Another wind storm ’11 casualty has been repaired. Holly’s railing, which was poorly anchored and poorly constructed, was destroyed a few weeks ago. It, along with the shed were on a mental ‘to do’ list, to be addressed at some point this year when time and budget allowed for it, but nature decided to move things along. The new railing is a cedar kit we got from Home Depot. It would have been super quick and easy to install, but Holly’s stairs aren’t uniform at all. The kits are designed for a 45° slope, and we had nothing near that. It took some time to figure out, but I managed to make it all work. It’s now twice as sturdy, and a hundred times more attractive.

Unfortunately the kits came with the wrong brackets, and Home Depot didn’t have any of the right ones. Now, to finish the top rail properly, I need to make a mortise in each top rail which will fit over the brackets and allow the top rail to sit flush on the pre-drilled rails. And once Holly gets some post caps, I’ll fire up the chainsaw and Clark W. Griswald the newel posts. Then all I have to do is fix the fence, and possibly build a few sheds for some extra cash. So far two of Holly’s neighbours have asked me to build them similar sheds.