This is a project that has literally taken us all summer! We wanted to have the railings installed before my niece's wedding in late June. And for sure before Marci's wedding in late July! But the company in Florida that built and painted the rails were slow and did a poor job of shipping the first time--they were TERRIBLY DAMAGED. We sent it back and waited weeks and weeks! Finally they arrived in acceptable condition. Jeff rented a special tool called a 4-inch Core Drill (hoping he would not need to keep it longer than the 24-hour rental contract). I was the #2 man for the hole drilling process.
Here is the drill, lying on the top step. You attach the hose to cool the drill as it does its thing.
Jeff is in position with his weight on the drill.
The 4" cylinder also needed to cut 4" DEEP! He's halfway done here. My job during this step was to warn him if he began leaning to one side or another. And of course, I had to get right under him to point east or west, north or south, as needed.
Here are two "holes" cut into the porch. The entire 15 holes took less than 3 hours to drill! To think we had procrastinated the project fearing this step!
Of course, the circles had to be hollowed out--with a chisel and a 3-pound sledge hammer!
Concrete coming out! Jeff thought this step was much easier than drilling the hole!
The concrete has been poured into the holes--so the level railing is braced up and resting on double 2x4's while it dries. Pouring the concrete was the "tensest" part of the process--with Jeff pouring and me holding the rail until the hole was filled and then we raced time to put all the legs into the appropriate holes and get it level before the fast-setting "concretious" product dried up! You can imagine me holding a level against the rail as I strain to keep the entire piece of metal in place for five-ten-fifteen minutes. AARGH!
Here's the rails all in place--along with lots of wet surface and tools and hoses, etc.
Oh, the joy of having a rail for Grandma so she can safely negotiate the steps. (And ME TOO!)
Finished project from the front!
Beautiful front door! We are so excited to have this project completed!
