We first showed you the loft ladder in this post from January, but since then we removed all of the wood pieces and took them down to the basement to be finished. For the treads, Kyle applied two coats of OSMO hardwax oil and for the handrails he used Daly’s Satinthane. With all the wood in our house, we now like the finishing process about as much as we like painting white walls…which is why it took us so long to wrap this project up. But it’s done!
On a related note, can you believe that one year ago we were prepping for the big demo weekend? 365 days people. It exhausts me just to think about it.
For the basement stair handrail, Kyle fabricated custom wall brackets that are welded to a piece of tube steel that runs the length of the stair. The wood cap is a piece of 2×2 vertical grain fir notched to fit over the steel. It’s a sexy little detail and the added strength of the steel means less deflection and fewer wall brackets. The wood provides a comfortable place for your hand. The brackets are attached to the wall either at a stud location or in blocking that was installed before drywall went up.
