Don't Fence Me In

I finally started on the deck handrails this past weekend. Any free time I have had lately has been spent trying to fix problems or kill bugs etc. so I was real excited to finally get to start something new. However, it did not get off to a good start. I woke up Saturday with a rare but potent migraine headache. I only get them once or twice a year but they are usually doozies when I do. It was storming outside anyway so I guess it was as good a time as any if I was going to have to be sick so I doped myself up enough to go to sleep (sorta). Mid afternoon I awoke with some relief and it had quit raining so I took the water pump I borrowed from work down to the spring and Allen came to help me start pumping out the muddy water. We did a lot of good I think and the spring is much clearer.
Anyway, we started on the deck Sunday and got about halfway. I brought home 2 big loads of leftover rebar from work and incorporated that into my handrails. It is an effort to save money and have something that is a little different. You know, think outside the handrail. With a little imagination and luck finding a lot of scrap material you can come up with some unique things. Of course, it is very strong also. But, I cannot take all the credit for the design as I saw something very similar to this in a magazine. I think I have mentioned before that out here I don't have any building inspections but I do have certain code requirements for the insurance company. Handrails and smoke alarms I think are the two main ones. So, the International Building Code states that: Porches, balconies or raised floor surfaces located more than 30 inches above the floor or grade below shall have guards not less than 36 inches in height. Required guards shall have intermediate rails or ornamental closures that do not allow passage of a sphere 4 inches in diameter. Now, it goes on to say that you cannot have horizontal rails that result in a ladder effect but I am going to try to get around that one. Almost every handrail I have ever installed on a commercial site (houses included) has had horizontal rails and nothing was ever said.

The posts were installed one at a time and the rebar threaded through as we went, with the longest pieces of rebar passing through 3 posts. This will be capped with a horizontal 2x4 and a 5 quarter deck board on top of that. I liked the use of these bent bars to do the corners and it is very sturdy. After everything is up I will come back and clean the rebar up with a wire brush and spray it good with a matte polyurethane. I am anxious to get this completed so I can get all the potted plants on the deck now that it is warming up. I thought I would plant some of the morning glory seeds that karl, over at Pile of O'Melays sent me, in a big pot and let it roam around the handrail.
Here you can see how the posts are attached to the deck. I notched the deck boards to let the posts come in flush and notched 3/4" out of the posts themselves. This lets the rebar that is centered in the posts fall pretty much right over the outer edge of the deck. The posts are through bolted to the band although in a few places I am going to have to use lag screws because the layout hit directly on some of the joists. Not a problem though. Allen put that little bevel on the bottom of the posts just for a little nicety. I get a three day weekend this week so I am very excited to get all that time to work on the house. I can finish the handrail in one more day I believe, now that all the posts are drilled, and have the other 2 days to work on the inside of the house maybe. The next big project is siding. I am so sick of looking at that Tyvek.

Lots of stuff going on now that the days are getting longer and I really want to get started on the garden too. There is still so much to do I get overwhelmed continually but try not to think about everything. I have made a list and just try to do one thing at a time. I saw my brother and sister a couple of weeks ago after a long absence and it shocked them a little how gray my hair is now! Don't know if it is the house or just genetics.