What he said. If you pull the OSB and put the 1 1/4 hardwood right on the framing it should put you where you need to be. you could put cleats and reset the OSB between the framing flush with the top.
I was thinking about the cleats and inset plywood panels but thought it would be kinda uneven in surface if the plywood would be lower or higher by a 1/16 here or there to the top of the joists.But now that I think about it, that can be fixed by using a belt sander to get all the tops relative flush. I just hope that if you went with this plan that the current plywood top was screwed down and construction adhesive wasn't used because the construction adhesive would be a real pain to remove off the joists.
I was thinking about the cleats and inset plywood panels but thought it would be kinda uneven in surface if the plywood would be lower or higher by a 1/16 here or there to the top of the joists.But now that I think about it, that can be fixed by using a belt sander to get all the tops relative flush. I just hope that if you went with this plan that the current plywood top was screwed down and construction adhesive wasn't used because the construction adhesive would be a real pain to remove off the joists.
An update on this...
On the advice of my neighbor, I applied for a variance from the regional building department. What I was requesting was a variance allowing a maximum 5/8" difference in riser height over the the flight of stairs. The maximum allowed variance is 3/8"
So I went in front of the variance comittee this morning with the 8x10 prints of the photo below, and some photocopies of the plans. They approved it with almost no discussion. I seemed to be very over-prepared relative to most of the people there, and a helluva lot better at public speaking and making my case then many also. It may also be that I was 2nd to last on the agenda, and everybody just wanted to get out of there
In any case, this is a big relief. I wasn't at all thrilled about that transistion strip - much less tearing out & rebuilding the steps.
Just set some more slate tonight. I'm going to try to finish that landing this weekend, and my interior doors should be here by next weekend, so it's coming along!
Getting to it! I have the stuff to do it, but needed to resolve the landing issue first. I'm going with powder coated iron balusters & an oak hand rail.
