While we were down in Missouri, Lloyd and I tried to think of things we could do to help his parents. We’re not going to be available to help feed the cows or anything, so we decided to devalue their house a little.
Lloyd actually did a fine job installing a hand-held shower attachment, but he ‘misunderstood’ what his dad would need for a shower seat.
As for me, I thought I could install a handrail by the basement stairs. It was going to be super-easy since the backside of the wall is just open studs.
On the way back home I was even planning the process: Install bottom bracket, install top bracket, snap a chalk line between them and find the spot for the middle one.
Once we actually started working, though, I thought of something even easier! Just find the studs, and measure 31 inches up from the steps!
See? Ends:
Then mid-point:
This worked out perfectly, until we set the handrail on the brackets and it shot up at an impossibly wrong angle – completely missing the top bracket by a foot. My diagram doesn’t show the shooting up, but it does show the missing-the-mark. Diagrams are hard.
This is because you do not measure at the same point on each tread – you measure where the stud crosses it, so at the bottom step I measured at about the middle of the tread, but halfway up the stairs I measured at the very edge. Stupid, stupid math.
I blame Lloyd. He watched me do it. He just watched me, not saying a math-teacher word about it. (I guess he was getting me back for the fridge incident.)
Anyway, it’s up. My prayer is that it doesn’t pull out from the wall at a very inopportune time.
