Removing the Front Steps

This cold weather isn't going away so I went out to tackle the front stairs anyway. Armed with hammer, crowbar and gloves I gave my steps the once over. It wasn't going to come apart easily. But as I hit away, I noticed (finally) that the stairs were free standing. The whole thing was held up by its own framework and I was able to just pull the whole thing away from the house. It wasn't even bolted to the side of the house. But they were held tight to the house only because of the wrought-iron railings. I removed those the other day. The railings are very, very heavy. It took both my sister and I to move them into the garage. I haven't painted them yet because the weather has been too cold.

I took one of the stringers from the old steps to the stores with me (Home Depot and Lowes). As with everything else in this wonderful old house, you can't find premade ones that will be the same. In order to fit the area and the height, I have to make my own using the old stringers as a template. I can't even get the right size pressure-treated boards to match the old ones. I can find it in white pine but that wouldn't hold up. Tomorrow I'll go to Kraft Lumber to see what I can find there. Maybe I can find cedar or redwood. Redwood would be perfect but that is hard to find anywhere in the East. I'll also look for southern yellow pine. I plan on painting the steps this spring anyway. I almost wasted a whole day just looking for the right kind of wood. It gets so frustrating.

Rusty Wrought Iron and Rotten Front Steps

I've put off this job long enough. I'm running out of time as winter is knocking on the door.

Yesterday, I removed two wrought-iron railings from the front steps. There is some rust on them that needs attention. I have been searching the internet about how to prep the iron when I came across a product that you can apply right over rust. It reacts chemically with the rusty iron and turns the rust harmless leaving a coating that protects. I'm going to do a little more research but then I think I may give it a try. It uses the same chemicals that they use on ancient artifacts to preserve them. But what are the odds finding that product in Erie? I'll let you know, maybe it is in all the stores and I just was unaware of it.

As far as the steps go, I'm ready to start tearing them out and using the old pieces as templates for buying new wood. I hope I don't run into any odd setup. Please, just once, I'd like to have a generic setup that goes according to plan. My plan is to use pressure treated lumber as western cedar would be too expensive. I won't be able to paint the new steps for several months due to the weather but that is the recommendation for pressure-treated wood anyway. It needs lots of time to dry before it holds paint well.

I'll take pictures and let you know how this project goes.