Freeland carport stairs

For Nick, the owner of this unique building in Freeland, Washington, I designed a carport/shop building, and drafted a semi-resolved set of schematic* drawings for permitting with the County. It was a 5 page set drawn in 1/8" and 1/4" scales, engineered and permitted for less than $2,500.

I'm a believer that schematic design not only makes a project more affordable, building something without having studied the implications and drawn a solution is an absolute waste of time and money. However, a full set of drawings would be far more expensive.

I'm also a firm believer in the design build process, that a designs' details can evolve with the project and by doing so saves money up front not having to spend endless hours resolving and drawing details that skilled craftspeople don't need and bad contractors can't read.

Sometimes in looking at design and budget, people loose sight of the fact that without an experienced builder, the schematic plan's intent can be compromised. My designs express a language of materiality, form, function and connectivity. It can be very suggestive but vague at the same time.

Nick and his Son who lives in Pt. Townsend spend a few hours cleaning up two faces on the 24' beams-left.

I, as a designer, would like to participate in construction management and detailing all through the project, but such is not always the case. Nevertheless, with a good road map and a clear set of ideas, many builders can interpolate, extrapolate and formulate a plan meeting 90% of the designer's original goals. 90% gets an 'A' in college!

A schematic design does not detail every connection nor draw every section or even deal with every issue. Throughout construction there are numerous issues to be dealt with on a day-to-day basis. (Note: This can be true of any design, large or small, new or remodel.) On this project, a problem with the stairs lacking enough head clearance was simple overlooked. In my mind, the stairs were to be simple attic stairs not to a 'habitable space' thus not needing to be code. As the design progressed and the upstairs became a room with future uses, stairs needed to be re-evaluated but there wasn't time given the budget.

Normally, I catch issues like this during construction or project/construction management. More and more I feel that though the schematic design is the most important first step, expertise on site during the entire process is equally important.

Joe checks his placement for the 6x6 post brackets we were using for the stair footing detail.

As a result of the mishap, some steel brackets had to be cut off and re-welded and the design of the stairs had to change (always an opportunity to improve). I'm thrilled that Nick brought me in to resolve the problem which was tricky and didn't want to resolve with out mess and clutter. The completed stairs do not look like an afterthought. Not only do they appear as though there was never a problem, they're better than those I'd originally anticipated.

Quickly on construction, the stairs should be good for 50 years. The treads are pressure treated 3x12, also called dock wood. Not organic, safe to say even toxic, but the treated wood was required to deal with their exposure to the weather and their longevity reduces waste in the long run.

The pitch of the stairs is very close to that of the roof, a 6 / 12. The beams were treated prior to assembly with a Daly's product. Even though they're under the 48" overhand, they will still see a fair amount of weather.

At the top the stairs are bolted and so cannot slide or shift. This means at the base, a simple load bearing detail was sufficient (no lateral load). Instead of doing a landing or concrete pad, I chose to float the stair bases on little 6x6 post brackets and let the existing walk/drain gravel do what it would.

*schematic means a design that is symbolic or simplified.