Oh my… where ever did I leave the deck? Heaven help us all, it’s done… mostly. Oy! What a ride! If you’re just joining us and have no idea what I am talking about, read the longest project ever to catch up….
You all in now? That’s crazy right…?! Ok, so you would think after all that, the rest would be smooth sailing… Ummm, no. Not when you must continue to involve the government and regulations (forgive me, I have no intent to offend). While I certainly understand the meaning and intention behind some rules, some are completely lost on me or seem overly absurd.. take the steps for example… Umm, just when I thought we were in the home stretch, the county inspector comes out and says they had to be larger… Yes, Seriously, I am not even kidding, LARGER!!
This page includes affiliate links. If you make a purchase using the link, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.
So apparently the rise and run for steps must match EXACTLY with a variance of no more than an inch (look at all the things I am learning about code from this project alone) since they are cascading steps, there is no way to do that at the angles needed so they had to be classified differently- monument steps (doesn’t that sound fancy?!). While the measurements are more “relaxed” for these, openings but be a minimum of 32.5 inches across… No problem, right? WRONG! ALL openings… what this means is that even though they’re wide open. with the three-part opening at the top, EACH of those had to be 32.5 inches across. This means they had to widen the steps by SEVENTEEN INCHES on each side. Umm, I am NOT even kidding.
I had a friend compare them to the Parthenon.. I am pretty sure this was the point when the two guys doing most of the building started plotting my ultimate demise.
I the meantime, we all learned that while rolling barn doors look incredible, they do NOTHING to keep out the bugs.. Umm, “Pinterest Fail” says my husband. However, with a little ingenuity, we all put our heads together and came up with a an incredible fix. We used garage door weather seal around the outside of the doors, so as they rolled, the stripping rolled with them, it gave the added benefit of making them roll smoother, making them feel more substantial, and help to keep them on the track. So we turned that into a win as far as I am concerned.
So this is a long way with no pictures and I know you’re dying to see… here is a bit of teaser…


Once the door was worked out, we only had to finish those steps.. So the bottom of the steps obviously came out a bit farther than we had thought about and the yard has a bit of a grade to it.. Rather than add crushed run (the stuff you use for driveways) at the bottom (because ugly), we (ok, the sweet guys building suggested it, and I jumped all over it) decided to do a bit of a stone pattern so when mowing the grass, you don’t have to wreck the bottom step with the weed whacker. They went off to Home Depot and came back with pavers to do this:

…and I LOVE it.
The only things left are minor little punch list things that just were forgotten in the desire to just finish… the dryer vent was left uncovered because it had to be moved… those kinds of little things. They’ll probably be out before the end of the week to finish it all up.
So the steps.. they’re a little ostentatious, but I don’t think the deer and turkey mind at bit.

Aren’t they spectacular? I do wish we’d had a bit of the warmer weather to really enjoy it, but we don’t really have plans to move anytime soon, so there are many years left to use it. We are really so pleased with the final results and the contractor really did a beautiful job.
You have any amazing projects in the works? Fill me in- I want to hear all about them!
XO!
~Scottie
2 Comments
Lynn
January 5, 2016 at 9:17 PMBeautiful!! Those steps will look even more beautiful in the summer with potted plants placed on them!
Porch makeover - Saved by Scottie
December 18, 2019 at 11:38 PM[…] you remember last summer, we embarked on a deck/ porch makeover.. it was a bit ridiculous. Once “monsoon season” finally subsided (seriously […]