Replace Balustrade on 1950's Plasterboarded Stairs

[DaveFix]

What is supporting the end of the stringer?

As far as I can tell the end of the stringer is supported by the first step, as shown in post 11.


Between the fourth and fifth step the stringer seems to be supported by a wall for the cupboard under the stairs:

The studs which held the plasterboard also connect the stringer to the ceiling joist and landing handrail, though I've been assuming they're not structural even though they will be providing some support?

 

[DaveFix]

I've noticed each step has a 90° beading strip under the lip. I'd like to remove these because I have light strips to go there after the carpet is laid. Were these strips usually done to reduce creaking - or just for aesthetics reasons?

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For the benefit of anyone searching for an answer to this in the future: The beading strips were for aesthetics only - tacked on with just 4 pins and no glue.

 

[DaveFix]

Had to delay this a while due to the Homes 4 Ukraine program, but I'm on the case again.

I've decided on an oak and glass balustrade.

Tested part of a stringer with several rounds of paint remover, uncovering at least 6 shades so far. I'd prefer to give up with that and cover the stringers in a roll of oak veneer - by cutting the veneer triangularly at the points shown in the photo. Then removing that old 90° beading strip and capping the stringer with something wider in real oak.

View attachment 298299 View attachment 298298

I've worked out I'll need a 3m roll of 250mm wide costing around £45 for the two stringers. I appreciate the oak veneer won't look great split into sections - mainly due to the grain not being consistent. Has anyone done this before - did it look okay and was it worth it?

I've had a go with the veneer. This is real white oak wood veneer, and I paid £38 for one roll of 285mm x 4.2m. As mentioned previously, I didn't expect to be able to cut it in one single piece going the full length of the stringer. So I had to settle for a series of 'vertical boards'.

For anyone else doing this, one tip I would share is only heat the joints briefly. It only takes a few seconds with the iron to melt the glue. Any longer then the veneer shrinks, and perfectly aligned cuts end up with large gaps:

However, I was able to plug these easily by cutting filling strips:

It wasn't until the last step that I started to get the iron timing right:

It's not perfect, but I think it's a better outcome than stripping down the stringers and repainting.

....still need to work out how to fit that first newel post.

 

[Tigercubrider]

any chance you could post some images again of the newel area?
But with the carpet removed? It hurts my eyes!
Are the stairs to be carpeted fully after refurb?
Or does the finished woodwork need to look seamless?

I would fix the newel to the left of the vertical rough timber I the first picture.
There's a bit of horizontal stair tread (?) on the outside of the stringer.

You have tons of available space under the stairs for fixings to which to fix the newel base.
It depends on what line the banister would take but a newel base could be slimmed on one side to line things up.

 

[DaveFix]

any chance you could post some images again of the newel area?
But with the carpet removed? It hurts my eyes!
Are the stairs to be carpeted fully after refurb?
Or does the finished woodwork need to look seamless?

Ha... sorry about the carpet ...it came with the house!

Yes I'm going to re-carpet the stairs afterwards. I would like to do just the treads, and oak veneer the risers, but haven't committed yet as it will cost ~£80 more for the veneer. Also, I've noticed it had much better sound dampening when the stairs were fully carpeted.


I've taken more photos with a cardboard template representing the 115mm newel post. Only after doing that I realised the bottom of the newel post would be visible in front of the first riser - because the lip of the bullnose tread is overhanging.

One solution would be to cut the newel post notch about 1 inch deeper. I don't like that idea because it's already getting close to the end.
Other option is to cut about 1 inch off the end of the stringer. I'm uncomfortable doing that knowing the stringer is structural - though I think it's the better of the two options - unless you disagree?

Next problem is that angled brace thing inside the step. When I've cut out the tread for the newel post to slide through, that brace is going to get in the way. So I'll need to carve chunks out the base of the newel post which means it'll end up with just a small triangular footprint.