Brownstone Stairs Refurbish
Hi All,
We need to have our stairs redone. Does anyone have a brownstone repair company that they like? Thanks in advance for any help.
danm
in General Discussion 4 years and 10 months ago
25
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25 replies
stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago
i never thought of the steps up to he brownstones as stoops. but the low steps in front of my house, well, to me that is a stoop. this thinking comes from my childhood and is wrong but i thought it was a stoop as it was low and if you put something down on it, the grocery bag as you entered the house, you had to “stoop” down to get it.
i once read they knocked down the last dutch structure in manhattan in 1848. they could not keep that a little longer for us to see?
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 4 years and 10 months ago
Flatbush, where I live, was Dutch-speaking until well into the c 19th Century, but, old as I am, that’s a bit before my time.
stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago
i know it comes from that as the dutch settled south africa. but not sure who else got in there, the brits yes.
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 4 years and 10 months ago
Steve—Afrikaans is also based on 17th Century Dutch
stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago
bob, we cannot doubt him. I’ve met him, he wears wooden shoes.
i am beginning to wonder though, did you know any of the remaining Dutch speakers in NYC?
there was a town in the hudson valley where they spoke dutch until this past century.
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 4 years and 10 months ago
Not speaking Dutch I have no reason to doubt you, but remember—NYC usage stems from 17th Century Dutch
stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago
but our use of it, according to what what i read this morning, means that step in front of the house and is from afrikaans which i suppose is a bastard language like english that borrowed a little from here and a little from there and often got it wrong.
JohnHancock | 4 years and 10 months ago
Stoep in the Netherlands actually refers to the sidewalk. Trust me on that one. Maybe not 2 centuries ago but for the last century it’s meaning is sidewalk
stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago
Op seems to have bailed on us.
Interior, wooden “brownstone stairs” are very different than interior, wooden 1920’s Queens rowhouse stairs. the brownstone stairs have treads that hang over the stringer, the balusters are mortised into the edge of the treads and a cap is put over them. the top of the balusters are often drilled into the bottom of the top rail. in so far as the posts, the newel posts are very different and something of a work of art, often with burley veneer work on them and there is often no landing newel but a turn at the top with a handrail that makes that turn, uninterrupted.
in my 1920’s queens house, the treads end at a knee wall, the balusters sit on the knee wall which is rabbeted out to receive them and the balusters are cut to and nailed into the bottom of the top rail. there are simple pine box newels at the top and bottom of the run with a break in the rail as it begins and ends at the newels.
if the OP had the insight that i describe above (and they very well might have; a lot of what i know comes from my customers) and were lookin g for someone to work on a Brownstone Staircase, they were correct to specify “brownstone”. it is a different beast than what we have here in Queens. the job would go much smoother if they use someone whose done a couple brownstone stairs previous.
so bob. while one of us was a poly sci major and the other was both an english and poly sci major, we both failed at Dutch and Afrikaans; the word is “stoep” and it is Afrikaans from Dutch. According to the dictionary that pops up on google, we should be using “stoep” here and stoop is often misused.
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 4 years and 10 months ago
But, MDR, did he mean a mason? Who works on stoops, or merely someone who works on old row houses—“brownstones “ in NYC usage. So many people can’t write a clear English sentence!
MDR | 4 years and 10 months ago
OP is asking for a brownstone repair company so I assume its a brownstone stoop . We used Innovation Construction a few years ago for our brownstone stoop. They chipped it all down then built it up with cement stucco and did a nice job getting the color right and replicating all the details.
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 4 years and 10 months ago
“Stoop” is basically a NewYork Coty word, coming from our Dutch colonial past. I frequently hear the word “steps” used as well, especially by non-natives. Take what I’ve written with a grain of salt—I was a political science major, NOT an English major.
stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago
Hah, bob, i almost closed my comment by saying “lets wait until Bob comes on here and perhaps he can give us a more ‘traditional’ understanding of the terms “steps” and “stairs” .
i grew up in a house with a concrete “stoop” out front and those were “steps” on it. stairs were between floors in the house.
my apologies to the OP. i enjoy hearing how people use words over time and don’t wish to sound as though i am making fun of your usage. you should see what we go through on job sites with all the slang that exists for tools – now i just call them all by the color – the orange nail gun (paslode) , red handled pliers (screw removal pliers), orange saw (fien multimaster).
JohnHancock | 4 years and 10 months ago
OP usually disappears after initial post 🙂
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 4 years and 10 months ago
The original post is so ambiguous that it’s impossible to discern what “steps” the OP refers to.
stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago
@cate: are we certain the op wishes to have the “steps” up to the house redone and not the wooden “stairs” in the house refurbished?
cate | 4 years and 10 months ago
Oh sorry you are talking about the brownstone stoop not the interior wooden stairs lol. BUT well, there are also quite a few brownstone specialists in Brooklyn as well. Ask around for recommendations from your neighbors and people you know in person. Do not rely on anonymous commenters. FWIW, we had the top of our brick stoop gone over about a year ago with Thoroughcoat and so far it is holding up fairly well with no leaks, cost $2,000 . If you are doing brownstone stucco and want to match the color to the rest of the house, this could be challenging. With brownstone repair, the various layers must be allowed sufficient curing time to make sure they don’t crack. It’s a lengthy process.
stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago
to what cate is saying, stairs are a beast unto themselves and the job will go smoother with someone who has done a few. that said, many of us can make product on a lathe. i have one here myself though i use it mostly for metal work and just made a hinge part on it for a customer. even if someone does not have a lathe in house, they can order product from places out of state (by sending a sample) or adriatic in brooklyn or dykes. a duplicating lathe makes all this a bit easier and faster.
cate | 4 years and 10 months ago
FYI there are specialists who do only stairs and can replicate the original parts exactly using a lathe. I can’t make recommendations because I work for Brownstoner.