25 August 2018

Perry and I worked all the live long day building the barn staircase.  Putting in the landing… no problem, though the pieces of Advantech^® I had been saving for the landing proved too small for the purpose (though they were big enough to become stair treads; waste not, want not).  But I had ordered “extra” Advantech^® from Goodro’s yesterday, so crafting the right-sized piece was easy… after we spent some time figuring out that there would be enough left over for all the stair treads.  Laying out and crafting the stringers for the first section of the staircase (from the concrete floor up to the landing) equally easy.  But then, while I was busy cutting and installing the 12″ wide stair treads for the first section, Perry encountered a major conundrum with the stringers for the second section (from the landing up to the loft).  His carpenter’s calculator said the rise for each step should be 7 ⁹/₁₆″, vice the 7 ⅝″ that we used for the first section.  Note the ¹/₁₆″ difference between those two values.  Perry laid out and cut the “test tickle” stringer using a 7 ⅝″ rise.  Way too big!  So he laid out the stinger (but didn’t cut it!) using 7 ⁹/₁₆″.  Obviously way too small.  So we did the math longhand and, lo and behold, the correct riser height should be 7 ¹⁹/₃₂″.  How the heck are you supposed to achieve that kind of tolerance with a handheld circular saw?!?!  We hope to find out tomorrow…