Stripping Bannisters with an Angle Grinder

[LennyM1984]

I'm currently renovating the house we moved into back in January. Everything is progressing well which means that my attention has now moved to the stairs and upstairs hallway.

The stairs are all in good condition but I'd like to make them look a little lighter and brighter. With this in mind, I'd like to strip the handrail back to the original wood (it is currently lacquered in a dark translucent brown) and then either paint the spindles in white or maybe just replace them all together). Pic below to give you an idea.

I'm very lazy and so my plan is to attack the handrail with strip discs in an angle grinder. I'm a big fan of strip discs but have not seen anybody advocating their use on bannisters (everybody seems to either use chemical stripper, heat guns, or just good ol' fashioned elbow grease). Am I missing something here?

Also, do angle grinder dust shrouds work? The upstairs and downstairs hallways are large and run in multiple directions so minimising dust is a key priority (the insane amount of dust is one of the few things that has been getting me down when doing other work on the house - I'm still finding piles of it now in random places from when I was sorting out a few walls)

The horrible carpet will all be removed/replaced once I have done the bannisters so no concerns about that

Edited by LennyM1984 on Monday 7th July 11:16

Edited by LennyM1984 on Monday 7th July 11:16

[Quhet]

If you're after a quick and easy solution (and are lazy), why not lightly sand the bannisters and simply paint over the varnish/lacquer?

[Super Sonic]

Angle grinders are for metal, not wood. You may do better with a chainsaw.

[bennno]

An angle grinder with sanding flaps will trash that. It'll destroy the edges / shape of the wood and wont touch a lot of it due to the shape.

A lot will need to be done by hand, the rest with a mouse or orbital sander.

Or you use paint stripper, or seal / prime with shellac and paint, or you get a carpenter to chop it out and replace with mode modern. Option 2 will be least messy and cheapest.

[Antony Moxey]

Take the bannisters apart and do it outside. The newell posts probably have wooden bungs in to hide the screws, so you should be able to take out the top and bottom rails and spindles all in one piece.

[LennyM1984]

bennno said:

An angle grinder with sanding flaps will trash that. It'll destroy the edges / shape of the wood and wont touch a lot of it due to the shape.

A lot will need to be done by hand, the rest with a mouse or orbital sander.

Or you use paint stripper, or seal / prime with shellac and paint, or you get a carpenter to chop it out and replace with mode modern. Option 2 will be least messy and cheapest.

Strip Discs not flaps discs.

https://www.toolstation.com/rapid-strip-paint-varn...

I've used them for removing paint before on other stuff, just never a handrail!

[PhilboSE]

The dust will be horrendous. Very hard to live in the property while doing that sort of job.

The spindles are ok-ish, but the newel posts are pretty basic. 80’s house?

For a real transformation I would be thinking about new newel posts, white painted spindles and a nice wood handrail.

But if you want a quick and dirty improvement, just paint it all white.

[LennyM1984]

PhilboSE said:

The spindles are ok-ish, but the newel posts are pretty basic. 80 s house?

Built in 1984 and until recently, covered in analgypta wallpaper and stippled artex! Thankfully, it was all done professionally and appears to have been well maintained so was fairly easy to remove/skim etc.

The newell posts are the only bits I quite like (probably due to being quite basic)

[PhilboSE]

LennyM1984 said:

The newell posts are the only bits I quite like (probably due to being quite basic)

In that case, Zinsser Bin then any topcoat colour you fancy.

If you don’t like the spindles then they can be swapped out for something else.

[OutInTheShed]

The spindles are the problem, they are very time consuming to sand and paint nicely.

Glass bannister panels are readily available and quite cheap now, they are pretty good at making a stairwell brighter.
Probably a fashion from 5 years ago though!

There are other alternatives to spindles.

[LennyM1984]

OutInTheShed said:

The spindles are the problem, they are very time consuming to sand and paint nicely.

Glass bannister panels are readily available and quite cheap now, they are pretty good at making a stairwell brighter.
Probably a fashion from 5 years ago though!

There are other alternatives to spindles.

Yeah my wife hates those glass panels (I found this out recently when I suggested it!).

Based on all the comments, I think I might just order new handrails and spindles from somewhere like Stairbox and redo it all properly. The cost isn't particularly high and it will save me the dust and unhappiness of trying to save these ones.

[Byker28i]

Antony Moxey said:

Take the bannisters apart and do it outside. The newell posts probably have wooden bungs in to hide the screws, so you should be able to take out the top and bottom rails and spindles all in one piece.

This, definately this. Ask me how I know.

Also I had to replace some as the puppy chewed them. This was a good place should you wish to update
https://www.stairbits.com/

[Belle427]

If your lazy then Zinsser as suggested and paint it all, too much faff and mess to strip those handrails back.

[Simpo Two]

LennyM1984 said:

I'm very lazy and so my plan is to attack the handrail with strip discs in an angle grinder.

By far the easiest/quickest way to do it is paint, either just the banisters, or the newels as well but maybe leaving the caps wood.

[Shnozz]

LennyM1984 said:

OutInTheShed said:

The spindles are the problem, they are very time consuming to sand and paint nicely.

Glass bannister panels are readily available and quite cheap now, they are pretty good at making a stairwell brighter.
Probably a fashion from 5 years ago though!

There are other alternatives to spindles.

Yeah my wife hates those glass panels (I found this out recently when I suggested it!).

Based on all the comments, I think I might just order new handrails and spindles from somewhere like Stairbox and redo it all properly. The cost isn't particularly high and it will save me the dust and unhappiness of trying to save these ones.

This is the plan for our house - have the bannisters cut out and replaced with glass panels.

No idea what sort of money we are talking but its a project for the future as well as changing internal doors. Ours are dark wood (not quite as dark mind) and doesn't suit the rest of the fairly modern property.

[bennno]

Shnozz said:

This is the plan for our house - have the bannisters cut out and replaced with glass panels.

No idea what sort of money we are talking but its a project for the future as well as changing internal doors. Ours are dark wood (not quite as dark mind) and doesn't suit the rest of the fairly modern property.

It's not expensive, local glazing company can template and cut glass and get it heat treated, just needs a carpenter to modify (or fit replacement) base and handrails to suit.

[sjg]

Get a decent scraper like a Bahco 625 and some of the round/angled blades for it. Will get 95+% of it off without dust, you’ll just need to hand sand in some of the trickier spots.

https://www.bahco.com/gb_en/products/wall-tools/sc...

[JoshSm]

LennyM1984 said:

Also, do angle grinder dust shrouds work?

They do - at least the Bosch ones I've got that explicitly fit my Bosch grinders do - but usually only if working against a surface otherwise they'll leak a lot even with lots of extraction as the dust just gets flung out. This is true for both the flat grinding and the cutting type shrouds.

I did try cheaper shrouds in an effort to dodge the 'reassuringly expensive' proper ones and they just don't fit well.

For stair banisters or spindles it'd be a non starter. For chasing or grinding walls or floors though they're brilliant.

[Little Lofty]

Black painted handrail is pretty trendy at the moment. Or if you want rid just dismantle it and use the parts as templates.
These have a good range:
https://stairpartsdirect.co.uk/?gad_source=1&g...

[drmotorsport]

I had similar issue with my bannisters. Don't bother trying to strip back to bare wood, it's almost impossible and a waste of time and the dust created with an angle grinder will be epic. I just degreased, lightly sanded, primed and glossed in white. Lightend up my stairwell a treat.