Stairs: carpet to hardwood; balusters?
Biff_Loman
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
So, my parents would like to make a change from carpet to hardwood on a set of stairs. The stairs are open on one side, with balusters and a handrail. This is part of a larger project.
What on earth do I do with that? I’m thinking that the balusters have to go; maybe I can cut them off and use dowels to re-install them.
I’ve never installed balusters or worked with stairs at all, so I’m totally scratching my head.
Replies
Look up at the bottom of the handrail. The ballusters might have "fillets" installed between the them. Remove these and the ballusters should slip out (uphill side). On occasion they are pinned too at the top. Still should come out on the uphill side.
A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
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'Fillet.' New term for me.Ah, I see - because they "fill it." Bwa ha ha ha ha!Just kidding guys.
""Fillet" Be what you'll be stored in the freezer as when calvin gets done with ya.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Show us a photo.
Peaceful,
easy feelin'.
That'll have to wait for another day. They're travelling at the moment; now way I could get down their long rural driveway without a 4x4.
gotcha.
How old is the house and is the stair original to it?
Peaceful,easy feelin'.
The stairs are part of an addition that was done in 1993. That entire part of the house is only 15 years old.
Edited 2/1/2008 4:41 pm ET by Biff_Loman
I'm not much use to you then.
I was thinking sometimes even in newer homes someone has managed to incorporate an older stairway in modern construction.
Number of years back I went to a building auction being torn down for a parking lot. It was a giant 3 story ancient building that served as a nunnery for a large catholic school. Wonderful old woodwork that was sold for a song.
I was there for the new vinyl windows so missed most of the woodwork most of which was purchased by a contractor for shipment and resale someplace in Louisiana.
Did bid on a cherry coffered ceiling I had to end up leaving for the dozer as there were just a few days to remove the goods.
While I was there a fellow had bought this huge ornate stairway for like a hundred bucks or something and when he removed it he had already disconnected it from it's moorings and showed up with a flatbed trailer and a dozen guys that lifted the whole thing as one unit and put it on the flatbed.
Peaceful,easy feelin'.
Edited 2/2/2008 12:06 am ET by rez
Take some careful measurements from walls, doorways, etc. so you can replace the newel post(s) in the exact same position. Replacing the rail will be difficult if the newel posts are not in the same exact position.
Unfasten the handrail at the posts. Some screws might be hidden under the end fillets, I drive a small screw into the fillet then clamp on a vice-grip plier and tap down to loosen the fillet. Prying the fillet out damages the rail. Once the rail is detached from the newels strike the handrail upward with a soft rubber hammer. Usually the top of the ballusters on newer homes are attached with a couple of 18ga brads so there is no need to remove all if the fillets unless there are heavier fasteners. If you do need to remove all of the fillets, mark on the unerside of the rail, the location of the ballusters, number the fillets you remove, you want everything to go back in the same way it came out.
Once the handrail is removed, write on the top of the ballusters, 1 2 3 4 5 6...etc. with a felt marker. You want to put them all back in the same location.
Once you have finished the stairs and the newel post are back in position, temporarily attach the handrail. Use a plumb-bob or la level from the center of the removed ballusters (which you have marked under the handrail) to get the location of the old balluster on the new tread. I use a double ended 1/4" X 2" screw ( also called a dowel screw) to fasten the balluster to the new tread.
Gord
Rock on! Thanks. Fore-warned is four-armed, as they say. Damn, sometimes I wish I had four arms.
Thanks, Gordsco, for your very nice reply to a question I asked a couple of weeks ago, without such good results. I wish you had you had chimed in then. But that's OK because the job is still pending, and I haven't even looked at it yet. All of your suggestions sound good.
The only thing I'm worried about now is how to break, and then re-do, the newel post tread connection.
That would depend on the connection. Most stair guys have simple ways of securely fastening and leveling newels. Its the guys who don't usually install railings that go crazy with the bolts and the screws and the nails.
If there any visible connections deal with those first. Look under the tread for others.
Gord
Maybe you'll get lucky and find you don't have to do anything except remove the carpet from the HARDWOOD stairs.
Slit the carpet and see what's under.
Carpet came off yesterday. They were not hardwood.
I didn't see it mentioned but watch your riser heights when you add the hardwood treads.
Code mandates a maximun dfference between all risers. I don't remember what it is though. Anyone?
3/8" maximum variance between riser heights in any given flight. (3/16" high to 3/16" low) IIRC
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Watch out if the stairs are prefabricated units. You can't easily replace individual treads. Sometimes easier to pull the whole thing and start over.
TB