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wrought iron balusters remodel

10 years ago

We recently replaced our wood balusters with wrought iron because they were spaced too far apart, a safety hazard with small children. Well, they look great at the balcony level but I think they just dont look right on the stairs. The pattern seems to be lost. I called the company and they seem like they are willing to fix it if I come up with the design fix. They said they have never had this issue before. It seems like they would would have anticipated the issue since they do this all the time. I wasn't there when they finished the project, my husband was present but he doesn't seem bothered by the inconsistent pattern. the current balusters have fixed knuckles. I was thinking of having them replace a few balusters with adjustable knuckles to atleast have the knuckles align in the diamond pattern. They do align on the 3rd step. Any suggestions?

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Comments (9)

powermuffin
10 years ago
Actually, I am trying to find what the issue is and I just don't see it. I like the randomness - maybe this is what you are talking about. The whole stairway is just beautiful!
Diane
JFH191
Original Author
10 years ago
Yes, exactly it's the randomness that I have an issue with. THe rest of the railing looks like the picture attached. THe diamond pattern is what I expected on the stairs as well.
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Heat works also, but be careful! About fifteen years ago, the company I used to work for had a furniture store business with several branches among its holdings. I wasn't directly involved in the furniture side of things, but they'd occasionally bring by pieces for repair since we had a fully-equipped shop to handle our equipment rental business. One of the more common repairs, was to broken dining sets. The decorative wrought iron chair backs and legs took a beating, and needed welding. Even though the parts were fairly stout, they were often joined only by several small tack welds. Once the parts were cleaned up with a scotchbrite pad or sandpaper, they were either MIG welded, or gas welded if the parts were smaller. While the metal was still pretty hot after welding, the parts were spritzed with flat black spray paint. The heat crinkled the first coat of paint, and the texture/finish could be manipulated fairly easily with some practice. The repairs were nearly invisible when done. If you can find something of similar size and density to the parts you're refinishing, you can practice a bit before committing to anything. Heat the pieces up with a propane torch or something similar, and fog on a coat of paint while the metal is still hot. If the metal is too hot, the paint will bubble and crinkle too much.....just experiment a little.
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The following link shows a similar railing with wood handrail and posts. I have made some like you are describing, most steps will require 3 balusters per tread to be up to current codes (no more than 4" openings) a wood spindle at the front and back of the tread and a complimentary wrought iron spindle in the center of each tread looks nice. It is good to use a heavier than normal iron spindle for the center and a fairly thin wood spindle for them to match well. Hope this helps http://www.coblemetalworks.com/railings44.html Here is a link that might be useful: oak and wrought iron railing
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Thanks for your responses. We are purchasing the iron shoes as well so that they can cover the holes. If we end up using the 2 part epoxy this might be nicely hidden with the shoes. I can't imagine this not being a typical problem for most people who replace wood ballusters with iron ones! I can't seem to find any advice online regarding this issue!
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geoffrey_b
10 years ago
To me, they look fine. I don't think anyone else is going to notice.
bpath
10 years ago
The pattern is lost because of the different levels, and because some steps have 3 and some have 2. If you find a pattern you like and they're willing to change it, do so! Draw them a concise picture of what you want, the whole stairs. Maybe take your above photo and use Paint or something to alter it.

Good move putting in iron balusters. I wanted to replace them with wood in my old house, and three companies I talked to said "are you nuts?"
MrsShayne
10 years ago
Wow I think it's beautiful but if the pattern bothers you then maybe you can have them make some adjustments. Do you mind me asking what you spent? I have all wood staircase and have been dreaming about wrought iron and a darker shade of wood to match my new hardwood. Yours is perfect for my house!

Thx.
kirkhall
10 years ago
Maybe just put the diamond on the steps with 3; and just use straight (only) on the steps with 2.
JFH191
Original Author
10 years ago
kirkhall I think you are right. That is probably the best way to accomplish the pattern.
JFH191
Original Author
10 years ago
MrsShayne, I paid 2,580.
weedyacres
10 years ago
I agree, iron balusters should have a pattern in them. As bp pointed out, the difficulty is that you've got some stairs with 2 and some with 3, so making a regular 4-baluster diamond shape is problematic..

However, they also compounded the randomness by cutting some balusters off at the top and some at the bottom. If they cut them all to length off the bottom, then a pattern would emerge, though not a diamond. Look at your first photo above. The doubles are all the same distance from the rail to the top knuckle. So a straight line connects them all the way down, and that line is parallel to the bannister. The singles, on the other hand, are not. Look at the lowest 4 singles. They are all different distances from the bannister.

Try taking some blue painters tape and putting pieces on your existing balusters to represent where the knuckles should be. Try just changing them so they're all the same distance from the knuckle to the bannister and see if you like it. If you don't, then play around with another pattern until you get one that's pleasing to your eye.

I would probably avoid using the blanks and just go with a running pattern like single/double/single/double.

Here's what we did. On the stair and the balcony sections even though we used similar pieces, we used them in different patterns.

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