Day 176 April 8, 2002

Today I start the loft railings and staircase railings. The plans only show a railing on one part of the loft as they have walls defining a third bedroom upstairs with a balcony overlooking the great room. I want the entire loft to be open, so I need to design a railing to go around 2/3 of the loft. The last part will have a half wall for a little privacy and to make mounting and wiring the upstairs lights and switches easier. Got all that? I have taken the original plans for the railing and expanded on them. I bought 4x4x8 cedar blanks to make the posts from ($22.00 each). The railings and balusters are cut from 1 3/4" x 3 1/2" pine. Each post gets 2 notches in the back for the railing, a notch in the bottom where it will bolt to the beams and 2 holes drilled and counterbored. Then sanding and 3 coats poly. I rough cut 4 posts and dry fit them in place.

9 hours, drizzle on and off.