New stairs, day 7
Today Jordan got the pendant fit and installed. This required several hours, since its three sides needed to be square with each other (producing a tight rectangle), and also needed to closely fit onto two walls and the ceiling. The “inside” wall, visible when at the top of the stairs looking down, was was originally extremely lumpy due to a subpar drywall finishing job. I gouged out drywall and re-finished this area over the weekend to make the wall more plumb. It was an improvement, but even so, getting the pendant to fit cleanly required adding another strip of white oak to fill the gap. The turned detail at the top of this piece also proved a real challenge to fit since it came from Hiland pre-attached to the long flat board. When the board sat flush with the wall, the turning was still about 1/8″ proud. We were able to gently remove it and I’ll reattach it directly to the wall for a cleaner look.
Once the pendant was completely installed, Jordan was finally able to get the last two treads permanently installed on this long run of stairs. A real accomplishment!
In addition to the pendant, we also got one newel in place. The plinth of the newel is hollow, with walls about 1 inch thick, so Jordan built up a tall block of 2×4s on the step and glued everything together. Once the construction glue sets up, he’ll be able to get this run of handrail installed as well.