My 3 AM stair rail alignment finally clicked after a week of fighting it
Every evening for the last 7 days I was out in the garage messing with this used stair rail from a Habitat ReStore in Tacoma, and the brackets would not line up no matter how many times I measured. Last night at 3 AM I realized the stringer was 1/4 inch off from the wall studs because my level was sitting on a paint drip. Once I scraped that drip and used a 48 inch level instead of my 12 inch one, all 14 brackets slid right into place. I mean, it took me 20 minutes after that whole week of fussing, which honestly made me feel dumb and relieved at the same time. Has anyone else had a tiny flaw like a paint drip or a bowed board throw off an entire build, and what did it take for you to spot it?