NRALIFR wrote:
Buzzcut1 wrote:
The one thing I would do is apply grip tape to the stairs. Wet boots, mud, and wood can be slick as hell. I speak from experience on slip and fall on wood stairs not so funny slapstick routine.
Very good point. I haven't done it yet, but I hope to start putting a clear finish on the steps soon. bka0721 made the suggestion of adding some grit to the final coat on the stair treads to add some traction. I'll do one or the other, as I'm finding out lately that I'm not quite as indestructible as I used to be.
:):)
Buzzcut and I were on the same page, but approached it differently. The grit in the finish will last a lot longer, not roll up and peel off, or look weird as it gets worn out. You can add more or less grit to the finish material and it is available in most paint departments, especially the Lowes and Home Depot. I used it in my Motorcycle trailer, that I am pulling behind my Truck Camper. Have used the substance for years on deck steps when I built decks. As it wears thin, as do finishes, brush in some more as you put a new finish on.
As for the Hand rails, you have actually two issues for code. The baby head rule (Vertical Balusters to prevent children from falling through hand rails) which UBC typically requires when a surface is more then 30" off the ground and the Finger Hold (Whish is usually a concave cut into the railing or a 2X2 attached to the railing to allow small and elderly people to grip the railing), I didn't mention this before as there are a number of things that are not to code in the construction of your project, which is not that unusual in some areas, so I suspected that. I agree with you, police your area yourself.
As for the children doing unexpected things. In 1989, I responded to a report of a child injured in a fall in a Coal Creek Canyon mountain Sub division (Colorado). When I arrived, I saw a U=Haul truck in the driveway, in front of the garage, that was a two story portion of the house. The Master bedroom was over the garage, with a fairly large deck cantilevered out over the driveway. A young couple, with two children, (4 & 7) were moving into this home. While the parents were getting something out of the moving truck, to move into the house, their youngest had come out on the deck and in the excitement, fell through the railing onto the concrete apron driveway below. He didn't survive the fall. The railing on the deck, was the same single horizontal style rail as yours. So the previous poster, on this thread, does make a good point, as you do too.
I typically choose not to interject scenarios unless it is under discussion by others. For me, you are doing a great job and it is a wonderful project that has excited and inspired others to contemplate doing something for themselves.
b
