only Grand Child. FYI, We quit after one kid and she quit after one kid too(Grand Baby'z 12 going on 19) 6th grade and shez taking high school algebra. Boy do I feel old 'N stupid:banghead3: I took it, but Moses waz a corporal back then Nature can be ah mother in the south too! Their callin' fer "chunky Rain" Christmas nite Lookz like R.K.'z gonna get hammered too STAY WARM PAL, Jer

 

Online Stair calculators

My newfound friend from Portales, New Mexico, Bob Johnston, does Contract building for our and your troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The guy is an old school diehard, full of practical experience. I've done a lot of work in the construction and millwork industry over the years, but he cuts out the myths in short order.

He sent me a link to some new articles on his home page, and reposted his stair calculations document. Stair building is not complicated, although if you read too many sites, you can get lost in the half done drivel and poor math that you read.

Go back to your old geometry classes and the class on finding the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle: If 'A' is the base, 'B' is the vertical, how to you find 'C'?

In Stairs,
"A" is the Total Rise
"B" is the Total Run
"C" is the stair stringer.

A-squared PLUS B-squared = C-squared

So you haul the calculator and find the Square Root of "C".

The trick stuff is commonsense. How thick the boards and drywall panels are, the steps and their mounting cuts, how thick the bull nosing is, what the finished floor thickness is.

EXCEPT that these 2" X 12" X 20' boards for stringers cost a lot for each one, and if you screw up, you practically throw away $100 per board.

I need 3 of them for each stair. and I have 2 stairs to build.

The only site that does a decent job of displaying the issues is here:
http://www.blocklayer.com/Stairs/StairsEng.aspx

The best explanations, after many books, is Bob's PDF documents:
http://www.carpenterbooks.com/message2.php

Although this site has a decent document with some limited diagrams:
http://www.renovation-headquarters.com/stairs.htm

My problem is that mine have to built to turn in the same width as the stair, which almost makes it a winder type staircase (for the UP stairs) and the basement ceiling height is just barely high enough to meet local building codes. So I threw on my Software Programmer hat, and started developing a routine in MS Excel. Turns out that most Excel wizards, and I am one, have no clue about using Excel's Drawing components like the Shapes. They can draw a chart from spreadsheet data from any computer in the world, they can flip them and change them without any problem, but not the shapes graphics.

My old development tools will still work until Windows 7 dies, so I figured I'd build a better mousetrap. I'll build 2. One in Excel and one in VisualBasic 6. The VB6 program can work without Excel, and the Excel program will work from Excel 97 to Excel 2010.

For now, I'll use Bob's information and cross-check the information I get from those 2 other sites. I've got the shell of these done in both software projects, so what I learn by doing, will go into them, day by day.

Bob mentions a Casio calculator that I don't have with a special key that he uses to calculate the 'Rake'. That term confused me a bit, but the idea is to get the full length of the board from top to bottom, including the cutoffs at the end. How else would you know what length to buy or cut? Practical to me. The other sites mention the estimated length to buy, but when you see them in real life, you note that the boards are splitting from months of rain and sun and... Not good for a set of stairs. I don't want to end up with the square root of dick.

Anyone following this... could you let me know if you use Excel or not? and what version.

My general plan is to have the program get the user's measurements for Total Rise, Total Run (unless he owns a castle) and print out a working stringer cutting diagram with dimensions, after the user tinkers with optional step 'risers' (step height) and runs (tread depth).

It won't do spiral or curved staircases. That's beyond my skills, as a builder and a programmer. BUT I will include a ladder building option and a wheelchair ramp option. The IBC building code rules will be embedded into the calculations, and warnings will pop up to remind the user to stay within the regulations.

I'll include links to the better Stairbuilding sites that I find, including building code links.

 

I love yah Normie but HUH? Their'z only enough stairz in my Ponderosa to keep the lizardz out I still carry the 40# salt bagz to the basement but I stop tah let my armz rest 4 timez on the way down That'z kinda every other step plus 1 az I'm sure you know Glad you're back Man

 

Man what a difference with the basement properly insulated. They even fireproofed the insulation. Had to let it cure (sprayed on) now I'll spray paint where I won't install drywall (crawlspace).

Anyway back to work... I got exhausted and caught one mean cold for a few weeks, but I've got my butt off the ground again and rarin' to tear!

See y'all later!

 

Great, you didn't wall yourself in, or paint yourself in a corner and stuck there till the slow dry paint does its thing.

We are expecting pictures of your handiwork when you are done. Hey, its where a wagon person lives, and the wagon'ette person as well, so it has to be worthy of pictures, right?

 

Great seeing you posting again Norm, the place just hasn't been the same with out you! My honey and I un-dug a coffee can from the back yard and are going to dump 10 grand+ into the house starting.....when the rain and wind stops. And like you, I'll do 99.9% myself. Some work is in the should be done rather than OMG needs to be done, but more... WTF lets spruce the place up kinda stuff.

 

My dad and I just added on to our garage a couple months ago.Me as the helper I can't work with wood for nothing, but I did lay brick with him on it.He is a masonry contractor and I grew up in the trade and even spent 12 years doing it full time before my automotive trade.Laying brick and block is one of those things fun for a little project but the h*!? with doing it for a living!

 

Nice work!

If I ever win the lottery, I'll hire some stone masons from Quebec to build me a round fieldstone house. They're the best in the country. Family tradition over there too! I'd have to move out of the Red River Valley, or else it would sink. 2 foot thick walls and foundations make clay awful spongy.

 

I just realized I've been wishing to win the lottery but haven't bought the tickets....

 

That would help the odds.