Ted’s essays

handrail from scraps

handrail goes up for MomI have had a number of requests for a handrail.

Silly. It is only three steps down.
Even an old guy can hop up or down three steps.

Still, some womenfolk think they need a handrail for those three steps.

Okay. Okay. It is on my list.

Just a long ways down in a very big list of things I wanna/gotta do.

That is to say, “unlikely any time in the near future”.

Well, that was before Mama arrived a few days ago.

She wants a handrail.

She gets a handrail.

As do the rest of the requesters.

Today Mama and Missy let me know it was important.

handrail support bottomhandrail support topI still don’t have my truck out of the shop, so am strongly motivated to use materials ON HAND.

Hmmmm. Nine and a half feet from floor to ceiling.

My on-hand materials are all eight feet.

AH! But that old scrap 1×4 laying in the yard.

It isn’t sturdy enough to make a handrail support.

BUT, an eight foot reinforcing rib would probably make it all work just fine.

The rail itself was a scrap of EXACTLY the right length. I merely had to cut the proper angle into it for fitting to the wall.

And sand the slivers out of it.

While it would be nice to have a couple coats of hand-sanded polyurethane on it, time favored raw installation over ideal.

handrail full viewMama is happy.

Everybody is happy.