i went to a stair building terminology site to get this straight. a baluster is the vertical member attached to the handrail. balustrade refers to the whole assembly- newel post, hand rail and balusters. ya learn somethin’ everyday.
sometimes the balusters connect from the hand rail right to the step. but sometimes they connect to a lower rail, and i still don’t know what that’s called. <g>
i have to build the balustrade for some front steps. the hand rail connects the newel post to the post on the porch. the balusters connect the handrail to that lower member whose name i don’t know.
my question. since the balusters are vertical, but the railings are angled following the stairs, is there an easy way to do this layout on the ground? or do i set the top and bottom rails in place, and then fill in the balusters one by one?
TIA
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I call it a Toe rail, being as Hand rail is already taken. Lower rail works too.
Some prefab interior kits come pre assembled and you can scissor the rail to the angle and the balusters are sorta hinged. You could possibly create that your self, but I find it simple to just do the rails, then add the spindles or balusters as I go. That's just the way I always did it.
Keep in mind the 4" sphere rule, and 200lbs side thrust requirements.
I also hate to see uneven space at the ends ( newels) I center the balusters or the center space, depending on odd or even number of balusters...if odd, center the middle one, if even, center of the 4" (or less) space is centered. A 3" gap at the bottom post and 1" gap at the top post just screams "Hack" to me.
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<Keep in mind the 4" sphere rule, and 200lbs side thrust requirements.>Good point. The bottom rail or toe rail would not work with the 4" sphere.Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood
IIRC, the small triangle created at the riser tread toe rail is a 6" Sphere. In some locals maybe.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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got the 4" covered.never heard of the 200lbs. but i drilled into the slab and glued in one of those saddles for a post. the 6x6 pt is bolted to that with stainless lags. then the post is screwed to the stringers, steps and risers. she's not going anywhere.so a couple of piffin screws to secure the rails and i should be good. <g>when assembling in situ, any hints on securing the balusters to the lower rail (the top is going to be covered by another, wider rail, that i beveled with a 5 degree slope on the table saw, to shed water)?
Bevel the top of the toe rail like / (not quite that extreme), and V notch the baluster bottoms.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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With the right tooling, you could set dowels with glue in the center bottoms of the ballusters.
Another option is to layout and connect the ballusters to the toerail on table so you can screw up thru from bottom first, then connect the toerail to the newel and post.Another way is to use a dab of PL premium or Gorilla glue at bottoms of ballusters and then toenail finish nails to pin it in place.To fit and attach the toerail to the psots, I cut a scrap with the pitch at tehright location to fit right under the bottom and clamp it to the newel at bottom. That way the toerail simply sits in place when cut right. No horsing around trying to hold both ends and tools like a six armed maniac.
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"I also hate to see uneven space at the ends ( newels) I center the balusters or the center space, depending on odd or even number of balusters...if odd, center the middle one, if even, center of the 4" (or less) space is centered. A 3" gap at the bottom post and 1" gap at the top post just screams "Hack" to me."That's one that can give you fits sometimes.Like when I am replacing railings betwen porch posts that have been there forever and one space is like 10', the next one 10'3", and then a 9'11"...
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Yup. But as long as the ends of each run are even, it's about all ya can do w/out major cheating the spaces, which is often not in the budget for the head scratching.
I take the run and divide by one baluster+ one space say 1.5" and 3.5" and thats 5, into say 100" is 20..even number, so I split the center with a space.
Some times ya have to do a little creative "rounding".Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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"If Brains was lard, you couldn't grease much of a pan"Jed Clampitt
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thanks for all the replies. i try not to waste anyone's time, and appreciate the time people take to help. i've built lots of horizontal rails, layout/assemble on the deck, install. but when it came time to do the inclined railing, i went hmmn...sphere- not in the budget for all that notchin'. and, i just realized, it would have to be an inclined notch. i'd go crazy.piffin- will use your suggestion for screwing through the bottom on a table, and attach the top in place. and i just laid a scrap of 2x along the stairs to temporarily support the toe rail, even though i could have reached the far end with my boot. <g>
The notch is easy, all ya need is a tablesaw and a wooden handscrew clamp to ride the top of the fence...two passes and done.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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"If Brains was lard, you couldn't grease much of a pan"Jed Clampitt
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top rail and bottom rail are hand-rail and toe-rail.
Whether to assemble in place or on a table depends on your preferences, skills, and the kind of system you are using.
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Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
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