Stairs, Flooring and Pinewood Derby

We've been hard at work putting mouldings on the stairs. We wanted to get that done before doing the upstairs floors because we wanted to do most of the assembly and painting on the subfloor.

Looking at the lower flight from the kitchen.

Looking at the upper flight from the landing.

Had to get fancy where the two flights meet.

Looking down the lower flight.

Looking down the upper flight. The floor mouldings will tie into the stair mouldings.

 With that done, we were able to get going on the floor.

Getting started was a bit of a challenge. Ordinarily, you'd want to start at one wall and work across, leading with the tongue side of the tongue and groove flooring. In this case, the place that needed to be perfect was right at the top of the stairs. The two rows on the left are splined together so that we can have tongues facing in both directions. That splined, two row strip was perfectly oriented, glued down and nailed before we even started on the stair mouldings (the edge at the top of the stairs needed to be in place.

This flooring is 3/4" solid oak. One of the boxes in the pile is different because one of the boxes that Lowes delivered was damaged. We returned it and found that we had received the last of their stock before the company changed hands. We're mixing the boxes together as we install so any difference won't be an issue.

This shot is from one of the upstairs bedrooms. I was concerned about getting things to line up with this edge (nothing is quite square in a 180 year old house and this is where old construction meets new) but it seems to be fitting beautifully.

On an entirely different front, I was asked to "help" Niko and Maya build their Pinewood Derby cars this year. Grant won when he was a Cub Scout and it seems that I have a reputation.

I talked with Grant to see if he remembered what we'd done and he sent a link to a YouTube video that very scientifically examined all of the factors that can contribute to building a fast car. We used all of the tricks that were legal and Niko's car won!

Maya's car was just as fast but, since she isn't a Cub, she had to compete in the "Outlaw Division" where, so long as it fits on the track, it's legal. Next year, we may have to build her a true "Outlaw" car.

The goofy looking champion!

-JC-