Basement Stairs - Rebuild

The basement stairs in our house needed to be replaced long before we actually bought this place. The bottom step was missing its nose so it was short. Both stringers, as I found out during the demolishing phase, were cracked in half. The only thing keeping the stairs from complete collapse was that they were wedged in so tight that they couldn't fall down. Yikes!

I decided to build new stairs when the girls were out of town last weekend. I used 2x12s instead of the original 2x10s for stringers. Much stronger. I've also added a 3/4" plywood center "stringer" as a divider and tread support. This keeps the treads from flexing down too much as there won't be normal risers installed.

Since there can be a ton of wasted space under most any stairwell, I wanted to make it so my lovely and talented wife can store canning supplies under the steps. When complete, she'll be able to fit 18 flats of pint jars with 12 jars per flat. That's 216 jars! I imagine if you didn't want to use the cardboard flats, you could add another 20-30 jars. 

I finished Phase I and that was to replace the stairs so the new ones were minimally functional. No pictures of this phase or the demolition. So my birthday weekend, I started with the internal shelving. I know that it would have been easier to build this like a cabinet then put treads on and finish it but oh well...

Here is a shot showing the upper section with a flat of jars. One on each side for the top then two on each side for the rest and nothing for the bottom most riser. 

More work to do. I still have two more shelves to build and finish the removable risers. I figure I'll have it done by Labor Day.

Mechanical Triage

I was driving to work last week and just before I got to my destination, my car started running a bit rough. Nothing too new, she runs rough once in a while but this was different. I was having a heck of a time troubleshooting the behavior. High RPM she's run fine & low barely at all. I didn't have time during the week to look at it so on Saturday, I cleaned out the garage enough to get my car inside. Having no idea where to start but suspecting the carburetors I took off the air cleaners. SU carburetors work a bit differently than most but I could tell right away that something was wrong here. The right piston was higher than the left in the picture below.

SU Carburetors

The left piston was jammed & stuck in the suction chamber (that bell looking part with the little black cap) and there was nothing I could do to get it freed up. I've heard of these carbs freezing up like this but I really didn't expect it to happen to me. Luckily, I've been hoarding Volvo parts and I happen to have another set of these carbs in a box. I pulled the suction chamber assemblies and replaced them and I'm back on the road.

Hedwig is out of Commission

- for the time being anyway....

This is the driver side, rear suspension support arm. Cracked just above the axle. Looking for a replacement for a part that should never need it. I actually thought I had a flat tire but it was just that the spring seat (to the right of this picture) was sagging down.

The Back Door - Installation

Here is the new door from Jeld Wen (Home Depot $188). A steel, nine-light pre-hung door. Very nice. Very durable.


Dry fitting the door. It fits!


What's going on? Just you wait, some of this is for you Nico!


I actually thought that this would take most of Saturday and some of Sunday and I'd be done. Boy was I wrong. Saturday removal and clean up. Sunday I got the door hung and started to figure out how to fix the trim and the threshold. Monday working on priming trim and installing the new storm door. The storm door is from Larsen ($224 from Lowes). Great door, lifetime warranty, many many instructions.

The door(s) in and trim re-installed. Back is sore and I'm wiped out.

Nico likes. Now he can be on squirrel patrol and he won't have to wait for someone to open the door for him. Lounge in the sun for a while then come back in to cool off. Ah - the life.

The Back Door - Removal

The back door has been a leaky, creaky, rotting piece of junk since we bought the house. You'd turn the knob, put your shoulder into the door and jiggle the handle just right and you'd get it to open. The diagonal stays you see on the door are really the only thing holding it together.

Time to replace it.


The threshold feels a bit weak.


Oh - that's why.


Door has been removed and the rough opening revealed.


Of course, a couple pieces of trim cracked and broke when I removed them.

SU Carburetors

SU Carburetors are very new to me. I've never dealt with them. I've heard of those that hate them and those that love them and would never change. Jury is out.

That little hole you see here is aligned such that fuel will spit directly onto the exhaust manifold if the bowl over flows, which it did, rather profusely.



The culprit is this guy right here. The pivot is worn through! This will not due! Ordered anew :)

Amazon Electrical

I received my alternator bracket in the mail the other day. I've decided to go with the GM style two wire alternator due to it's relatively inexpensive and I can find one anywhere on the planet. The "kit" comes with a wiring diagram, bracket and a list of instructions.




Pretty strait forward, Installed if a few times to make sure that the alignment was good.


With the belt aligned I hooked up the electrical. This was the last step before giving my car the first start-up in 10 months.

She started just fine. Shut down due to a fuel leak from the carburetor but she did run.