SCREEEECH.............

That is the sound of a very well intended  DIY project hitting the brakes.  I ran into a bit of a snag on the project that I wanted to do all by myself, now Honey has to step in and help.  And it is going to prolong the project. 

I had finished sanding the first section and was ready to stain when I noticed several nails in the baserail. Hmmm - what do these do.  Oh oh - they are nailed all the way through the baserail,and into each tread.  Augh.

 That means switch gears.  I need to now put the varathane on the treads and rip out the old ones, replace them - all before I stain the base rail.  Ok - well time to do some demo!!!!  Or not

Uhmmm - oh oh..   This is after several attempts with a hammer and pry bar.  The treads are nailed, glued and screwed to the stringer.  Oh My Gosh!!!!  Of course this was not discovered until after this little corner was demolished.  Now we need to unbury and remove 6 screws per tread.  Oh joy  - Sarcasm in the highest.
And hope that we can then remove the treads without destroying the stringer.  Gulp.

Does anyone have a great secret for removing liquid nails???????

And to top it off - our stringer was not made correctly.  The top 2 stairs on the first half of the stair way are going to have to be "re-engineered"  oh happy,happy,joy,joy!!!

Wish me luck!!

Susan