Newel and handrail

[MysterG]

Carrying on from this wall out project, I've made a start on replacing the remaining 70's handrail.
Going for an oak newel and 'quirky' banisters as per the landing.

First job remove the old newel. Handrail came off easily and were apparently providing most of the support for the newel.
That said, the 4 or so nails holding the newel in place were reluctant to let it go.



Yes my nice post has split over winter. Hey ho, such is the nature of green oak and central heating.





Stairs now have an acrow under them as there is very little holding them up and soon to be less as I cut away for the new, larger post.
Then all I have to do is beef up the underside of the stairs so there is something to attach the post to, and make a few repairs to the treads.
Who ever built the stairs relied a lot on luck to hold things together, but they've lasted 50 years without collapsing.

Only thing I'm not happy about is that in order to meet the handrail height requirements the post will be quite a bit higher than before, which from an aesthetic point of view is slightly worse when looking up from the hall, hopefully nice bright bannisters will offset that

 

[angellonewolf]

hight wize can you not just put back what hight was already there as you just fixing whats was there not putting up a whole new banister

 

[MysterG]

hight wize can you not just put back what hight was already there as you just fixing whats was there not putting up a whole new banister

Sort of the 'Triggers broom' of handrails

 

[mtt.tr]

The newel ppst is typically the sole structure to stairs and hold the whole lot together.

Often these are just clad with oak

 

[MysterG]

The newel ppst is typically the sole structure to stairs and hold the whole lot together.

Often these are just clad with oak

The old newel was, as I say, attached with about 4 nails. None of the treads or risers were attached to it .... except by paint
I'm planning on adding more timber underneath to support the stairs better, and will attach the new oak newel, from under the stairs.

I'm halfway there with the extra support. A temporary post is attached to it, so we don't plummet over the edge in the night!!

Oak post test fit.



Temporary post



Temporary handrail at approximate height it needs to be.
Will have to cut all spindles individually as no two risers are the same height!
Will also have to make up a few longer spindles, a bit of judicious cutting and doweling should do it.



The current post is attached with some standard screws. When it comes to attaching the oak post I plan on using some stainless coach screws.

 

[MysterG]

Got back to this once my stainless fixings arrived.

Part way through strengthening the newel area. Lots of extra bracing inside.



New post held in with 4 coach bolts ... it is more vertical in real life honest!



Random spindles takes a bit of thinking about.



Only needed to lengthen one in the end. Cut the square section off, and glued and doweled a longer one on. Doing it at the transition makes it easier to hide.



Where we are at now. Handrail was a pain to cut at the right angle, took 3 attempts
None of the spindles are fixed at the top yet.
Larger gap at the top will be where another post will go. Will probably have to go for a whole post then cut out a corner to fit over the corner of the wall.

 

[MysterG]

Decided to add an extra spindle at the top and for the moment the handrail screws to the wall. That corner is likely to change with other building work.
Painted the spindles today. Yesterday I had to split and remake my lengthened one as despite being clamped into a piece of angle iron whilst it dried it came out like a banana ... In fact it still looks banana shaped in the picture below

Newel still to be cut down and cap, when it arrives. Handrail to paint along with other woodwork. I hate painting