Getting There

There was a Peter Sellers movie made in 1979 "Being There".  I feel like most of my projects are at least a little comedic and most of the time is spent just getting there.  I'm hoping this one gets there before we are scheduled to leave.

The project is to design and build a small (18" tread total 44" rise) circular staircase around a six foot cedar hot tub.  No attachment to tub is allowed and the whole kit & caboodle will be moved next summer.  No problem.

My plan was to build 5 tread supports which look like this.

Then I cheated by attaching some 2x4s to the beams under the tub with a couple of screws that could be removed later for the move.  Now comes the fun part.  Simply support each step in it's proper place and secure them to each other so that an elephant could use them to get into the tub.

 Notice each step covers two of the 2x6 tub perimeter boards.  Notice also that by the time I get to the top (three more steps) I will be running out of slab.  That's when it will get interesting.  The engineering department is still working out the details.  I am pretty sure it will involve a LOT of framing.

I think it would have been easier to start with a tree nine feet in diameter and cut out a four foot section and have at it with a chain saw.

I cheated again by attaching two more 2x4s to the supports (once again with accessible screws) to keep the whole thing in town.  There will be a skirt around it all of 1x6s; 1x8s would have been a better size (something about radials getting farther apart the further out from the center, I suspect it has something to do with the Mayans) but good cedar in the size you want is hard to find.  I did find stainless steel brad nails for attaching the skirt in only one place in town, Woodcrafters and they are only about 35 times more expensive than galvanized.

As you may guess, it will support the elephant but the move will be interesting.  We lost one outside day to snow but the forecast looks good with only a chance of snow on Christmas, so stay tuned as we are scheduled to hit the road again on the 27th.

Stay warm and enjoy the children.