The Stairs
There has always been something peculiar about the stairs but I have never been able to put my finger on just what it is. This week, with Malcolm's expert eye, we figured out what was going on ...

The Stairs 1 - Two things to note about this picture, one, the ranch rail running underneath the hand rail and two, the handrail itself.

The Stairs 2 - The top of the stairs. Note that the handrail running up the stairs, the ranch rail *and* the handrail which runs along the landing all terminate in the same single newel post. This leaves no room for spindles on the landing.

The Stairs 3 - Just visible on the edge of the second floor board from the newel post is a mark where another newel post once stood, and the white painted board at the foot of the newel post was once the ranch rail on the landing. For the hand rail running up the stairs to pass this board the rail has been curved horizontally.

The Stairs 4 - At the far end of the handrail on the landing you can see, again one floor board in, right up against the wall, a mark where another newel post once stood.

The Stairs 5 - By routing all of the handrails into the single newel post you can see from this picture that the handrail running up the stairs has arched vertically under the stress and the struts fixing the ranch rail don't meet at top and bottom.

Conclusion - For some inexplicable reason one newel post has been removed and the half newel has been moved. This has gained only one floorboard width of space on the landing and has made it impossible to put a new ranch rail or spindles along the landing to stop someone coming out of the bathroom or bedroom and plummeting horribly to the hall below! Bizarre!!

The Kitchen Floor - The floor tiles are being laid! The walls in the kitchen are damaged where we chipped off all the old yellow tiles. These walls will be skimmed soon - hopefully!

Malc - Caught ya!

Architraves - At last, putting in new woodwork where we tore out the burnt bits. Its so good to see the smart new architraves going in, next is matching skirting, then on with the undercoat and gloss.