Back Porch Stairs in Church Hill

This small project involves replacing some very rotted stairs on a back porch with new Azek Treads and risers. Our Master Carpenter, Sydney Jordan-Cooley is building these. We're using 4 2x12 stringers.

The columns are 6x6 made of 4 2x6's. We took this approach because a solid pressure treated 4x4 would move more and warp quicker.

We are also replacing the old decking with brand new, durable, long-lasting AZEK decking.

Progress So Far This Week On The Shop

Morton Buildings is humming along on our new shop! These photos are from Monday, January 19th...

And photos from Wednesday, January 21.....

Door restoration at Centre Hill Mansion in Petersburg

The delicate plaster ceiling could not take the pressure of our plastic wall poles, so we had to rig an elaborate tent to contain lead paint dust.

 The building as it looked 10 years ago, with shutters. We will restore the shutters this winter and reinstall them in the early spring.

 Inside our cozy tent, we did dutchmen repairs to the door.

Rounding Out The Monument Avenue Porch

A round, built-in gutter for our Queen Anne Porch in the Museum District

The Rounded Porch Roof.

Some shots of the internal framing that holds all of this together.

A custom-made curved-cornice will cover up all of these modern hangers and other metal elements.

Copper "roofs" top the capitals of the columns.

 Chris doing some quality work on getting this framing together! 

We're getting close to completion..... stay tuned for the final product! You won't want to miss it.

Bracing Tredegar Tunnels

Lurking beneath Tredegar Iron Works are old tunnels that took water to and from the water mills that powered the 19th Century manufacturing powerhouse that flowed in from the Kanawa Canal. Our job was to help them maintain their current shape.

We customized piping for the bracing. The tunnel needed some additional bracing to maintain the industrial history of the structure

We carefully sized the poles and braces and carefully arranged them balance and counter-balance the supports.

Building in the round: recreating a missing round porch on Monument Avenue

After rebuilding the reclaimed columns in the shop, we realize on site that one full and one half column were too short. We spent a day on site adding onto these columns and shaping them. No one will be the wiser.

The capitals did not quite fit inside the tops of the columns. We routed 3/16" of material off. The capitals (shown here upside down) mid-modification. The one on the left is partially complete.

The elaborate scaffolding access gives us a safe platform to work on the columns. The round columns slip around a 6x6 post, which has to be set first. The columns were lifted 12 feet in the air and slipped down onto these 6x6 posts. Very carefully.

The next step is the handrails. In order to hide all fasteners, the entire handrail will be let into the column for support on all sides. 

 

The entire handrail was mortised into the column; we wanted to avoid using the manufacturers' mounting brackets, which would betray the modern material. We used Kreg jig pocket screws instead.

After the screw holes are filled with epoxy, sanded and painted, no one will be the wiser.

 A few views of the handrail from the scaffold really show off the curve.

 While one carpenter works on the finishing details of the round bases, we will move on to setting capitals around the 6x6 inner core of the columns.

Finishing the handrails:

The balusters were so close to the round column and newel, we had to do some extensive modification to make the system work.

One of the bottom rails has to be carefully coped to fit around existing trim details. This piece will be spliced onto the handrail section to extend its length and eliminate a half-newel at the house, which would obscure existing stone trim details on the house.

The first piece spliced on.