I have completed the stairs and railings on this job...sorry I couldn't get pictures of the newel fastening process as I promised. Accidentaly destroyed my Samsung Galaxy S6 and had to wait for a replacement.:fury:

Started to fabricate four 10' high columns for the great room. Customer wants them to match the newel post.
I'm working back at my shop....gets a little cluttered at times.

Super beautiful work!

Thanks Bigfish....I like to get away from the jobsite and do work like this in my shop. No plumbers, electricians, painters, tile setters....
I'll go back in a few days to install the columns which will cover structural 6x6 posts in the great room.

nice work my friend. Having been in the housing industry most of my life due to my dad I know nice work when I see it.

Thanks Trevier....I am enjoying my work more than ever, even with the early stages of arthritis starting to make it painful.
Nothing I do ever comes out perfect......I always see something that could have been better.

having done houses from 2k sqr ft all the up to 8k sqr ft I've seen alot of trimmed out houses. I always liked doing trim, always inside, heat is one. But it can get crazy with people in the way, especially doing stairs.

I started out my career framing condos on the cape back in the early seventies. Worked outside every winter, and very close to the water, so wind was a big factor too. The guys I worked for were some real hard ass rednecks, we still worked when all the other crews pulled the job when it got too cold for them.

My cousins LOL

Ha hah gup...Boss didn't like my long hair so much, and when i had it tied back....he would ask me "what do you find under a pony tail"? then answer his own question with..... "a horses a**" and a big grin on his face. Actually got along good with those guys.
I have a lot of redneck friends nowadays......not that there's anything wrong with that.:btu:

Columns are almost finished.... just need to trim the last three ....only a mantel left to build on this house and i'm done. The kitchen came out great but too messy to get good pictures now.

That would have looked better with half walls with the post built into them. Not a big fan of that design.

Stone guys started their work on the fireplace wall.

I have put a lot of pictures of the interior work.... here is a picture of what one of our typical houses looks on the exterior.

Is that the 1st house on the right as u drive into forest park that they just finished?
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yes.....its not sold yet...supposed to be a model to show...gonna be an open house soon.

Kitchen is finished....it's my job to install all the appliances too.

Customer was very happy with how the columns came out.
They asked me to try and match the newel post we used on the stairs.
I like them too...... about 40 hrs. of my labor to build and install the four of them.
I take a lot of pictures now because it is very likely that after next week I will never be in that house again.

Finally.....only a month overdue on this one. Looks real good after the final cleanup.

Fireplace and stonework.

Balcony railing

Wind was gusting to 40 mph yesterday...I knew it was just a matter of time before the porta-potty would go down. Jobsite was a real mess too...... melting snow and ice changing the ground into mud.:eek:
We have eight more houses being framed up....but none are ready for finish work yet. Going to be another very busy year!

New construction is nice....
I am drawing and figuring how to rework some basement stairs in an old Marblehead house. Avg 10" rise with 7-7.5" runs..... Approx 70x 70" totals, which includes the winder.... No way I have code headroom.... Sucks. I figure it is close to 56 degrees currently. Cutting back the top landing 7" (accounted for in the total run) should allow me to get close to 45 degrees, I hope.
7.78" rise 9x
8.75" run 8x
That look right to you RMarsh?

Still sucks. Not gonna be cheap, especially considering limitations on what they can get out of it. But ten inch rise will kill someone eventually. Butt ugly space too.....

Our basement stairs used to be 9/7. It was like being on a ship. The drunks that did the addition before we owned the house clearly just left a hole in the floor, pulled up the ladder and did what they could. Deadly...

That will be a big improvement Ross. In most old houses basement stairs were considered service entrances or access and not built to same standards. Check out this link ....its a calculator app that I use for triangles (stairs). Using your rise and run would give you 42 degrees. Set to side angle side with angle set to 90

http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calcul...e-theorems.php

Just started a stairway on another new home. This house will be for sale with a price upwards of $700,000. Crazy amount of money!!!
I built my own home back in 77' for a total cost of $25,000 on a 1 1/2 acre lot that I paid $6,700 for! I think I was making less than $5 an hour though.

When I started working as a carpenter my boss was selling 2 story colonials on 3/4 acre lots for $39,900! Seemed like a lot of money at the time!?

Funny,,, my total was 30 and payed 7 for the lot.... Early 70's
Wow,,, 5 BUCKS,,, I'm thinking it was around 3.50.... LOL :btu:

My first job at 16 yrs. old was working at a sawmill... early 70's... my take home for 40 hrs was $44. Boss was a miserable pr*** too.
In 73' I was getting $2.50 framing condos on the cape.
By 77' got up to almost $5. A lot of hard work went into getting better at my job, a lot of blood, sweat and tears.:o

Stairway progress and kitchen cabinets going in. The cabinets in the foreground, will form an angled peninsula. I'm going to build a 40" high wall on the backside of them to support a bar height granite top.

Angled peninsula in progress....electrician will install 2 receptacles in the backsplash. The halfwall will support a granite top with a 12" overhang for bar stool seating.

Newel posts installed. The starting tread and riser are left unfastened until I am ready to install the newels. The tenon is glued, screwed and blocked to the stair framing.

Ready for granite templates. I still need to add crown moulding and light valance to the wall cabinets.

Finishing up the stair railings. No other workers on site for the last few days helps a lot.

nice work.

My work is just about finished on this house. Another is ready to start in a few days.

Nice job,hope to see you on the river soon
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Thanks.....The boat is ready to go...the weather looks to be improving...so might be getting out there this coming week.
You have an Onslow Bay right?..Serious fishing machine!! See you out there soon.

Next house wont be ready for finish for a week or so. Boss asked me to build some Lantern Posts, seven in all, for some houses we are building in Dover. Lantern fixture will be mounted on top. They are 7' tall, made of all PVC.
Still need to make bases and caps for these. Personally not my taste....but it keeps me busy in my (very cluttered) shop.

They are going to need a pretty big lantern fixture on top of these to look proportional. The pvc is easy to work with. Nice to know these wont be rotting away like wood does.
Tops are removable to do electrical connections.

Really?
 

A good friend who builds custom kitchens from scratch...just told me that this factory cherry kitchen that I installed just a few years ago, was rejected by the new owners of the home. He removed all of it and installed his new custom job of $30,000 worth of just the cabinets.
Painted cabinets... the new norm ....for now.
I just think it was a shame. He said he would send me a few pics of the new one.


http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...2&d=1452944116http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...3&d=1452944116

Some people just have more money than sense....