2008_07_12 Clay's visit and stair rails up now

The first weekend after we had all been in Navarre Beach, FL staying with Kathy's family Clay drove over to help me move things around, put up some peg board in the workshop, and in general help us get the house to be more livable.

Clay is a big breakfast cooker so before we started doing any work he fixed some microwave bacon and scrambled eggs with cheese! Clay's welcome any time!


The rails have now been installed around the loft and hand rails for the stairs. They needed more sanding since they were pretty rough. I knew that the builder would never sand them so after Clay left to go back home I sanded the parts that your hand normally would feel as you went up or down the stairs. I actually spent about 6 hours or so sanding and could have spent another 6, but after working all day with Clay and sanding till nearly 11:00 that night I was pretty much done for so I finally said enough was enough.

The rails have not been polyurethaned yet. The painters are supposed to do that soon. Unfortunately, that process will roughen them up again, but at least I'll know that underneath they were once smooth. I guess that some day I could re-sand them lightly with 400 grit sandpaper to get the smoothness back, but I'm going to leave that for a while I think since there are more pressing things to do.