With the joists out and all blocking installed, we could proceed with perhaps the trickiest part of the job conceptually: the stairs. Because this new deck would have actual stairs running east-west all the way down to the driveway, instead of bisecting the deck and running north-south to a landing (from which the infamous muddy steps descended), we had some serious three-dimensional thinking to do. Complicating matters further was that we wanted more relaxed stair treads (more run for each rise), and that meant the entry to the lower floor (and access to the garden) would be slightly different, and trickier, than before.
To take this straight-shot line required some ivy-pulling and stump clearing (our new little-house tenant, who turns out to have rented from Doffy decades ago, told me about this bishop pine next to the driveway that had come down, but which was completely covered by ivy). This picture shows the result of a very intense couple of hours of machete and mattock work on my part, having spent a frustrating day helping to prep the little cottage and shed for painting and the rental. In the foreground are the tooth-like roots of the pine stump. In the background you can see the stair template Muggs had successfully used on the Big House, that helped us visualize where the new landing would be, and how to maintain mid-span access to the garden and the downstairs.
Re-using the template resulted in a significant saving of time and money, but the process of cutting these things is a still an impressive and exacting task requiring both finesse and strength. Here Muggs has laid the template, cut slightly shorter from what we used on the Big House, on top of the first 3 x 12 stringer, so that he can locate the cuts optimally for the knots or flaws. And yes, that huge piece of wood offered the two of us all we could handle to get it off the truck and onto the sawhorses. And yes, that is a 10" beam saw in the lower left, whose kick still surprises me every time.
This is the way these stringers attach to the 4 x 6 hung below the reinforced double joist at the top. These new Simpson connectors then fold at whatever angle you choose, and the special long screws are designed to be both strong and resilient under twisting and shear loads, more so than nails, they tell us.
Some days things just go right, and Saturday was one of those days: Muggs got into a great rhythm cutting accurate stringers with three different types of saws (because of the beefiness of this material), and I kept busy getting the site ready and helping to horse the completed units into place. Not only are the treads level with each other, the actual steps are level and consistent in both directions--which will make for much less grinding or shimming when it's time to place redwood. This view doesn't include the mid-span beam and little piers that will stiffen the structure.
This shot shows the revamped access to the downstairs. I had a chunk of 3 x 12 left over from the Big House, not quite long and true enough to use as a stringer, so I have placed it as a temporary retaining wall (it could easily be made permanent if everyone is happy with it) and filled in with the dirt we had to excavate to accommodate the big stair stringers. Luckily the big of acacia stump hidden in the grass did not have to be mucked out. Running the downstairs access this way also solves the problem of maintaining headroom from the landing. We'll add drain rock along the wall and make sure drainage tubes go through before we're done. The post to the right of the photo will have X-bracing running to the right along the stairs, which will stiffen the deck structure; possibly this could be a location for a small storage shed for garden tools as well.
This is the view after the kickass day on Sunday: one of the two midspan piers is poured, the landing framing is fully sited, leveled and ready for its support piers, and I've pulled some more ivy and cut a few more thimbleberries to establish the path to the garden. Incidentally, removing two green-bins' worth of dead blackberry canes, and pruning back the last-year's-fruited stalks, has encouraged the berry patch to what promises be luxuriant non-drought productivity!
Here's the bottom part from the driveway, with the cut-off template marking where the stairs will continue. On the left are the crude steps I carved into the hillside so we didn't slip; on the right may be where plants or a planter could define the side and help keep the ivy from encroaching.
Here's how we finished yesterday morning (Monday) before returning to Berkeley: there are mini-forms under the double 2 x 12 that will support the top of the stairs leading to the driveway, there's a four-bag pad of concrete supporting the base of the stair stringers going up, and the mid-span beam is fully supported by two posts and piers.
Since Muggs had some schedule flexibility after some other client meetings, and saw the threat of rain in the forecast for the end of the week, he has returned today to cut the short stringers, place and pour the bottom pad, and secure the rest of the stairs.
We believe this lower landing will be a nice design element linking the whole project together, once it is decked in redwood. We'll be cutting about 8" off the joist ends overhead, so they will not interfere with the stair or rail; possibly the path to the garden could eventually be paved with the many bricks reclaimed from under the deck and the old landing--but those are decisions to be made down the line.
I'll be heading up late in the week after some meetings to really start cranking on the milling of old redwood boards, and Muggs will finish the bracing and possibly begin the rails / bench supports once the design has been finalized. Onward!
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