Staircase renovation

[jakesmith]

I live in Surrey, just had 2 big brand specialist companies in to quote for renovating a staircase. Quotes were £8k and £9.6k.
It's a simple staircase, 3 steps and a corner and 13 more. Glass balustrade on one side and 2x 2 metres of balcony balustrade at the top. Oak newels and veneer over strings
I costed this in parts at more like £1500. Although I may have overlooked some bits...
Is this really specialist work, replacing newel posts etc?
Or should a good chippie be able to do it?

[russell_ram]

Completely DIY-able so easily in the realms of a decent carpenter.

Having never done it before and not being in the trade: from this





and this (I used Stairbox.com but plenty of other choices)



to this

Edited by russell_ram on Tuesday 15th March 19:07

Edited by russell_ram on Wednesday 16th March 07:20

[Craikeybaby]

Find a good local carpenter!

We've just had our staircase renovated and the carpenter who does it charges from £999 for newel posts, base rail, handrail and spindles including a return at the top. It's more if you want oak etc, but still sounds a lot cheaper than your quotes.

[jakesmith]

I've just bought all the kit to do it myself, about £2000 all in including about £350 on tools! I am veneering the existing newels as it seems stupid to remove them really when they are in position & have the handrail mounting hardware attached already. The veneer is 15mm solid oak though so should be solid enough. Will post pics up! Big easter project & the Mrs. is nervous!!

[Rosscow]

jakesmith said:

I've just bought all the kit to do it myself, about £2000 all in including about £350 on tools! I am veneering the existing newels as it seems stupid to remove them really when they are in position & have the handrail mounting hardware attached already. The veneer is 15mm solid oak though so should be solid enough. Will post pics up! Big easter project & the Mrs. is nervous!!

That's not veneer!

[jakesmith]

Decided to DIY it, bought some cladding kits, baserails and handrails from Stairbox. £2.5k all in including glass, and about £250 on tools that I will keep

Before:



Nearly done... just waiting for the glass to come + relay carpet



Can add some during pics if of interest

[minivanman]

Great job! Definately post some pics up, its something I'm going to be doing at some point as well.

[jakesmith]

Before:



First test fitting of the cladding kit



Another cladding kit in position, this one took a full day to measure up, cut & fit



Homemade jig for routing out the recess for the handle mounting plate



Stair string veneer (took about 4 hours to measure out & cut)



In position



Nearly done... just waiting for the glass to come + relay carpet

Edited by jakesmith on Wednesday 13th April 23:10

[NickGibbs]

Well done!
We're all going to have to be more DIY handy as specialist rates keep climbing. Especially if the Poles leave!

[dirty_dog]

That looks excellent. I had no idea you could get kits like that.

[CoolHands]

jakesmith said:

Who's the nude in the mirror?

[jakesmith]

Kate Moss of course!

[Tahiti]

I like that job Jake. Nice.

[jakesmith]

Forgot to update but here it is, with new carpet

[wibble cb]

Inspired by this build, I decided to change the look of one of my Newel posts, my house was last renovated circa 1987, so reflects that era, I wanted something a little more period.

How the existing newel post looked



I looked around for inspiration and decided a square newel post would suit my Edwardian abode, so set about cladding this one, as I didn't want to remove the one I had:

mid way through:

|https://thumbsnap.com/WrjKCa1M[/url]

Pretty much there now:



The top was a fencepost cap I found in a DIY store, the rest was some MDF I bought for the base panels and then some thinner veneer type sheets which I cut the window panels into, then trimmed those out with even smaller beading to create the inset panel.

Some pine offcuts and coving rounded out the build, I think I spent about 30 quid in total.


Next job will be the balusters, I want square ones, as I think they go with the square newel post better than the round ones.[url]

Edited by wibble cb on Friday 9th February 08:05

[stirling37]

jakesmith said:

Decided to DIY it, bought some cladding kits, baserails and handrails from Stairbox. £2.5k all in including glass, and about £250 on tools that I will keep

Before:



Nearly done... just waiting for the glass to come + relay carpet



Can add some during pics if of interest

that looks amazing, its something i need to do myself. and ive me some insipiration, the veneer over the stringer worrys me, i know its going to take some time to get that right and it seems measure and then measure again and then measure again to get it right.

this is what i have to play with, i cut our newell posts down so i might replace with cheap round newell posts and then clad them like you did.

ive never used a router but i think thats a tool im going to need to buy to get this job done.

i had neville johnson in and they quoted 10k for oak and glass!!! stairbox ive roughly worked it out to be 2k

Edited by stirling37 on Saturday 1st October 10:07

[wibble cb]

just to round this out, I finished replacing the round spindles with the square ones....

started out like this:



The newel post was clad and painted, the old spindles were removed:



tada!:



And painted up:



Not a huge change, but I am happy with it/them!

Edited by wibble cb on Friday 9th February 08:13

[BarryGibb]

Jake, fantastic effort, looks great. I'm looking to refurbish with the end goal to have something similar to you - oak and glass. Mine should be slightly cheaper as I don't need to put as much on the landing. Been quoted £5k + VAT, but when an equivalent new staircase from Stairbox is ~£2k inc VAT, there appears to be a big margin for the refurb guys - materials must be ~£1500 tops.