Stairs and Rails

[Richard Wolf]

I build stairs and railings for my day job. This is a house I just finished in Southampton, NY. The railing up the stairs is 18' long. This house is on the market if anyone is interested. Asking price, 7 mil. Thats me on the stairs.

Richard

[Barry Londrigan]

Richard

I am interested in the house....send me a PM.......NOT!!! Wow....7 mil??!! BTW....you do great work...that is fantastic looking!

[Alan Turner]

That is a fair number of balusters. Do you turn them yourself? Are the bottoms dovetailed into the steps? Do you carve the bottom of the rail (ca't recall the name of that piece)? Nice work.

[Per Swenson]

Very nice.
Questions, for seven million, is that trim work MDF?
How far west of the hudson will you travel?
Per

[Richard Wolf]

Alan, no I don't make very many rail parts, there are so many commercially avaible that it doesn't pay to try and make your own. I have a copy lathe and if I have to match some for restoration work I do turn balusters. Dovetailing the balusters into the steps is very sledom done anymore, we use dowel screws to hold them in place which holds very well and may even be stronger then the dovetails. The "volute" (from the word convoluted) at the start of the staircase is not hand made but they must be hand craved to blend into the rail profile. There are a lot of balusters (3 per step) which is uncommon, but the architec wanted wider treads on such a long staircase, code required 3 balusters.

Per, for seven mil you get real wood trim!

Richard

[Mike Deschler]

Alan, no I don't make very many rail parts, there are so many commercially avaible that it doesn't pay to try and make your own. I have a copy lathe and if I have to match some for restoration work I do turn balusters. Dovetailing the balusters into the steps is very sledom done anymore, we use dowel screws to hold them in place which holds very well and may even be stronger then the dovetails. The "volute" (from the word convoluted) at the start of the staircase is not hand made but they must be hand craved to blend into the rail profile. There are a lot of balusters (3 per step) which is uncommon, but the architec wanted wider treads on such a long staircase, code required 3 balusters.



Richard, Thanks for sharing your great work, you are a great craftsman, I am envious, just kidding.

I am about to start a stair project and really need some help as this is my first time at it. I have many questions and need to do more learning. Do you have any pointers as to where I can get more information? Next I have a couple of questions about the actual construction; how do you miter the risers to the outside trim board and how do you cut the ends of the treads for the trim which extends over the trim board? I know there is a lot of experience required to do a great looking stair project and your work demonstrates it.

Mike

[Jason Roehl]

From a painter's perspective, if I were spending $7M on a house with painted trim, I would WANT MDF. I've painted so much wood trim that was basically junk--finger jointed pine with many defects, knot holes, raised grain, etc. I guess my idea of a painted trim package is to make it NOT look like wood, but to get it essentially uniform, with no wood grain or defects showing through.

On the other hand, any $7M house I would own would only have natural wood throughout...different woods in different rooms, all clear finished.

BTW, that is a very good-looking stair system!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Richard....great looking stair system....looks like a lot of detail work!

[Steve Clardy]

Looking good. Those look like L.J. Smith stair parts.
I do a lot of this work. I like the bendy ones.
Steve

[Jerry Clark]

Thanks for sharing your fine detail work Richard. We all learn from this!:)

[Tyler Howell]

Looks great. Thanks for sharing.:cool:

[Mark Singer]

V ery nice work.

[Richard Wolf]

I am about to start a stair project and really need some help as this is my first time at it. I have many questions and need to do more learning. Do you have any pointers as to where I can get more information? Next I have a couple of questions about the actual construction; how do you miter the risers to the outside trim board and how do you cut the ends of the treads for the trim which extends over the trim board? I know there is a lot of experience required to do a great looking stair project and your work demonstrates it.

Mike


Mike, there is very little printed material around on stairbuilding, I guess because its so boring!
One source is "Constructing Staircases, Balustrade & Landings" by William Spence, Sterling Publishing. Another is "Basic Stairbuilding", and I think that is a Taunton book.

The risers are 3/4 material and the stringers are at least 5/4, the stringers are mitered with a cirular saw set at 45. The joint looks a little stranger on the inside because of the different thinkness in material but the visible outside corner looks fine. The mitered return on the treads overhangs by 1 1/4 inch. I cut the edge on a SCMS as far as I can, and cut the 45 with a jig saw. Its than glued and nailed. Note; try not to place the nails were the balusters go, you will thank youself later. I hope this answers some of you questions, just go slowly and try and think as far ahead as possible. If you need help I'm on line most evenings.

Richard

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi Richard, Man, that's a job I would be very proud of; I'm sure you are. I was wondering what kind of finish you're going to put on it? Thanks Alan

[Richard Wolf]

Alan, I've been doing stairs for 15 years. When I started I did finishing but have long ago opted to leave that segment of the project to professional finishes.
Thanks

Richard

[Charlie Plesums]

An 18 foot long staircase without a landing? It is beautiful, but I thought you had to have a landing every dozen steps or so.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Alan, I've been doing stairs for 15 years. When I started I did finishing but have long ago opted to leave that segment of the project to professional finishes.
Thanks

Richard

O.K. Richard, That's better for you so that you don't have to breathe in too many of those fumes. Keep up the great work! Thanks Alan

[Richard Wolf]

An 18 foot long staircase without a landing? It is beautiful, but I thought you had to have a landing every dozen steps or so.

You are right Charlie, the code is, a stairs may not have a vertical rise of more than 12' without a landing. The reason I mentioned the 18' is that rail lenghts only go to 16' so this application required the splicing of two 10' sections to come up with a useable length.

Richard