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Howdy pals! I’m so freakin’ enthusiastic about immediately’s put up as a result of it means we’ve got efficiently up to date our stair railing and changed our balusters. And I’m sharing a step-by-step tutorial for precisely how we did it on this put up!
Thanks to DAP Merchandise for partnering with me on this put up.
When you’ve been round you might do not forget that after I shared the “earlier than” tour of our new house earlier than we moved in I used to be tremendous nervous about how conventional a few of the parts of the house had been. Two of my largest issues had been: 1) the coffered ceiling within the eating room and a couple of) the stair railing. We overcame the normal coffered ceiling in our eating room by giving it a brand new look with wallpaper. However updating the stair railing felt much more intimidating and scary. We’ve tackled a DIY staircase makeover earlier than by changing carpet on the steps in our previous house with wooden treads (and it was surprisingly simple). However ripping out iron balusters and changing them? Yikes. It sounded onerous.
Seems changing your stair railing/balusters is TOTALLY DOABLEas a DIY challenge. It’s time-consuming, but it surely actually is just not onerous. Even newbie DIYers ought to have the ability to full this challenge. So let’s get into the small print. First up, let’s speak in regards to the completely different elements of a stair railing and staircase.
Components of a Stair Railing
This diagram from Stair-Components is useful for understanding the completely different elements of a stair railing and staircase. Generally folks seek advice from balusters and “spindles.”
What Components of a Stair Railing Can You Substitute?
You’ll be able to exchange as a lot as you need! This video reveals you find out how to exchange the balusters and newel put up and handrail, so in case you are trying to exchange all the things, undoubtedly test it out. However in case you are like us and you actually simply wish to give your stair railing an up to date look with out having to interchange all the things, you might be in the suitable place! Our handrails and newel posts had been in actually fine condition and I knew portray them would replace them sufficient for our liking. It was actually the previous iron balusters that weren’t our model in any respect.So when you’ve ever questioned, “are you able to simply exchange the spindles?” the reply is YES! We solely changed our balusters and we did it with out having to disassemble all the stair railing.
That is what our staircase used to appear like (it’s additionally a enjoyable reminder of how our eating room and kitchen used to look).
And right here’s a view of the previous stair railing within the upstairs hallway.
Methods to Substitute Stair Balusters
Supplies Wanted
Video Overview
I extremely suggest that you just watch the brief video beneath for an outline of the challenge earlier than studying the detailed directions. The directions will certainly make extra sense when you watch the video first 🙂
Step 1- Take away the prevailing balusters or spindles
We had been nervous about eradicating the prevailing iron balusters as a result of they had been glued on the backside the place they met the stair treads AND on the prime the place they related to the handrail. Thankfully, we realized that if we minimize via the iron baluster utilizing our reciprocating noticed and these steel slicing blades , we may then get sufficient leverage with our channel lock pliers to interrupt the glue seal and take them proper out. Eradicating 65 balusters was extra tedious than something, but it surely wasn’t actually onerous. Simply ensure you have good, sharp blade earlier than you begin! In case you are eradicating wooden balusters, it’s even faster to make your cuts.
Step 2- Clear up the previous holes & resize them if needed
We determined to stay with the identical baluster spacing in order that we may reuse the prevailing holes left by the previous iron balusters. If the identical is true for you, that you must be sure the previous holes in your stair treads and handrail are clear andare the right dimension in your new balusters. This may occasionally imply that that you must drill holes to make them barely bigger. We had to make use of a Forstner bit to make the underside holes a bit bigger, however the holes within the handrail had been the right dimension. Or you might simply have to drill the identical dimension holes simply to wash them up and dislodge any previous glue. What dimension holes you want will extremely depend upon what specific balusters you select.
Step 3- Paint your new balusters and stair banister / handrail
I can not stress this sufficient… Do no matter it takes to color the stair railings aftereradicating the previous balusters/iron spindles and earlier thanputting in the brand new ones. It’s a lot simpler to do it with out having to color round spindles! You also needs to paint your new balusters BEFORE putting in them. We used our paint sprayer and paint shelter to do it and it took us not more than half-hour whole (excluding drying time). Portray all the things earlier than set up meant we solely had minor touch-ups after set up. We additionally painted our stair risers earlier than putting in the brand new balusters. Backside line, portray as a lot as we may aftereradicating the previous iron balusters and earlier thanputting in the brand new wooden spindles made portray a zillion instances simpler.
Step 4- Minimize your new balusters to size (if wanted)
I realized lots about stair balusters as we had been prepping for this challenge. As a result of our baluster structure is 3 balusters per stair, we wanted 3 completely different lengths of balusters for the stair railing. Stair balusters are available normal heights so we ordered the heights that had been as shut as doable to what we would wish. We ordered balusters within the following lengths to interchange the balusters alongside the stair railing: 34″, 36″, and 39″. We additionally needed to order some in 41″ size to interchange the balusters across the newel put up. Despite the fact that we ordered lengths as near the completed size as we may, we nonetheless needed to trim them to get them to precisely the suitable dimension. Our compound miter noticed made it fast and simple, however you can completely do that with a easy hand noticed and miter field when you don’t have one.
Step 5- Place and connect your new balusters
These pool cue balusters we selected have a 3/4 inch “pin” on the backside that sits into the opening within the stair treads. The highest of the balusters is 5/8 inch and match proper into the previous holes in our stair railing. As a result of we had been attaching wooden balusters to wooden stair treads & handrail we wanted good high quality wooden glue. We coated the holes with a great layer of Dap Weldwood Authentic Wooden Glue earlier than putting them.
As a result of we didn’t take away the previous stair railing, we needed to rigorously place the highest of the balusters within the handrail first after which we may slide the underside pin into place. The explanation this works is that the depth of the holes within the handrail permits for bit of additional room above the highest of the balusters. We additionally added a few pin nails on the prime of our balusters because the diameter of the previous holes in our handrail was a tad bigger than the diameter our new balusters–the pin nails simply be certain that the balusters can’t wiggle round within the gap in any respect.
When you haven’t already watched the video giving an outline of this challenge, you actually ought to so as to see precisely what I’m speaking about. Scroll again as much as discover the video proper underneath the record of supplies wanted to finish this challenge.
That’s it! Our stair railing appears fully up to date and is completely our model now! I really like how the brand new stair railing appears from this view the place you’ll be able to see our entryway and our enjoyable household photograph gallery wall .
A few days after I snapped the photograph above, we put in a DIY stair runner and couldn’t be happier with the way it all turned out. You’ll most likely additionally discover that we put in a DIY board and batten accent wall , which was a continuation of the set up we did in our upstairs hallway. And do you see how a lot BRIGHTER it’s upstairs now? These aren’t lights! These are the VELUX Solar Tunnels we just lately had put in (our hallway had no pure mild earlier than–now it’s FLOODED with pure mild)!
Only a bit completely different than it used to look, huh?!
Now, I’m certain you most likely have some questions, so let me cowl a few of the widespread questions I’ve gotten.
Incessantly Requested Questions
Is changing a stair railing costly?
Nicely, it is a bit subjective. So I’ll simply inform you how a lot it value us to replace our stair railing by changing the balusters. Doing the work ourselves saved us a ton of cash on set up. Our balusters + delivery value us $570. With paint, new blades for our oscillating instrument, plus wooden glue, and many others. I might say this challenge got here in proper round $700. Not dangerous for a fullynew look that truly appears good with the remainder of our decor! Changing the stair railing and/or newel posts would have made this way more costly. That’s one purpose we selected notto interchange these parts.
Is it onerous to interchange a banister? Can I exchange a banister myself?
General, this challenge was simpler than I anticipated it to be. It’s time-consuming, but it surely’s not tough. Even when we had changed the handrail and repositioned the balusters like on this video , I might nonetheless say it is a completely doable DIY challenge.
What paint did you utilize?
We used Sherwin-Williams Emerald Designer Version within the shade Refuge for the partitions and stair risers. We used Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel within the shade Seaworthy for the balusters and handrails. We selected urethane paint as a result of it creates a tough, sturdy end that withstands numerous put on and tear. The Sherwin-Williams man defined that it dries 7 instances tougher than common latex paint.
What’s your largest tip/takeaway for changing stair balusters?
I’ve three main takeaways/suggestions from this challenge. First, do all the things in your energy to color the stair railings aftereradicating the previous balusters/iron spindles and BEFORE putting in the brand new ones. It’s a lot simpler to do it with out having to color round spindles! And paint your new balusters earlier thanputting in them as effectively! Second, except you hate the position/spacing of your previous balusters, persist with the identical placement so you’ll be able to keep away from having to patch a bunch of holes. It’s doable to make use of wooden plugs to fill in holes left by previous spindles, however it is possible for you to to inform the place the patches are. Third, except you hate your handrail, I’d additionally suggest towards putting in a brand new railing. You’ll save a lot money and time through the use of your present handrail(s).
Different posts you might get pleasure from:
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