This currently consists of a 150 PFC that needs additional facing added to it in order to attach the stringers.

Months ago I cut, cleaned and painted a piece of lintel to create a 1000 x 170 x 75 right angle bracket.

I also predrilled attachment points and transferred these on to a template (thin strip of sheet metal).

At the same time I purchased high tensile bolts, a tapping bit, handle and appropriate drill bit.

There is not enough room for me to place nuts inside the PFC so I will need to tap and bolt in to it.

I had been looking at the piece of lintel steel and the tools and materials for months and I was dreading the day that I needed to install it - I do not like drilling overhead at all.

I had all sorts of other "odds and ends" finishing off jobs that I was tempted to tackle first but I realised that I needed a full day to take a run at this job.

The job took all day but went pretty much to plan.

I started off drilling 2mm pilot holes at 4 locations across the underside of the PFC and gradually drilled out larger holes in 4 more steps.

The tapping tool, with some oil assistance worked fine and the 10.2 mm bit I was sold was exactly the correct size.

I had borrowed the computer museum's genie lift for some previous work and I brought this up from the undercroft to the street level.

The step of raising the lintel steel in to position was a little bit fraught but I was very careful and the bolting step was fairly uneventful apart from one crossed thread (due to a slight misalignment) - which I just retapped.

At the end of the day I had the extension installed - plumbed correctly and solid.

In my next visit I need to remeasure dimension, recalculate the last staircase run and create a cutting template.

Friday

Woken up at 3.00 am by a cat fight outside.

I slept badly after that and while having breakfast suffered the beginnings of a deja vu attack along with shock symptoms.

Not a good condition for software development but I was still capable of physical work so I headed out to site.

Once out there I performed a few simple tasks - I dropped a plumb bob from the landing and top level to measure the staircase travel.

By now, my mind had sharpened up enough for me to make some calculations so I was able to mark up and cut a template for the very last flight.

The material I am using is just 12 mm particle board - I very carefully placed small step ladders at each end so it would be supported as I made the final cut.

However, somehow, the template still managed to fall to the floor and snap.

I partnered it up with a piece of malemine - this is why it looks a little strange in the photo below.

This took me to the end of the day.