This morning, first thing, the stairs were completely unwrapped in preparation for moving them into their final position.  Finally, we get to see the staircase naked.

While the guys completed some finishing touches on the stairs and prepared for the move, I took some extra photographs of the process of putting the staircase in.  Earlier, I showed a photograph of the false floor that was built over the stairs that go downstairs to aid in the installation of the amazing sweeping staircase.  That false floor had to be supported by a framing system which was built on the lower stairs.  Here is a glimpse of this framing support.

The lower end of the amazing sweeping staircase will be connected to the floor via two steel brackets.  The first bracket is a L-shaped bracket that will fit into one of the staircase stringers with a L-shaped cut-out (shown below).

Here is the first steel bracket that will hold the bottom end of the stairs...before it was installed

and after it was bolted to the floor...

The second metal bracket for the bottom end of the stairs is just a short little piece...

Together, the two brackets will be the entire support for the bottom end of the staircase (doesn't seem like much to support all that weight!).

Okay, so that was just a bit of a diversion while the muscle got ready to move the stairs.  Now they are ready, they have a plan, and they start to lift the stairs...

The guys cannot lift the stairs high enough to get the upper end to the bracket it will attach to on the second floor.  Therefore, they are going to lift the upper end of the stairs and brace it with 2X4s and then move the stairs into its final position using the braces.

First, they lift the upper end of the staircase way up so they can attach the braces

Once the braces are in, fewer men are needed to hold the upper section of the stairs.

The first braces have been set, now it is time to lift the midsection of the stairs so that the stairs are in the correct orientation...

Another check of bracing.....

and they are ready to move the stairs into the rotunda

It's almost there, but we will have to extract the two guys on the backside before they can push the stairs all the way into the rotunda

and get the upper end of the stairs moved to the left so it matches to the bracket that is waiting to receive it.

After the guys were extracted, the stairs were moved closer to its final position.

Whoops, it's a little close over here....

That's better.

A little more manuvering to get it closer....

and then they break for lunch.  As the guys are taking lunch, I am takng a break and will return later, hopefully to find the stairs perfectly placed!!!