Stairs!

The staircase in the new house is sort of builder blah country colonial.  Not our taste.  Also, as it turns out, not super safe.  It rocked back and forth pretty precariously.  When we removed the top railing, it was attached to the house with a single 2" screw and about a hundred finish nails.  So, not pretty OR sturdy.

We hired a local stair company (Signature Stairs) to install new posts, rails, wall caps, and a new, squared-off bottom step.  They needed a month of lead time, so that gave us time to get the painters (ProTect Painters) in and out.

The subfloor at the top of the stairs was pieced together out of about six different sections:

One part didn't even have any support under it, so the floor flexed when you walked on it.  After watching a YouTube video, we removed all the offending pieces, cleaned all the adhesive off the joists, and installed some blocking so that the new subfloor would have something to screw into on all edges:

 
I can't get the photo to turn the right way, but you get the idea.  Then, we cut a new piece of OSB to match the existing subfloor and screwed it down.

Now the floor was nice and solid for those new posts at the top of the stairs.


The stair guys came yesterday:

I love them!  I will post another photo after I get the new treads installed and get everything painted and stained.

Our current house closes next week, so we are moving out this weekend and staying in a hotel for a few nigths until our floors are installed next week.  Moving is stressful!