Picking railing for stairs: which balusters?
We are up to finalizing our railing. Add this to the list of "things I never thought I would waste time thinking about." We have way too many options. The treads of the stairs are white oak which will eventually be stained. The rise will be painted white.
I am planning on square newel posts. We can do white, stained, white with stained tops, or white with stained tops and stained trim. I think I am leaning towards the white with stained tops or white with stained tops and trim. We will do a stained railing. Thoughts?
stained top and trim:
stained top:
I want to do white balusters (nearly every new house near us is doing iron but I think this will look best for our house). For the most part, the house is traditional. For the balusters I see there are square tops and tapered tops. Not sure if there is a reason to use one over the other? Does anyone have thoughts about square bottoms and square tops compared to square bottoms and tapered tops? Also we can do a very simple square baluster that has no contours (like above photo), or something a bit more elaborate (in which case there seem to be a ton of choices and they all kind of look the same to me). Here is an example of the square bottom with square top. A square bottom with a taper top is shown in the first linked picture. Are there baluster profiles people prefer? I just see the book and get too overwhelmed to pick between them. How are you all picking all these small details?
And finally, I noticed this after looking at too many railing photos. I realized some cut the balusters so that the height of the bottom square rises gradually with the railing (as in the above photo). Some cut them so that on any given stair, the height of the squares on each of the two balusters is the same. This picture might clarify that since it's hard to describe. See that A A show 2 balusters per stair, each is the same height. Whereas in B, the height of those squares changes, so that the decorative features remain parallel to the railing. I think I prefer the gradual look (B) but are there design rules on all this?
Comments (19)
Related Discussions
Balusters won't fit in angled stair railing.
Comments (6)I agree with the others that the holes should be larger; however, I speak from experience on some Severe Weather railing purchased from Lowe's that my "stair" kits were not. As I had special ordered them and the packaging had been rained on, etc, I used a "-b-a-s-t-a-r-d" mill file (Gardenweb apparently doesn't like the word) to enlarge the rectangular hole, actually mostly just to modify the angle of the downslope side of the "hole". The balusters fit snugly, but they look great after 2 years. These railings were pricey, but they look just as good as the day they were installed with no maintenance and are a nice contrast to the ipe on my front porch. Good Luck with your project....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 MoreIron Balcony Railing/Balusters
Comments (6)Thanks for the feedback, but maybe you and I have different skill levels. I just finished a previously unfinished basement by myself last year. I maybe should've mentioned that I'm a fairly skilled aircraft tech and have rebuilt three car engines. I'm not building stairs from scratch. I'm installing a new banister for the catwalk in our home. I feel this is fully within my capability. Was just looking for some creative solutions for the iron portion of this project....See MoreHelp with replacing rail and balusters in living room
Comments (2)Ok, thanks. My style is rustic with elements of southwestern and country (I guess : ) ) And possibly French provincial rustic in the kitchen but too messy for a pic. Haha. Here are a few more pics. My house is the opposite of open concept. The rooms are very separate. The pics are the living room (where the railing is) and I included a bedroom, which is located if you turn right after the railing and go straight. I have hated that railing since the day I moved in 12 years ago. Thank you for any suggestions! Ellie...See More
ILoveRed
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
sarahbr2
8 years agoThanks everyone. ARG- that is really nice. I actually had something like that pinned somewhere because I do love it but we are not waterfront and it would be totally out of place. A custom one would be nice but honestly we have so many other decisions in a very short amount of time. At this point, fewer choices is better.
omelet and Ilovered- I agree about the wood. Seems like it's best for dirty hands. I don't know why but I like the white on the newel. I think it ties it in to the balusters (since they will be different shapes/styles).
JDS- not sure the best way to describe the style of the house? Happy to answer questions. Here is a pic of some trim and the exterior.
chellefnp
8 years agoI struggled with the same questions and initially wanted the white newel posts. I ended up with the stained newels and rails and white balusters, it just seemed to flow better to me. It also seemed like it would be easier to keep clean. As far as the balusters go, I liked the gradual rise of the line of the balusters and that's what worked out best with the premade balusters I was using.
sarahbr2 thanked chellefnp
stephja007
8 years agoMichael M
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoSarah - what are the dimensions of your foyer? My wife and I are building a floor plan similar to yours and our stair case angles down into the middle of the entryway which I dont love. I want them to be a little simpler and out of the way. Our dimensions are about 14'x14'. Here are the floor plans minus the garage.
sarahbr2
7 years agoMichael that's a nice plan! Our staircase has a 90 deg turn. The entry is about 13' 4" wide by 16' 6" long (measuring to the back of the stair wall). To the front of the stair wall it seems to be about 13'6" (estimating from paper plans). Seems pretty similar to what you have, except that you have the wide door opening along the wall so it would be tighter for stairs.
cpartist
7 years agocpartist
7 years agosarahbr2
7 years agoCPartist sorry I delayed in my response. Lost track of things. So much is going on with the house now things are absolutely crazy. I told the guy to do the balusters like the last pic. The posts are in but the rail won't be installed until next week since the painter wants to get his work done first. Here is are updated pics:
Michael: Like chartist said you will get more help on your own thread since the experts will write. I'm a novice. If you want my personal opinion I do much prefer the new layout to the old one. The diagonal wasted a lot of space in the entry and also seemed a bit off. My husband and I love the 180 deg turn stairs like you are now showing. We would have used those if they worked with our plan. The basement (?) door and closet door open into each other now which doesn't seem ideal- will you be using that closet a lot or rarely? I see you added the entry closets by the door like we did. If you want to see how that ends up looking:
Michael M
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agosarahbr2
7 years ago
Architectrunnerguy