My staircase project
Discussion
While not nearly as complex as this one:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I nevertheless decided to go ahead and 'backdate' my staircase to circa 1906 from 1987...
The staircase as was:
Nothing much wrong with it, but the original balusters would have been square with no turning or decoration on them, while the newel post would have also more than likely been square with some panel details, so that was the aim.
I visited a salvage shop I have used in the past, and came out with a very rough looking newel post for $50 ! It needed some work, but I figured how could I go wrong for the money? On closer inspection I figured out it was hollow, so removed the top and the bottom, to see if I could 'sleeve' it over the existing one, turns out I was right(thankfully).
Ok, so its not long enough, but you can see the footprint of the original newel post that was there,so I decided to extend mine to make it look better and more substantial...
Then added some trim to make it look more integrated, which worked to a degree, but the wood refused to take the stain!
At this point I switched to the balusters, as there were 24 to cut and fit, turns out Oak is really hard wood, my mitre saw got a good workout.
At this point I made the decision to paint out the newel post and balusters, as I couldn't see a way to have all the new and old wood match up:
Overall, I think its a good look and way more sympathetic to the house than the 1987 version.
The balusters were 15$ a piece, so were actually way more expensive than the newel post, but overall the total bill was 450$
Thanks for looking.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I nevertheless decided to go ahead and 'backdate' my staircase to circa 1906 from 1987...
The staircase as was:
Nothing much wrong with it, but the original balusters would have been square with no turning or decoration on them, while the newel post would have also more than likely been square with some panel details, so that was the aim.
I visited a salvage shop I have used in the past, and came out with a very rough looking newel post for $50 ! It needed some work, but I figured how could I go wrong for the money? On closer inspection I figured out it was hollow, so removed the top and the bottom, to see if I could 'sleeve' it over the existing one, turns out I was right(thankfully).
Ok, so its not long enough, but you can see the footprint of the original newel post that was there,so I decided to extend mine to make it look better and more substantial...
Then added some trim to make it look more integrated, which worked to a degree, but the wood refused to take the stain!
At this point I switched to the balusters, as there were 24 to cut and fit, turns out Oak is really hard wood, my mitre saw got a good workout.
At this point I made the decision to paint out the newel post and balusters, as I couldn't see a way to have all the new and old wood match up:
Overall, I think its a good look and way more sympathetic to the house than the 1987 version.
The balusters were 15$ a piece, so were actually way more expensive than the newel post, but overall the total bill was 450$
Thanks for looking.
xyz123 said:
Nice job.. Stupid question but
1. How did you remkve old one (was it glued or screwed)
2.how did you fix new one to the handle rain and at bottom?
Many thanks
I'm not sure what the OP did, but in my previous house I cut the newel post to allow for some furniture to fit upstairs. I drilled holes in either end of the centre of the post and made use of something similar to a cut broom-handle to serve as a large dowel. Some application of No-More-Nails, and the use of clamps. The post was left varnished, and you really had to look for the cut (as I had the same top & bottom the cut lined up). The repair was fine until we moved out 11 years later - I'm sure it's still going strong.1. How did you remkve old one (was it glued or screwed)
2.how did you fix new one to the handle rain and at bottom?
Many thanks
xyz123 said:
Nice job.. Stupid question but
1. How did you remkve old one (was it glued or screwed)
2.how did you fix new one to the handle rain and at bottom?
Many thanks
1. the old one is still there, inside the new 'old' one....I sleeved it over the existing one.1. How did you remkve old one (was it glued or screwed)
2.how did you fix new one to the handle rain and at bottom?
Many thanks
2. You can buy rail fixing kits, or do as I did, saw off the original newel post at the point where the rail intersects the newel post, the screw an L shaped bracket to the top, then drill a hole into the rail and use one of these:
the rough end into the rail, the fine end with the nut inside the top of the replacement newel post....once tightened, its going nowhere.
Chris Type R said:
wibble cb said:
Thats next on the list....Hardwood (Hickory) is the plan, but thats a biggie as its the entire ground and 1st floor (eeck!)
Have you checked the sub-floor ? It might be a candidate for sanding.Edited by wibble cb on Friday 9th February 08:46
Chris Type R said:
Good job, laminate next ?
So I chunked out a small section of the laminate floor, and yay! we have hardwood under the laminate/parquet/plywood subfloor...
Its not in great shape, there isn't a whole lot of meat left on them...
so it looks like the laminate is coming up and new hardwood flooring is going down,probably straight over the parquet (this was glued down, so would be a massive pain to get up).
we finally managed to complete the flooring on the ground and first floor of the house, I also replaced the bannister and newel post on the 2nd floor as well:
Big (couple of) piles of hardwood.....I am not installing this though, I am still not recovered from my frozen shoulder to attempt this, so we got the professionals in.
This was the floor before work started, it turned out there were 3 layers on the ground floor, they took up the laminate,parquet, plywood subfloor, original hardwood, the another subfloor, before finally finding the original pine floor boards.
ground floor, lovely laminate....
The 2nd floor - even lovelier parquet
nice, also shows the 80's newel post and turned balusters, they are going.
Let the trashing begin...
This shows how bad the original hardwood flooring was, you can see how warped the strips were, its no wonder they chose to cover it with parquet.
New subfloors were screwed down throughout to eliminate squeaks and movement, then the new flooring went down:
Ground floor, ah, much better, much quieter to walk on.
The ground floor is now an inch lower than it was before, but this is good as the transition from dining area to Kitchen is now flat:
I had to rig a temporary bannister while the work was halfway complete upstairs, it looks ugly, but it worked
New flooring now in upstairs...
flows through all the rooms...
I guess I now need a newel post and balusters, so fashioned one out of the temporary newel post:
Doesn't look too bad painted up
This was also attempt number 2 on the balusters, as I originally planned for them to have 2 1/2 inch spacing, but halfway through drilling and affixing them to the new flooring, my wife expressed the opinion they were too close together (couldv'e told me that before I got halfway...)
So the 2nd attempt involved a shoe rail to cover the holes I just drilled, then re spacing the balusters 4 1/2 inches apart, it does look a little less closed in, but wow, it was hard work, as the nosing/show rail was oak, its hard wood.
Definitely a bit more Edwardian now though.
All the skirting and wood work was also painted out, as the rest of the house was already painted the same way, it would have looked odd to have stained wood.
Thanks for looking
Big (couple of) piles of hardwood.....I am not installing this though, I am still not recovered from my frozen shoulder to attempt this, so we got the professionals in.
This was the floor before work started, it turned out there were 3 layers on the ground floor, they took up the laminate,parquet, plywood subfloor, original hardwood, the another subfloor, before finally finding the original pine floor boards.
ground floor, lovely laminate....
The 2nd floor - even lovelier parquet
nice, also shows the 80's newel post and turned balusters, they are going.
Let the trashing begin...
This shows how bad the original hardwood flooring was, you can see how warped the strips were, its no wonder they chose to cover it with parquet.
New subfloors were screwed down throughout to eliminate squeaks and movement, then the new flooring went down:
Ground floor, ah, much better, much quieter to walk on.
The ground floor is now an inch lower than it was before, but this is good as the transition from dining area to Kitchen is now flat:
I had to rig a temporary bannister while the work was halfway complete upstairs, it looks ugly, but it worked
New flooring now in upstairs...
flows through all the rooms...
I guess I now need a newel post and balusters, so fashioned one out of the temporary newel post:
Doesn't look too bad painted up
This was also attempt number 2 on the balusters, as I originally planned for them to have 2 1/2 inch spacing, but halfway through drilling and affixing them to the new flooring, my wife expressed the opinion they were too close together (couldv'e told me that before I got halfway...)
So the 2nd attempt involved a shoe rail to cover the holes I just drilled, then re spacing the balusters 4 1/2 inches apart, it does look a little less closed in, but wow, it was hard work, as the nosing/show rail was oak, its hard wood.
Definitely a bit more Edwardian now though.
All the skirting and wood work was also painted out, as the rest of the house was already painted the same way, it would have looked odd to have stained wood.
Thanks for looking
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