I have taken some ancient hardboard panelling off my staircase to
reveal some very crappy looking spindles. They are square profile,
crappy timber showing lots of wear and tear and some missing, and just
nailed top and bottom. I hated the hardboard and replacing that is
not an option as far as I am concerned.

So I at least need to replace the spindles.

Other options are, I believe, to replace the handrail also, and
further to replace the newel posts.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the handrail. It's solid
and in good nick. The paintwork is in poor condition, however, and
will need to be stripped. Because it is curved, I know from
experience that this will be at least slightly painful.

The newel posts are substantial. Nothing fancy - just square section
timber - but solid and very much part of the structure of the
staircase. I know it is possible to cut them off near the base and
splice new ones on, but I am not convinced that would look very good.
Particularly as there is a turn near the top of the stairs and the
newel there is continuous to the ground floor.

So my inclination is to replace the handrails and spindles but not the
newels. Does this sound practical? The systems I have come across
seem to assume newel replacement too and this has implications for the
way it is all made to fit together.

In case it is relevant, the staircase is closed string.

Bob

"Bob" wrote

I have taken some ancient hardboard panelling off my staircase to
reveal some very crappy looking spindles. They are square profile,
crappy timber showing lots of wear and tear and some missing, and just
nailed top and bottom. I hated the hardboard and replacing that is
not an option as far as I am concerned.

So I at least need to replace the spindles.

Other options are, I believe, to replace the handrail also, and
further to replace the newel posts.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the handrail. It's solid
and in good nick. The paintwork is in poor condition, however, and
will need to be stripped. Because it is curved, I know from
experience that this will be at least slightly painful.

The newel posts are substantial. Nothing fancy - just square section
timber - but solid and very much part of the structure of the
staircase. I know it is possible to cut them off near the base and
splice new ones on, but I am not convinced that would look very good.
Particularly as there is a turn near the top of the stairs and the
newel there is continuous to the ground floor.

So my inclination is to replace the handrails and spindles but not the
newels. Does this sound practical? The systems I have come across
seem to assume newel replacement too and this has implications for the
way it is all made to fit together.

In case it is relevant, the staircase is closed string.

Bob

Hi Bob

Do you mean that the handrail profile is curved, or that the handrail
follows a curved path?
I recently did a similar exercise (with help from the guys, and possibly
gals here).
Left the plain square newel posts in place and fitted new handrail between.
The difficult bit was getting the angle right for the top end of the
handrail, cos my top newel post is twisted.
I'm not a joiner, so used engineering solution to attach hand rail to
newels - metal brackets chopped in to newels and filled over!
Fit the lower base rail to the top of the stair stringer, angle cut each end
to meet each newel post.
Then angle cut each spindle to fit between base rail and handrail.
Try to arrange/space spindles such that there is less than 100mm gap
between - cut filler pieces accordingly.
One down side to using existing newels is that finished ballustrade may not
meet current British Standard for top-of-handrail-height.
Mine didn't, but it is still far safer than the "ranch style" plank
arrangement it replaced.

HTH

Phil

On 6 Sep, 14:04, "TheScullster" wrote:

Do you mean that the handrail profile is curved, or that the handrail
follows a curved path?

Sorry - it was a bit ambiguous, wasn't it? I meant the profile.

I recently did a similar exercise (with help from the guys, and possibly
gals here).

That's useful to know - I'll look for that thread.

Left the plain square newel posts in place and fitted new handrail between.
The difficult bit was getting the angle right for the top end of the
handrail, cos my top newel post is twisted.
I'm not a joiner, so used engineering solution to attach hand rail to
newels - metal brackets chopped in to newels and filled over!

Hmm.. funny you should mention the twisting. Looking directly down
from the landing I noticed mine is a bit twisted too.

Thanks for the tips. I may be back!

Bob

On 6 Sep, 13:21, Bob wrote:
I have taken some ancient hardboard panelling off my staircase to
reveal some very crappy looking spindles. They are square profile,
crappy timber showing lots of wear and tear and some missing, and just
nailed top and bottom. I hated the hardboard and replacing that is
not an option as far as I am concerned.

So I at least need to replace the spindles.

richard burbidge do asstd spindle designs incl in metal

http://www.stairpartshop.co.uk/acata...balusters.html

(example fitted pic abt 1/2 way down page)

I retro fitted these to an old balustrade to match in with the same on
a new staircase.
I stripped but left the square section newels and rails in place and
attached the RB brackets and spindles in between - looks good (to
us!)

Jim K