Suggestions for staircase railing/balusters?
julieaku
8 years ago
Would love any thoughts/input on what we should replace the railings and balusters with on these stairs? Hardwood stairs will be installed in two weeks - HELP!!
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PROSummit Stairs & Millwork
8 years agoHere is a before and after. You may want to consider iron balusters. Let me know if I can be of assistance.
julieaku thanked Summit Stairs & MillworkRelated Discussions
Hand rails for steep stairs -- need suggestions!
Comments (2)Sandy, What posts you use will depend on the soil. If it's rocky you may have a problem putting in wood or pvc. You may have to drive in metal posts. If the sides of the concrete steps are exposed you may be able to bolt posts to the sides. Heavy rope can be strung between your posts for a handrail. Looking forward to seeing your first posts in the Hypertufa forum. Billie...See MoreDiminishing oak grain on staircase hand rail
Comments (1)Hi, When I finished my cabinets I used a pore-filler so the stain would not go into the pores and add so much emphasis. The brand was called "Pore-o-pac". It takes a lot of effort to apply, but it keeps the grain tamed. Pore filler minimizes the stain's penetration in general, not just the pores, so you'll need a few more coats of stain to get it dark. Casey...See MoreDiminishing oak grain on staircase hand rail
Comments (6)Forget the advice from "some guy at the store." Wood conditioners are meant to prevent splotching, but they do a poor job at that. Stains are of two basic types - Pigments : finely ground powders - Dyes : chemicals that are dissolved Think of third grade science where you put dirt in a jar of water and shook it and sugar in a jar of water and shook it. What was the difference the next day? The dirt mostly settled out to the bottom. The sugar remained in solution. Pigments work like the dirt and dye like the sugar. The big contrast comes about because the earlywood (large pores) get a lot of pigment in them and the latewood (hard and smooth), does not absorb so much because it's wiped off. Dyes, on the other hand will absorb more evenly and reduce the contrast (at least color wise). So, what you want is a dye. Problem is, Minwax stains are sometimes dyes, sometimes pigments, and often both. They don't tell you. I suggest looking up Bob Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing" at your local library, where he shows photos of oak dyed on one half and pigmented on the other. Then get some scrap of oak and test out your intended products and processes on the scrap before starting on your newel post. It's easier to not make a mistake than it is to recover from one. You can get dyes at most woodworking stores such as Rockler and Woodcraft, or via mail order. You can control the concentration by how much dye you add to solvent (distilled water in most cases). So you might want to mix up a series of concentrations and apply each to see the resulting color. But to see the true color, you will have to apply the finish coats as finishes intensify the stain colors....See Morestairs with hand rail or no hand rail
Comments (34)The post I mentioned would not be at the bottom tread so the design of a continuous handrail would have to bypass the post to get to a newel at the bottom tread and there would need to be a guard at the new opening whether it be solid, balusters, etc. At first glance it seems a potentially messy solution. Perhaps the handrail could be at the other side and the guard could terminate at the post. The bottom tread should have had returns at each side. Its looks like a abasement stair in the entryway....See More
PROPlush Living
8 years ago
PRO
PRODH Design
8 years agoIt really depends on your decorating style. A traditional look would be to paint the risers and spindles in white and leave the railing and baluster in their natural wood tone as shown below. If you prefer country or rustic I would leave them as is and if you like something a bit more sophisticated and updated I might paint the railing black and leave the spindles natural or vice versa, black spindles with natural wood railing.
Westbury Long Island New York · More Info
Bragg Hill · More InfoHave fun!
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