New front steps

zieak ♦ November 29, 2009 ♦ Leave Your Comment

I started trying to figure out how i could support the threshold of the new door. I checked my supply of metal and found a 4 foot long piece of angle aluminum that already was predrilled at one foot intervals. Perfect. I thought this would be a really easy fix.

But the access to under the threshold was kind of blocked by the front steps. And Yeti threw up some bile right where i needed to be. Thanks Yeti.

So i lifted up on the top step and it wasn’t even nailed down! The bottom step was nailed the the wall in four places so wasn’t too difficult to remove.

I measured the distance that i needed to span – 15 inches. So i was aiming for about 7.5 inches from deck to first step tread and also 7.5 inches to the top step tread.

First i used a layer of 6×6 treated beams to build the foundation. I cut some treated fence boards leftover from the backyard fence. and used them to raise the height of the 6x6s. You can see that i decided to do a curve for part of the step. Originally i planned on doing two curved steps but then decided to square up the ends of the bottom step and make the top step rectangular.

After i had the five bases constructed and spaced at 16 inches on center i used 2×10 treated lumber to construct the first step. I used a long flexible piece of Azek trim to trace the curve that i would cut. I used nails tacked into the deck boards (that were not yet nailed down) to guide the piece.

I started to use my jigsaw to fut the curves but it wasn’t sharp or powerful enough. So i switched to my sawzall which i had to use to complete the cuts through the 6x6s.

You can see a bit of wiring between two of the 6x6s. That went to one of the light switches next to the front door and controlled the lights in the carport. But there also is a light switch in the carport. The lights i have in there are motion activated so the switch isn’t very necessary – certainly not the one by the front door. So i trimmed the wires (the breaker was off throughout) and shortened everything up and put the wire nuts in a (mostly) weatherproof box.

I knew i wanted the full width of the board to start the bottom step. I also could have just ensured that the step ends landed on the 6x6s. Only 5 inches or so sticks beyond the 6×6 on either end of the bottom step.

The rest was pretty straightforward. I cut boards to length and ripped them as needed on my table saw.

I ran a plastic board through my table saw to trim out underneath both steps and fastened it with galvanized nails.

At about 6:15 i wrapped up the project. i spent under $35 on materials. my stash of treated wood is severely depleted and i’m running dangerously low on the white plastic material too.