Open riser staricase

[Richard Wolf]

I promise some better pictures in the next week or so. This is a set of staircases, 3 in all, one going to the basement, which I have been working on for a while.

The stairs are built from quarter sawn white oak. The treads are 4" thick and the stringers are also 4" thick. There is a channel on the open side of the stairs to accept 1/2" glass panels which will also go across the balcony.

I needed to laminate a piece of 1/4" steel into the glass side stringer to add support. Each staircase weighs about 1500#.

I really need to take a lot of pictures of this house to share with you. It is a spec house, in the Village of Southampton, NY and right on the ocean. Asking price, 34 million.

That's me sitting on the bottom of the stairs mentally and physically drained.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Richard......that really looks like a challenge and I won't be buying the place as it's spec...doesn't meet mine......price wise of course.

[Ole Anderson]

A 34 million dollar SPEC house? You've got to be kidding. I guess our economy must be back on track.

[Rob Fisher]

A 34 million dollar SPEC house? You've got to be kidding. I guess our economy must be back on track.

It has more to do with location, location, location I believe.

[Richard Wolf]

Yes, it's location. There are not a lot of ocean front home sites in the village of Southampton. The builder purchased the lot with a house standing for 19 million and knocked the original house down. Don't get me wrong, the new house is all about quality and superior finish details. I think the 1/2" curved glass for the 50 foot balcony is costing close to $90,000.

The price to the 3 staircases was $30,000. It may seem like a lot, but after 1000 bf of white oak, steel and other materials, I'm not putting much into my retirement fund. Working on homes of this quality becomes very stressful because everyone is very demanding that everything is of the quality they expect.

[Bret Duffin]

Wow, That some pricey house. I've worked on some pretty upscale homes in my day and also for some famous people but I think $34m tops any I've worked on. There was one that was $10m but that was over twenty years ago, wonder what thats worth today.

I know what you mean about the stress. I've worked on lots of stairs. The worst part is everybody is walking up and down the stairs all day while you're trying to work on it.

Job description: Do this nearly impossible job as quickly as possible but it better be perfect and by the way people will be trampling all over you and your work all day just deal with it.

But you'll be a hero when it turns out beautiful!

Bret

[Larry Edgerton]

Nice Richard. I am on my third staircase in a row, and I don't know how you do that every day.

I did one with 4" white oak treads. It was a spirel, and there was no outside stringer. I had a green white oak tree as a center post, 3 feet in diameter, and I let the dried oak treads into it. Those treads were heavy! As the tree in the center dried the treads became tighter and tighter. I was worried about it, as you can imagine, but that is part of the process, and why we do what we do. If I am presented with a simple job, I always try to figure out how to make it more complicated.

That market out there is crazy. There are a few 15 mil houses around here, but my bread and butter is the 1-2 mil houses, and a lot of those are getting repo'ed around here lately. Not so much crazy stuff any more.

I love seeing your work Richard, thanks.

Larry

[Larry Edgerton]

Wow, That some pricey house. I've worked on some pretty upscale homes in my day and also for some famous people but I think $34m tops any I've worked on. There was one that was $10m but that was over twenty years ago, wonder what thats worth today.

Bret

The house I am working on now was a touch over $2M to build ten years ago, and it just sold for a hair over $400K. We are going backwards here.