I need help!!
I have several loose balusters on my stair railing and the bottom stair and post are also loose.
Where do I start.Can anyone suggest ?
Thanks for any suggestions.
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You might need a professional in the house.
What skills do you have in carpentry? What level of finish does this have and what style of home?
Is there any way to get a photo posted to this discussion of what you have?
I expect these loose ballusters to rattle up a lot of attention. This is one of the high spots in a carpenters art and there are several here who are good at it.
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
I think I can handle it .I have been woodworking for 30 years but strictly amateur,
but never had to work on railings.
If anyone knows how to attach a photo to the breaktime post, please tell me how
and I will send the photo.
Act like you are going to reply and hit the reply button.
You will see, after scrolling down under the message box that you type in, an attach files button. Hit it and follow the instructions patiently, browse to select photo, hit upload, wait, wait, wait, when you see the file name in the free area, do it again if you have more than one, then click the "done" button. Type, "Thanks pif, here they are" and what ever else you feel like saying about them, and hit "post" like you usually do. .
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
Thanks Piff
I know you arn't talking to me but I had to try it tol
House that we are currently working on.
Doug
Hey!
I really mean that, thanks Piff I havnt been able to post a pic because I kept doing something wrong.
Doug
Congratulations!
I like to feel like I've done SOMETHING right each day too..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
OOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo!
Impressive
but please tell me that there are crickets behind that chimney in the valley and to divert from what appears to be dead valleys over the entry area. I'll lose sleep worrying about it tonight if you don't say so..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
I havnt been up on that roof and I am planing on keeping it that way. There are crickets, as a matter of fact there is a cricket above a cricket!
This house was designed to be built in Florida but it is here in good ole Iowa. there are places on the roof that will hold about 8' of snow if all goes wrong.
Not sure what that will do but my trim work better stay dry!
Another Q, how do I make my pics smaller, I notice that some people complain that the pics are to big, not a prob for me it only takes about 3 seconds to load any pic. but it must be if you have dial up?
Doug
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=23908.70.
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
nice crib!!!! any idea how much the stone work and slate roof set them back?
Benny
The roof is some sort of cement product, came out of Wisconsin. I've heard it cost over a quarter mil. but dont know exactly. The stone work is great and again I have know idea about the cost, I'm sure its over half mil. though. Its fun working in these places because they want the best they can get and its such a joy not having to have the main concern be money.
Doug
Hey Doug, where in Iowa are ya ? We might be neighbors.
Also, who was the designer of this house? it sorta has the look of a fella named Joe Ahmann
Mark
If you know Joe A. than you must be close. The house is here in CR. The house was suppose to be built in Florida or someplace down south like that but its being built here in CR. The arch is from Napels Fl. but has long since been fired, anyhow thats what I've heard.
Where you from that you know Joe Ahman? We have done work in a number of his houses, and I use to work for Sattler Homes and of course he does all their homes.
Doug
Doug, I'm in I.C. We've done a couple of Joe's houses, including one $ 3 M. + monster. The specialty mouldings and woodworking in that one was done by Johannes (I assume you work for one of their competitors) . And I agree with you, Doing homes of this caliber is what makes being in the trades worth it!
So, you're leaving? wher're you going to? how come? You're not getting out of carpentry are you?
Mark
No not one of Johannes competitors, Johannes themselves.
Let me guess, you work for Franz and the home you are refering to is the Myers home?
If I'm right than I think that I know who you are, I did'nt install much there because we were doing the Willy res. at the same time and there was a lot of walnut veneered walls and some really special stuff going on that I was doing there.
About the only thing I did out at Myers was install the hidden bookcases/doors and some of the work in the den. and maybe some other small things that I cant remember.
No I'm not getting out of carpentry, just going back to working for myself and possibly moving south.
I'll have to look you up if I think you are who I think you are, if that makes any sense.
I know that you know Jessie?
Doug
Yes, The Meyer house, and Yes, I know Jesse, he's a good egg.
How far south? I lived in Texas for a few years, nice winters there.
Mark
We've met, you would probably remember me if you saw me, I've seen you come into the shop on a few occasions and I've seen you out at the Myers house.
Austin area, seemed nice there when we visited.
Doug
thanx , can you tell the difference up close to the tiles? its got to be substantially less than slate in material cost as well as installation.
I envy you , that sort of house cant come along to often when they do its one of those things that can keep you happy working in the trades.
Benny
I don't know how much slate cost but they sure aren't giving this stuff away. I'm only involved in the building and installing of the architectural details of the interior, I just have a lot of interest in the whole picture that I'm always asking Q's.
When I'm up close I can tell that the roof is not slate, it has a thicker look to it but it does look good.
I am fortunate enough to work for a shop that does specialty woodwork, there are not many around who do this so we get a lot of the higher end homes. I have worked for this place for 2 1/2 years and this kind of house is all that I have worked in, we went from a area that didn't have a million dollar house in the 4 county area 10 to 15 years ago to having 60 to 80 or so of them in just two of the counties. It is great to do this kind of work, but for me it will all end in a month because I'm moving.
Thanks for your interest
Doug
Piffin's notion of some pics is appropriate, me thinks. It would be nice to have shots of the newell post connection as well as where ever and how ever the upper end of the hand rail terminates. There's numerous ways that either end of that handrail could be fastened and some knowledge of that situation could be critical to giving suggestions and/or advice.
You've probably figured out by now that I'm thinking the hour is at hand to deal with the entire balustrade rather than trying to snug up the few that are loose at the moment. When a few apples fall from the tree, the rest aren't far behind.
You're likely going to need some extra hands on deck so now would be a good time to stock up on barley pop. No cheating.....get the good stuff.
I'll take a pix and forward it to you.
Thanks for the prompt reply.
You may want to try something I did on a job once that worked great. I drilled a tiny hole on three sides of the ballusters....the back and sides that werent as visable and used a syringe loaded up with gorilla glue. Injected each hole and scraped the expanded glue off the next day. Worked fantastic. I filled the tiny holes after scraping with a colored repair crayon
Be well
Namaste
Andy
One works on oneself, always. That's the greatest gift you can give to community because the more you extricate your mind from that which defines separateness, that defines community. The first thing is to become community. "Ram Dass"
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
773>>> "I have several loose balusters on my stair railing and the bottom stair and post are also loose."
Andy, read that, now read it again. You think a little glue is going to fix that? Starting tread, newel and balusters are loose. At least it shouldn't be much of a problem to take apart, but I suspect there might be other issues tho.
Thanks, Andy
Appreciate your help.
Sounds very practical. I just have to find a syringe.
For glue syringes, see http://www.leevalley.com
I'd post the page, but it has my currency (Canadian) as part of the page.
Regards,
Tim
Maybe I missed it but it seems that we still don't have a photo to help us do more than speculate. Teh glue with a toothpick might be good if it were only the ballusterts but this unit probably needs the baottom step removed and the newel reset first..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
Ooops, intended to mark the previous for 773.
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
Sorry I took too long for the photos.
Attached
All that shows in these is that the tops of them might have shrunk a little and chairlock injected might solve that. But if the Newel is loose and the bottom stair, that mount needs repair and the wiggle in it is probably causing these to losen up, in which case, cahirlock won't help, it'll just happen again..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
If that newel plugs into a hole in the tread, you can take off the riser face maybe to get under and run some lag screws up into the bottom of the post from under the tread.
More likely though, you are needing to pull the whole thing apart to reglue and reasssemble.
You know how it is with runged chairs? You get a loose dowel and glue it back but next week, another rung is loose and you do it over and over until it becomes obvious that you have to pull it all apart but by then the ones that you glued are making it hard work.
I suspect you have project ahead of you. Don't be intimidated, just go slow. Most glues are thermoplastic. Heating the joint with a hair dryer, gently so as not to disturb the varnish, can soften the glue and let you disassemble.
Good luch and wait for other opinions. Someone else is bound to have other ideas based on other experiences..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
773,
Good pics so far, but….more questions and requests, I have.
Can't see in the pics whether the rounded edge of the treads is actually an integral profile of the tread itself or whether those rounded edges are of a molding that "picture frames" the actual tread. If they are the latter, it might be that the bottoms of the balusters are dovetailed into the treads. This arrangement would demand that you remove that tread molding on each tread's end as the balusters couldn't be removed in an straight upward fashion.
Also, can you see any evidence of the upper end of the handrail being nailed in place (look for small filled nail holes as the give-away)? Or…..is there evidence of a threaded securing device on the bottom of the handrail up there at the top end? Or….??
(There are other possibilities)
Could you shoot and post a pic of the very bottom on the newell post and its nearest balusters where it/they rest(s) on the tread or floor?
Any chance that there is a plug or similar on the handrail directly on top of the newell post itself?
Can you see any evidence of a fastening device from the basement that is directly under the center of the newell post , i.e., lag or threaded rod with nut(s)……..?
Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
Oh yeah........there's another possibility to be looked for in the basement underneath that newell post besides a threaded rod or lag............some of these newell post mountings have a round dowel type end with a saw kerf cut in it.........then a wooden wedge is driven from the bottom into that kerf to spread the dowel end a bit to secure it. If the wedge wasn't glued, has slipped downward a bit or the dowel has worn from use........it will leave the post loose in its moorings. If you're going to remove the whole asssembly, you'd be wanting to remove the wedge to allow extraction of the newell end from the tread/floor.
Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
That syringe and glue cure that was suggested/referred to.... can definitely be helpful in the right situation and circumstances, but it also carries the potential for causing problems if used indescriminately as a panacea to loose baluster problems.
One should keep in mind that refreshing the bond of a few loose balusters with glue can make total removal of the handrail and balusters ...... if & when it's necessary....now or in the future......... difficult if not impossible to pull off without causing serious damage to those newly reglued balusters, the treads or handrail to which they connect..........should a good bond occur.
And then again, you might find that an attempt with the syringe isn't effective at all or only marginally effective because you're asking the glue to bond to a surface hypothetically already covered with dried glue. Not all adhesives are capable of developing or maintaining a bond in this application. Glues always work their best when applied to fresh clean wood surfaces.
Since we can't see, feel or assess the real situation there, it makes it kinda difficult to suggest what an appropriate response is, but the given description leads me to beleive that something more involved may very likely be in order because gluing a few loose balusters will do nothing for the newell post or other problems that may exist.
If the handrail connections and newell post are in a loosened state right now, there won't be a better time to take the bull by the horns and do a refurbish job on the whole thing.
It'd be great if there was streaming video here that would allow us to look at it all as you gave us a tour of its problems and construction. Then we could hear the rattles, squeaks and the whole nine yards.
Man, wouldn't that make the Tavern a lively place,too?
Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.