Replace Stair Spindles

An attractive staircase can add a lot to a home’s appearance. Stately homes were often known for their grand staircases off the entry foyer. While most of us don’t have those stately homes, many have a staircase, which might even be one off the entry foyer.

The design and style of any staircase or stair railing help set the tone for a home’s décor.

Styles change through the years, just as other architectural items affect a home’s appearance. Some people choose the newer style, while others stick with tradition. In either case, the staircase and the front stair railing can help reflect what the owners want their home to look like.

Occasionally, someone decides it’s time to replace the wooden spindles or the metal or wood or iron or iron or iron or wood or wood balusters on their stair or the entire handrail. This may be due to damage and wear on the original or because of wanting a new style.

In either case, removal, and replacement replace wood or iron or stair spindles or even replace wood balusters or iron or replace stair balusters or replace wood balusters or iron or replace stair balusters themselves is pretty much the same thing.

Replacing Stairs

While replacing stairs or iron or even replace wood balusters is a process that requires knowing what one is doing, replacing the wood or replacing stair spindles or replacing stair balusters cut the spindles, metal or wood or iron or wood or iron or wood or iron or wood or replace stair balusters themselves, or even the handrail is not that complicated a job.

Old Balusters Vs. New Balusters

So what’s the difference between old balusters and new balusters? Most of the time, the two terms are used interchangeably.

However, there is an actual difference between the two. Metal Balusters are the turned pieces between the step tread and the handrail. Spindles are similar to metal balusters but don’t go down to the step tread; they are supported by a horizontal rail at the bottom.

Even so, the term old balusters and new balusters cut a spindle has become more common and is used for both, mainly because it is easier to remember.

Cost

So, just how expensive a project is this? That depends on several factors. Some spindles are more expensive than others due to their design or material. Spindles made of wood glue and to be painted will be less costly than those whose wood glue is intended to be stained, lightly sanded, and varnished, just like with architectural wood trim. How long the handrail is can affect different lengths and the cost, with a longer railing requiring more work and materials. Finally, there’s the cost of labor if a contractor is hired to do the job. Hiring a contractor for the project will usually cost between $1,200 and $1,600.

One important consideration when replacing the old or new balusters spindles on a stair is that the building code has changed since some homes were built. Suppose the staircase has only one wooden or iron old spindles balusters spindle per stair. In that case, it will probably be necessary to add an extra room to replace the old wood balusters with or iron old spindles balusters with, or additional new old or new balusters spindle between each of the existing ones, closing the space between stairs with the wooden old balusters or iron old balusters spindles on them to less than four inches. This change to the building code was made so that small children could not fit between stair risers on the old wooden balusters spindles.

Replacing Wood Handrail Spindles with New Wood Ones

Generally speaking, replacing wood stair balusters used on a stair handrail with other balusters, other existing balusters, old iron balusters, or other wood balusters requires removing wood stair balusters from the handrail itself. However, this is not true if the wood stair balusters are being replaced on stair banister balusters with new or metal stair balusters cut from the stair banister ones.

To remove the stair railing and wrought iron side spindles from the wrought iron staircase stair railing itself without causing damage, it is first necessary to figure out what sort of hardware was used to install it. The two stair railing wrought iron spindles will likely be set into holes in the handrail and held in place with one or two brad nails.

At the bottom, they will sit into holes drilled in the step treads. But the handrail is a bit more complicated. It is probably attached to a newel post on the bottom and a rosette that attaches to the wall at the top.

The attachment between the underside of the handrail and the rosette can be one of two ways. The rosette could have been attached to the end of the handrail first and then screwed to the wall. Alternatively, it could have been linked to the underside of the handrail wall first. Then a single screw runs through the bottom side of the handrail into the rosette. In either case, the thing to do is look for the screws used to attach them, removing those screws.

Please note that the screw used in the handrail assembly may very well be hidden by plugs, glued into the wood, covering up the threaded fasteners.

If so, the plug must be carefully drilled out and replaced later. It’s important to ensure that the drill bit (preferably a Forstner bit) is properly aligned with the plug, especially in cases where the plug will be visible. Poor alignment will make the new plug more visible than the old one was.

Newel Post

At the newel post, posts, and the bottom newel post, the railing and handrail were most likely attached to the base rail and newel post with a barrel nut and bolt. If that’s the case, there should be a plug somewhere on the side of the handrail hole and railing, the newel post, or the underside of the handrail hole and railing.

However, some carpenters install and replace them by angling screws through the bottom of old holes in the railing and the bottom handrail hole right into the newel post. No plugs must be drilled out to replace the stair part, just the screws removed.

Once the handrail is disconnected from the wrought iron and the iron spindles at the top staircase railing and bottom staircase railing base, replace the stair rail, and lift it out of position.

The wrought iron and iron spindles are probably not glued in, so they should pull out. If they don’t pull out easily, assume they were nailed with a brad nailer and pull harder, drawing the brads out.

Adding Additional Spindles

If additional spindles are going to be added, it may be necessary to plug the existing hole in the step tread and handrail. This can be done with ¾” dowel rods in the bottom side of the stair railing, gluing pieces of dowel rod in place, and then cutting them off with a flush cut saw once the glue has dried.

More care is needed for the step tread replacing the stair railing and spindles as above, as the repair will be more visible.

It may be necessary to use larger wood plugs than the hole existing in existing holes in the step treads due to the perfect size being unavailable in the type correct size or different lengths of wood needed (using 1” plugs for ¾” holes). In that case, the existing hole must be widened to a depth of ¼”.

But using a 1” Forstner bit to do this on an existing hole is impossible and will probably mess up the surface of the step tread around the hole.

Instead, fill the hole with a plug cut from a dowel rod, drill the hole out, and then pull the dowel rod plug out to install the correct size matching wood plug. Be sure to align the grain of the wood plug with the grain of the step tread to make it less visible.

Drilling New Holes

Drilling new holes in the old wooden balusters and step treads for the new iron balusters. And the new holes for the other existing wooden and iron balusters are, and additional wooden balusters are easy and can be done with the tools needed.

The right tools are needed, either a Spade bit or a Forstner bit. Take care of the old holes in existing wood balusters and new iron balusters to ensure that the existing wooden balusters and new iron balusters are, that the further the balusters and existing wooden balusters and iron balusters are all in perfect alignment with each other. New iron balusters and old existing wood balusters are offset to one side, or the other will be obvious.

New drill holes may need to be drilled in the bottom of the staircase handrail, either because of the replacement stair spindles on the existing handrail or adding new stair spindles themselves.

In that case, a block of wood will need to be cut at the angle that the handrail meets the wall to use as a drilling guide for drilling holes. Mark the locations of the drill holes first, then use a spade bit to make the drill holes in the bottom of the staircase handrail.

Starting the Brad Point

Starting the brad point of the bit in straight; then, once it is in the wood, set the block on the bottom of the railing, and use the angled cut on it as a gauge for how far over to angle the drill and bit to put the drill holes in at the right angle.

Assembling the Handrail and Spindles

With all the replacing stair spindles and other handrail holes drilled, set the new spindles into the existing gaps and drill new holes in the stair step treads. Use a rubber mallet to drive the staircase base rail railing handrail down onto the old spindles if they are tight.

Reattach the hardware holding the handrail to the newel post and rosette. If the screws don’t tighten due to threads being stripped out of old holes made in the wood, fill the gap with a wood matchstick (without the head) and drive the screw back in.

The wood fiber from the matchstick will break up, fill old holes, and replace the threads, making the screw grab again.

With the handrail in place, check the alignment of the old wood spindles first, ensuring that none of the holes are crooked or twisted. Then nail them top and bottom with a Brad nailer.

If necessary, use a nail set to drive holes in the heads of the brads below flush with the old wooden spindles, or iron the old iron spindles, first, then fill the holes in iron spindles with wood putty.

Paint

The last thing that needs to be done, before applying paint or whatever other paint or finish or paint is going to be used to paint it, is to glue paint in with newel post and paint or wood paint or glue paint plugs to hide the color and replace the hardware, replacing the ones which were removed lightly sand down earlier with newel post and paint.

If the paint or wood paint or glue paint plug doesn’t fit down into the paint hole, leave it proud, and paint and then trim it flush with color and a chisel after the paint or wood glue paint part dries.

Stair Spindles, Claire Rowland

Replacing Wood Handrail Spindles with Metal Ones

If the handrails existing wood spindles are going to be replaced with handrails with the metal cutting blade or miter saw blade, the project is made easier because the existing handrail itself does not need to be removed. Instead, the two metal cutting blades or miter saw blade or miter saw blade handrails for each handrails spindle can be replaced individually, leaving the existing handrail in place.

Keep in mind that it might still be necessary to add additional spindles to stair railings to make the handrail meet the code. If that’s the case, the information in the “Adding Additional Spindles” section will still apply.

To install a metal spindle, first cut the base rail of the existing wood spindle rail to be replaced. With it cut, it should come out quickly, although Brad might be holding it at the top and bottom.

The new metal spindle may need to be cut to length with a metal cutting saw blade, cutoff saw, metal cutting blade, metal cutting blade, or an angle grinder with a fiber cutoff wheel.

If it does need to be cut off, remember that there needs to be enough material to go up into the handrail; but there doesn’t need to be any material to go down into the step tread.

Some replacement metal spindles have floor plates, but I will assume that the old wooden spindles that are now being used do not. It should be obvious the differences in installation with floor plates.

Cut a 3” piece of dowel rod that will fit pretty snugly. Still, not tight, inside the lower hole of the new metal spindle. Then drill a small hole near the bottom of the lower hole of the spindle (about ¼” up), so that a finish screw can be driven through that hole, the dowel and into the lower hole of the step tread. Don’t install the screw yet.

The dowel will probably be smaller than the hole in the step tread from the newel posts to the wood spindle. It can be left that way, especially since the old holes from the finish screw I just mentioned will hold the newel posts at the bottom of the railing between the stairs and the spindle in place.

However, suppose the hole appears to be too big compared to different lengths of the dowel. In that case, you may want to fill the gap by gluing in a piece of dowel rod, cutting it flush, and then drilling a new hole in the center of the railing for that dowel, which is just a little bit bigger (1/16” to 1/8”) than the dowel.

That extra room will make for a railing with a snugger fit which will be less likely to move from children pushing on it.

Slide holes of the cast rail decorative pieces and the holes of the cast rail foot over pilot holes of the metal spindle (if used) and the dowel into pilot holes on the bottom and right tools of the base rail and spindle.

Putting pilot holes and the set screw on the same side is helpful, preferably where they will be least visible. Then slip the top of the spindle into the bottom handrail hole, setting the base of the spindle in the correct location.

The section of the dowel rod inside the base of the spindle may need to be coaxed down into the hole, especially if it is snug inside the spindle.

This can be done with the finish screw or a sharp tool, working through the hole drilled for the finish screw. Take care not to push it down too far and lose it. Once the dowel is in place, drive a finish screw through the hole at an angle so that it goes through the dowel and into the wood tread.

Locate the decorative and foot casting to finish that spindle and tighten up the set screw. Then repeat the process for all other spindles that are being replaced.