railing

You may remember the playhouse? The one that we allegedly were building for the children but was really designed for us to use after they got tired of it? Well, it’s seen its first construction activity since 2010, when the first ‘X’ railings were installed. Yet another time where I would have sworn that I did that last year, but somehow an extra 365 days slipped themselves into the equation.

Last weekend the missing front bracket/support (non-structural) and the other 3 Xs were added. The great thing about the Xs is that they add a huge amount of bracing to the playhouse, since our open-air design and heavy top conspired to make the roof a little wibbely-wobbely. Now you can push it as hard as you want, and it doesn’t budge. The side-to-side stiffness in the front is still a little substandard, but we don’t want to add any diagonal bracing for aesthetic reasons.

It should all hold up just fine, though. At least until the Cascadia Subduction Zone pops…

It's trying hard to convince us that it was added for structural integrity, but we all know it was for vanity.

Xs mark the spots

Although this weekend was a bit too rainy to get deep into the railing and post replacement, I did take time this afternoon to fabricate the new railings. The existing porch and step railings appear to have been homemade from 2x4s, so I ripped and sanded these to match. I also improved the design a bit by creating a channel to recess the top of the balusters, as well as adding a drip groove.

Apparently, I don't own a dado blade set. Also, I'm sure I'd be too lazy to ever swap it in and out anyway, so I just improvise...

When we moved into our house, the front railings looked this:

A little mildew, but not too bad...

After about one year, we found that they had rotted out. Like so many things done by our previous owner, I’m sure it was fixed up with a nice coat of paint just before we bought the house. For a long time we got by with one railing, but it’s long since given up its ghost as well. I was supposed to be replacing all of this last week when I was taking time off of work, but a certain other thing got in the way. The goal is still to get these in place and painted before the winter rains start.

One railing and pot removed, so the one remaining is the "good" one

There is seriously no wood left in that thing!!

Added to the playhouse this weekend:

• one set of X railing
• the back horizontal railing
• the plywood back wall

We had intended since the beginning to make the back wall completely solid, but now that 1/2 of it is done, we are liking the more open air feeling and look.  We’ll let it gel for awhile longer, but that’s probably how it’s going to stay.

New rails and back wall