On Saturday, I tried to share a slideshow of the in-progress pictures from the ramp railing upgrade. WordPress refused to let me share that. I’m going to try again today. If you don’t see a slideshow at the end of this post, you’ll know that I failed.
I will begin with Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge which is Any type of light fixture.
First a few words about that railing upgrade. If this project doesn’t interest you, feel free to skip to the first gallery. The ramp is supported by four 16′ (4.9m) 2×10″ stringers. They are attached to the side of the porch at the top, and to a concrete abutment–slightly below grade–at the lower end. At the time that we built the ramp, we weren’t planning on installing a railing system. The porch is only 16″(41cm) above grade, so the Building Code does not require a railing.
When we decided to add the railing, the porch and ramp were already covered in Trex (a composite decking material). Trex is somewhat tricky to install, and almost impossible to removed. The brackets that came with the railing have a metal plate that needed to be anchored in its four corners. On the upper and lower post, all four bolts went into solid wood. On the middle two posts, two bolts were secured into one of the stringers. The other two were secured with something analogous to a hollow-wall anchor, but one designed for vertical installations. Those were wildly ineffective.
We didn’t like the railing on the ramp. It was pretty, but not strong enough to support a handrail that someone in a wheelchair might be using to pull themselves up the ramp. Since that person may someday be me or my wife, we wanted better. With the ramp installed and partially buried in the ground, securing it was not easy.
I devised two methods for inserting bolts from underneath. One was an old technique used by mechanics to fish bolts through the frame of cars (back when cars had frames). A similarly sized spring is wound around the threads of the bolt and connected to a wire fished down through the hole. The wire is pulled and the bolt follows. This worked on the upper of the two posts.
The lower post was too far beneath the surface to fish a wire under. So, I drilled an access hole under the plate and wiggled the bolts in by hand. The handrail has been installed and is sturdy.
It took a while to clear the ramps, porch and steps. 
The caution tape was to prevent anyone getting hurt on the poles. 
Let’s go fishing 
The wire is fished through the hole and under the support for the ramp. 
The spring on the end will let me pull this up through 
Gently pulling on the wire brings the spring and the screw attached to it. 
Now I have to hold the screw in place while i remove the spring and get a nut and washer on. 
Nice and secure. 
The wire won’t work on this one. It’s too close to the ground 
At this point, the ramp is too low to get under it. Screws with very large washers will be pushed through from underneath. 
The wire clips will hold the screws until I put the post over them and get a nut and lock washer on. 
One more secure 
Due to the adjustment screws, the plywood backing for the handrail support has to be put in before the column is slid on. The plywood is pulled tight by the brackets. The tape is just to keep it inplace temporarily 
Four columns with plywood backing inside 
On my back, on the ramp, securing the handrail to the bracket 
Handrail inspector
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
No Facilities 
Add your thoughts or join the discussion. One relevant link is OK, more require moderation.