Fixing interior stair railing

Hi! My indoor staircase railing has gotten EXTREMELY rickity. A few spindles fell out, but I still have them. Otherwise, the integrity seems pretty good. I called New York Wood Stairs and they want $150 just to come out and look at it, which seems weird. (I’ve never been asked to pay for a quote before.) I just need the railing tightening and the spindles firmly back any. Any suggestions? Thanks!

lwxrlomtdspfi

in General Discussion 2 years ago

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lwxrlomtdspfi | 2 years ago

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Thank you so much! We have exactly what you describe! The wrap around at the top is perfectly stable as is the railing when it reaches the wall on the second floor and the bannister on the bottom. I see that some of the spindles were nailed in at the top and the nails are loose, and at the bottom a couple of the spindles are loose. I think I can do this with thin nails at the top of loose spindles and shims at the bottoms, using the glue you describe. There are only about six loose spindles. Teenagers are hard on 100+ year old stairs. Thanks again!

lwxrlomtdspfi | 2 years ago

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Thank you so much! We have exactly what you describe! The wrap around at the top is perfectly stable as is the railing when it reaches the wall on the second floor and the bannister on the bottom. I see that some of the spindles were nailed in at the top and the nails are loose, and at the bottom a couple of the spindles are loose. I think I can do this with thin nails at the top of loose spindles and shims at the bottoms, using the glue you describe. There are only about six loose spindles. Teenagers are hard on 100+ year old stairs. Thanks again!

justinromeu26 | 2 years ago

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So with a balustrade system, and i am talking about a system that has newell posts at the end of each run, the top rail/hand rail on such a system must be able to support itself. Those balusters do no provide any support what so ever. When we build them the top rail stands on its own between the newells.

On an old system, the top of each baluster is often drilled into the bottom of the top rail. If this is what you have and the bottoms are securely nailed, your balusters should be safe. If their looseness is more of an annoyance and the top of them is finely tapered, do not start blasting away with a nail gun as you will split and mark up the fine wood. Instead, get some mohawk stick epoxy (it comes in dark walnut and black) and force some of this in around the top of the balusters and wipe the excess off before it dries..

Usually the system i describe above is used in older homes where the baluster goes into the handrail on the top and into the treads on the bottom. Because they are secured this way, they are safe. If you have a system like i have in my 1928 queen’s home, the balusters are cut on an angle on the bottom and top to match the angle of the knee wall and top rail and they are nailed. The way to tighten these is with nails shot in from a nail gun. You can put one from each side at an angle or if you can get behind the baluster a little, shoot a pair in a cross (see “toe nail”) pattern.

If you use a nail gun on wood that probably has nails in it, wear safety glasses. It does not happen often, but a brad can bounce out and hit you. Usually they bend a little after hitting another nail and continue in on an altered trajectory.

This is probably worth buying a nail gun for (from a financial perspective for this one job; once you use a nail gun you will start doing all sorts of projects). Home depot has the porter cable kit with the compressor on sale right now. Use the 18 gauge on these.

I have never done this work on a wrap around where the system has no newells at the landings and is supported in the middle by the balusters. So you cannot rely on what i say above if you have a wrap around balustrade. I might be missing something.

I am sorry i did not explain this last night but i’d been on a job all day and was tired.

justinromeu26 | 2 years ago

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Tightening loose spindles (balusters) yourself should be easy but using a hammer will make it hard. You need a nail gun.

And yes, anyone charging for estimates should take that off the price if it proceeds.

lwxrlomtdspfi | 2 years ago

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Ah… I see what has happened. In the reno before I moved in (20 years age), the spindles were secured into the banner with nails. Some of them have loosened up. I just need to secure the loose spindles to the railing, and it will stop shaking. Would love to hire someone to do this and a few other projects around the house, but I can do it myself if no one else will do it.

lwxrlomtdspfi | 2 years ago

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Ah… I see what has happened. In the reno before I moved in (20 years age), the spindles were secured into the banner with nails. Some of them have loosened up. I just need to secure the loose spindles to the railing, and it will stop shaking. Would love to hire someone to do this and a few other projects around the house, but I can do it myself if no one else will do it.

lwxrlomtdspfi | 2 years ago

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I see what you’re saying. So, pay for the estimate? We’re redoing the front stoop so rebuilding the interiors stairs just isn’t possible right now. Maybe if they decide to take the job they’ll take the $150 evaluation fee off?

lwxrlomtdspfi | 2 years ago

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I see what you’re saying. So, pay for the estimate? We’re redoing the front stoop so rebuilding the interiors stairs just isn’t possible right now. Maybe if they decide to take the job they’ll take the $150 evaluation fee off?

justinromeu26 | 2 years ago

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i have a very generous and sincere customer who had me do a home inspection recently. Her balustrade is seriously loose. i am a woodworker and have built plenty of these things and have tightened some up for existing customers when they are easy to do. for this customer i have not put my name forth to help her and i bet a lot she wishes i would. here is the problem the way i see it with these things:

As a contractor, we are on the hook if something goes wrong and someone gets hurt. In some of this houses, these systems entail a winding and wrap around balustrade where it one part fails, the rest will go with it. what this usually means is that these need more than a tightening and to do that correctly with old, dried and weakened wood will probably mean more than a “tune up”. people are probably are surprised when they get the price for this kind of work – even for very small jobs and some people probably do not move forward – and some of these contractors possibly end up feeling like they are chasing their tails around looking at wobbly balustrades. I am s ure if you moved forward they will deduct that from the price.

with some smaller jobs we end up spending more time driving than working. I combat that by charging an elevated first hour rate on hourly service calls. some other charge a fee to estimate. if we did not do this, we would rather simply be on larger jobs where we are not driving around the city all say. driving costs us a lot of money in expense and lost billable time.