Stairs For The Patio Door

Ever since K put the patio door in last fall, we've had only a simple wooden step outside of the door.  It was just one step, so it was kind of a big jump.  And by this summer, we'd used it enough that it was becoming a bit rickety -- it wasn't really anchored in well.

The siding around the door wasn't finished, either, which didn't bother us much.  It was kinda ugly, but we figured we'd re-do the siding some day and it would get finished then.  But... our new insurance agency didn't like the un-finished-ness of the patio door area, and said we had to fix it because it wasn't "fire safe."  Hmm.  OK...  K knows the codes and didn't see a problem with the way it was.  But since we like our new policy, she said she could just fix it.  I offered to take a bunch of pictures so that our agent wouldn't have to run out to our house.

But, wow,  I'm glad she fixed it!!  I love our new step, and the house looks neater with just that simple white trim.

               Before:

                    After:

K anchored the steps into the asphalt and to the house, so they're really sturdy.

And the treads are made of Brazilian ipe, so they're really beautiful.  

Boy kitty enjoying the view...

Revealing The Stairs

The stairs up to my office are wooden and gorgeous, from what I could see peeking out from under the green industrial-strength carpet runner that is nailed over them.  The carpet itself wouldn't have been so bad except that it probably hasn't been vacuumed in a decade!

The stairs on the day we moved in....  With lots of goodies left for me!

Looked at the stairs mid-day Sunday and decided today was the day to take that carpet out.  Started at each end and worked towards the middle, yanking out those claw-like carpet nails with only a couple hammers.  K was off to the big football game with our friends, and I couldn't find her cats-paw tools, so I had to make do with hammers.

My tiny hammer!

Under the carpet was so. much. dirt.  Like an inch in some places.

Dirty!!

A few hours and a pile of carpet nails later, I had the carpet off and rolled up into a thick, dirty bundle.  Swept and vacuumed the stair treads, and then went over each tread and rise with a strong solution of Dr. Bronner's and Murphy's Oil Soap.  The wood was SO dry and neglected.  It glowed when I was finished!

One tread is really cracked, and K is going to fix that later.  It is fixable and makes more sense than replacing the tread, since the wood probably wouldn't match.  At some point, I do want to sand and refinish the stairs, but that will have to wait, for now.

But they look SO much better already!

After

Before