Refreshing the staircase

[preecy]

Now the bathrooms have been re-modernised the missus is eyeing up a new staircase and tidying up the landing/hall. She has her heart set on an Axxys Clearview oak & glass kit which contains the handrail, baserail, two newel posts and the glass panels.

At the top of our staircase there's currently a small section of balustrade. How would the pro's go about tackling this when fitting an oak & glass kit such as the one we're looking at?

Pics below to give you a better idea of what i'm talking about.

Any advise would be appreciated.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Do you need all that woodwork at the top?
You'll need new carpet though

 

[preecy]

I'd love to remove all the woodwork at the top but not sure how to redesign it?
I was thinking of completely removing the newel on the left. Obviously i'd need to keep (ie: replace) the one on the right but there'd be a 10-20cm gap between the wall and newel post. It's a bit of an odd gap, not sure what to do with it.

 

[Doggit]

The Axxys staircase will have different newl posts to the exixting ones, so I'd suggest sending/taking the pictures you've posted to the staricase suppliers, and see how they'd match them. If you give them all the dimensions, they should be able to supply you with the cut and trimmed newel post so that they become a straight replacement for the existing ones. How far do you intend to go in replaceing the stairs though. The whole kit and caboodle, or just the haldrails and glass panels etc. The wooden staor effect looks lovely, byt would require the whole staircase being ripped out, and then the plaster making good all round the stairs afterwards. Not an easy job (but not difficult either) but you'd have a beautifull stair afterwards.

 

[preecy]

Good idea, i'll grab the dimensions and email them to the supplier along with those photos. I definitely wont be replacing the whole staircase, at the moment its just going to be the baserail, handrail, posts and panels. Saying that the same Axxy's supplier also sells oak tread & riser cladding kits.

 

[Tigercubrider]

The one on the left has no purpose but to balance the picture
The right hand one does little.

If there was a gap then if it was bigger than the max allowable distance between spindles, a bit of tempered or laminated glass could be fixed to the wall at 90° to the stairs to butt up against the infill panel

 

[preecy]

ok so if cut the left hand post off at floor level this wouldnt weaken the staircase?
it looks like they also sell the smaller landing glass panel fillers too.
have emailed a few suppliers with my dimensions and photos. hopefully one of them will come up with a plan of the parts i'll need.

 

[Doggit]

Assuming you're talking about the posts upstairs, then no. You'd drill 100mm down the post left on the floor, and glue (gorliia glue) in a 1" dowel, then drill the new post to drop over the dowel, and then glue that in place.

 

[preecy]

Assuming you're talking about the posts upstairs, then no. You'd drill 100mm down the post left on the floor, and glue (gorliia glue) in a 1" dowel, then drill the new post to drop over the dowel, and then glue that in place.

But wouldnt that leave part of the original white post visible? I assume you mean like the image below (nicked from youtube).

I was hoping i could remove the whole bottom post as well as the top ones, then fit a new full oak post using some kind of zip bolt or other fastener? The ground floor is concrete so i assume the current post is secured by an anchored fastener and also screwed into the side of the stair case.

 

[Tigercubrider]

I have removed the entire post downstairs and pinned it to the stringer
I basically had to make a slot to slide it downwards

Upstairs, I can't quite remover what I did but managed to remove the post and secured it to the floor joists

 

[preecy]

Hmmm ok thanks. Starting to sway towards getting a the pros in for this. I've fit the Burbidge Fusion stuff in our last house but i got away with reusing the existing newel bases. This is starting to sound beyond my carpentry skills.

 

[Doggit]

Sorry Preecy, I assumed you'd be cutting the post off at ground level, so didn't bother so say anything else. At the top. the post will be secured to the string, and very likely a joist under the floorboards. On the ground floor post, it'll also be mortice and tennond into the string. If you've done it once, then you should be able to handle this, but it might be worth getting the pros in to make sure you get the look you want. As you're just changing the post and the banister rails, I assume you're keeping the exisitng stairs, and the carpet.

The youtube video didn't play, but the picture shows the idea I was trying to get across.

 

[preecy]

Thanks Doggit. I was hoping to completely replace the old newel posts (bottom and top right, going from photos above) with new full oak ones. The plan was to do away with the top left newel which i have just done so. We didnt feel this served any purpose and as Tigercurbridge pointed out, it was there for aesthetics only. You were correct, the post was secured to the string and came off fairly easily without any damage to the stringer. The newel had been cut to the shape of the riser/tread and then pinned to the stringer with a couple of dowels. It didnt appear to be secured to any joist, if it did then it came off very easily. I guess the other top newel is connected in the same way. My concern is mainly with the bottom newel. It's not some much the removal process, my doubts are with my carpentry skills. I'm not sure i'd be able to cut and securing fit the new oak newel without leaving unsightly cuts, gaps, drill holes, etc. Also, i'm still not 100% sure if the bottom post serves any structural purpose to the staircase?

The plan was to change the two newel posts, rails, spindles and then clad the staircase (ie: tread, risers and string) as in the photo above.

Out of interest, what kind of figure would i be looking at to get a carpenter/joiner to fit this for me? I'm guessing this would be a 2 or 3 day job at most.

Thanks to all for the advise so far, its greatly appreciated

 

[Tigercubrider]

I am not a chippie but imho the posts have nothing to add to the integrity of the staircase

Afaik the stairs come in ready built and the posts are added.
Mine was the same, I cut and split the original post to make removal easier .
Then I cut a slot in the new post , often checking the fit.
You could practice on a spare bit of wood

I made my grove by spade drilling a series of holes and using a chisel, save the sawdust to make a filler
It looks as if once the banister is finished, you add a thin sheet of oak to the stringer which will hide any defects. I used the original stringer finish

 

[Doggit]

I am not a chippie but imho the posts have nothing to add to the integrity of the staircase

Correct.

You could practice on a spare bit of wood

Pretty good idea Tiger. Try removing the bottom post, and then see if you can reattach it succesfully. And if you can find a local wood working shop, then you could get the new post drilled for you, then you just neef to drill the bottom post, and put in a slightly undersized dowel, and that would allow a bit of leeway to make sure the new post (with loads of glue in the hole) can then be set upright.