Time to make the stairs to the basement more attractive and functional. They originally consisted of two half-walls with a polished wood top that served as a banister. This created a few issues:
- Blocks visibility into the finished area
- Doesn’t keep workshop dust from entering the finished area
- Old and tired looking
So it’s time to get to work! With the following goals:
- Remove the half-wall on the finished (right) side for better visibility
- Replace the beat-up wood wall tops that serve as banisters
- Build up the wall (on the left) and add a hung door to fully separate the workshop from the finished basement area.
- Get fancy with modern railings
- Replace the flooring
The project kicked off yesterday with full demolition of the right-side half-wall. I laid the original wall top on top of the exposed studs to protect the cat (plus it looks better).
Some details on the work itself:
- I checked to make sure there wasn’t any electrical in the wall before I started!
- I used a level to mark the inside vertical line for the drywall cut (only cut needed on the inside wall).
- For the outside I transferred measurements from the inside to the outside wall. I used an old piece of molding for the longer straight edge.
- I used a DeWalt Jab Saw (rather than powered) to cut the drywall to reduce dust and ensure a bit more accuracy.
- I used my Milwaukee SAWZALL Reciprocating saw (6509-22) to cut off the studs flush with the stair runners and outer drywall. It wasn’t perfect, but the future molding will take care of that.
Photos of the progression are below:
WidgetWood 
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