This HouseCall took Ron to Bennington, Vermont, a small New England town resembling something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. It comes as no surprise, then, that Rockwell as well as artist Grandma Moses and poet Robert Frost have all called this area home. This town is also home to Todd and Kim Benner and their children, Alicia, Emily and Elijah. The Benners had recently built a wrap around porch but they asked Ron to help them with one more improvement …the addition of a railing.
Click Here For a list of what
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1. Design:
- What Ron had in mind for the Benner porch was something fairly simple with clean lines that would tie in well with the design of the home.
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- They made the porch railing with three pieces, starting with the handrail. This top piece had a groove cut on the bottom side. They attached the spindles into this groove.
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- The spindles sat on top of the bottom rail and the railing was made in sections; each designed to fit between the existing columns on the porch.
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2. Measurements:
- Todd and Kim took two measurements of each section between the porch columns, one where the top and one where the bottom of the railing would attach. This would ensure a perfect fit.
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- They transferred each measurement onto a corresponding top or bottom piece of railing and drew a line across each piece with a combination square and a pencil.
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3. Cut wood:
- Todd used the power miter saw to cut each rail to length.
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- Ron adjusted the saw's stop block to 26 inches, which in this case was the length (or height) for each spindle. The stop block was used to ensure that each spindle was exactly the same length.
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- They created the bottom rail from a piece of 2 by 4, but rather than use it just as it was, Ron made a slight modification. He cut the top corners away forming what are called chamfers. Ron did this not only because it looked nicer but more importantly, the chamfers would allow water to more easily run off to the sides.
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- They tilted the blade of the table saw to a 30-degree angle and then ran the wood along the edge, over the blade.
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4. Assembly:
- Ron laid out the position on the top and bottom rails where each spindle would be attached. He laid both the top and bottom rail side-by-side and marked the positions on both at the same time to ensure that the spindles would be straight.
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- Ron set the top rail aside. On the bottom rail he had made a series of cross marks in exactly the locations where each spindle would be attached. He gave Todd and Kim each a drill and asked them to drill all the way through the bottom rail making sure that the holes were as straight as possible.
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- They attached the spindles to this bottom rail with a long 3" screw that was driven through the bottom rail and into the spindle.
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- To make the positioning easier, Ron made up a temporary jig. They laid the bottom rail on its side and positioned the first spindle in the jig while aligning the pencil mark Ron had made with the center of the spindle. While Kim held the spindle in place, Tom carefully drove in the screw.
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- Next, they laid the top rail down on the work surface with the groove facing upwards.
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- They aligned the ends of the spindles into the groove with the center of each spindle on the pencil mark that they had drawn earlier.
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