Spiral Staircase, DIY of course, Comes to Badboulder

David built our small guest house first, providing him with some home construction experience and giving us a place to live, rent free, during the years it has taken one man to build a 4000 sq. ft. home. The second story of our guest house contains a small bedroom, smaller bath, and the smallest of closets. It comfortably sheltered us for eleven years while building our main house.



To save much needed space and hasten the guest house construction, we agreed upon a steel spiral staircase kit. We chose a manufacturer in Houston TX and the kit was soon on its way to Phoenix by rail; a semi was scheduled to haul it up the mountain to Yarnell. Big problem was, Badboulder was reached only by a one-lane dirt road with a 90 degree curve--impossible for the semi.



David arranged for the kit to be delivered to my work site--the local elementary school. The stairway components were neatly piled on the roadside adjacent to the school yard at day's end. The steps and connecting pieces were conveniently boxed ready to toss in our trunk but that fifteen foot long steel column posed a transporting problem for our old Chevy. I rushed home, anxious to bring the kit in and start the assembly. David kept finding a multitude of shores to do.



Darkness comes early in the mountains and darkness was what David needed.



The fifteen foot steel column was too long for one man to carry for one mile on his shoulder. Viola! Out came a "shoulder pillow" that David had designed for me that afternoon. I soon saw exactly how the transporting was to be accomplished. A full moon and a daughter driving behind us with our big blue Chevy Caprice lights blazing illuminated our packing home the heavy column.



The kit was easy to assemble and we enjoyed the staircase so much that we installed a two-story spiral in our main house. Road improvements saved us another moonlight trek, as a semi made that delivery.



Sixteen years later, David admits that he didn't want the citizens of Yarnell observing their school marm carrying home a steel column.



FROM THE KNOTHOLE: Hey, remember me? I'm the doer, the guy who puts all this together. I am the Bob Villa-Frank Lloyd Wright-Martha Stewart of Yarnell all rolled into one. How do you like my spiral staircase? It's a two story job. Goes all the way from the bottom of this in-the-boulders structure up to my crow's nest. I'll show you that someday. Regarding the spiral staircase, my brother-in-law said bad planning. Like, how are you going to get up and down that thing when you are old? And, he suggested an elevator. Well, this is not the Mayo Clinic, this is not the old folks home, it is more like Curves. We try to stay young around here. Badboulder lady calls it our fitness home. If you are interested in a spiral staircase, Stairways, Inc., in Texas does a good job. Okay, see you next time. Headed up to my crow's nest; that's where I keep my Old Crow.