DIYbanter - View Single Post

In article ,
(SPC) writes:
All,

I have a traditional 1930's semi with 1970's panel staircase. I am
about to embark on ripping out the panels and installing spindles and
a new handrail. Before anyone asks, no the original spindles are not
behind the panels unfortunately.

Does anyone have any advice on the steps involved or can point me
towards some instrutions? Is it DIY'able or should I get someone in
(bearing in mind I am a fairly inexperienced woodworker)?

I tried for around a year to get a carpender. I did get one
which eventually came along and measured up, but then never
saw him again. Eventually I did it myself, and although I'd
not done serious carpentry (such as mortice and tenon joints)
since I was at school many years ago, it all came back quickly
after a couple of practice runs in some offcuts.

A tip... Buy the timber and leave it standing in the
stairwell for some time (6 weeks in my case, but that included
the thick newel posts) so it gets all its shrinking and warping
done at the right humidity before you start converting it into
banisters/splindles. I bought nearly twice as much timber as I
needed for the balustrades, which meant I could select the best
straight and unsplit sections to use when it had finished drying
out. In my case, I was installing newel posts from scratch too,
and I didn't want any further shrinkage after they were bolted
to the floor joists, which would have made the now inaccessible
nuts and bolts loose (which hasn't happened, glad to say).

There's a Richard Burbridge video which is quite useful for
showing you how to handle cuts at the stair angles which was £5
from B&Q at the time. It or their leaflets (can't recall which)
also covered the legal aspects such as balustrade spacing and
handrail height. The £5 is refunded if you buy their parts,
but I didn't -- except for the handrail, I made the newel posts
balustrades, etc from plain timber. If you are not up to mortice
and tenon joins, then there are metal brackets available to join
handrails to newel posts although I haven't tried them, and you
might find it easier to replace the handrails than to try and
use the ones you have.

--
Andrew Gabriel