Galvanised Handrail

I fitted some rather modern looking galvanised handrail this week for a customer.

This type of handrail is normally fitted outside or on more industrial buildings but it works well in this customers modern house and what's better is all the parts are off the shelf helping to keep the costs down.

Charpentier

The last week turned out to be a bit of an adventure.
After a few phone call, someone going to Liverpool passport office for me and a ferry ride, I ended up going with a friend to work in France for the week!

Leaving England behind

 The job was to fit a flight of stairs, handrail out a balcony and to second fix as much of the house as possible. We got loads done over some really long days.
Unfortunately the stairs were a nightmare to fit. Whoever had measured them to fit had given absolutely no tolerance to get them in. They had winders round a complete 180 degrees so things became a little difficult. It would have been much easier if they'd had gone in before the house was boarded or plastered. We got them in in the end but we did have to cut the wall in a few places to make them fit.

These stairs were the most awkward I've ever fitted

Not much space to get them in

 The balcony handrail also took some thinking about, this went in easy once we decided on our method and looked really smart when they were finished

Balcony to be hand railed off

 The only difficult with them was clamping the handrail to the newel posts as the glue went off. Tom and me managed to quickly knock together a wooden clamp that could be wedged up so the glue could go off over night, leaving a perfectly tight joint in the morning.

Clamping the handrail together with a quickly built clamp

The adjustable end of the clamp

Balcony handrail finished

 Tom and me worked really fast doing the second fit together, I think we were both impressed with the amount of work we got done in the time. We had a good system going and each stuck to a certain job to increase speed and keep the quality high.

Tom routing hinges out of the doors

Oak doors, pine linings and MDF architraves and skirting fitted.

All in all it was an interesting experience. I enjoyed working with Tom Weston again - who is an excellent carpenter (I think we both learnt a lot from each other) and made good friends with the plasterer, Rick, who came out with us. We worked hard and did a serious amount of hours, but I was missing my family by the end of the week so I was glad to come back to a rainy UK yesterday.
I learnt lots and got some good stories to tell, not much more you could ask for really!

Replacing handrail

We're getting through the second fix upstairs now and during this week I've replace the old handrail with some that matches what is in the rest of the house.

What was left of the old handrail

 I decided it was best to rip it all out and start again, this way I could make sure I got some solid fixings and make sure it won't move.

Ripping it all out and starting again

The first job was to add the newel post at the top of the stairs. This one had to be strongly fixed as it's what everyone will grab and swing on as they walk down the stairs. The old newel post ran right down to the floor, so I cut it off flush with the top of the stairs and then made a 12" long halving joint to fit the new newel with. As the old post was 3"x3" and the new one is 4"x4" I had to make this halving joint more like a giant L shaped rebate so it would fit over the top of the old post, glued and screwed it was rock solid when I finished.

Adding the newel post, this has to be solid

 The rest was fairly plane sailing, the newel posts already had mortises in them but the tenons on the handrail had to be added on, taking a bit of time (I did these by hand as it's sometimes easier this way), I fixed all the handrail and newels in position then replaced some of the flooring and added the spindles. The flooring I replaced so it finished in line with the new newel posts, it also had a round over moulding on for the apron lining to butt into, giving a nice detail. By doing this all my spindles could also be fixed from the underside giving a much better fixing.

The finished handrail from the top

It was then a matter of adding the apron lining and doing all the finishing touches like pelleting the screw holes, sanding them down and punching in any nails. The bottom of the old newel post also had to be packed out so that it was the same size as the new one



I decided at the start to replace the apron under the handrail as well and it looks much better all being new

The joint connecting the new newel to the old post.

Anyone else had a hand railing project they've done lately?

Fixing handrail

The house We've been working in also runs as a B&B. The trouble is guests are a little heavy handed with the handrail on the stairs, banging bags on them as they walk up.

The handrail itself had become really lose and their were 6 spindles missing at the bottom and quite a few loose ones on the way up. Time to get out the glue!
There were some spare spindles I could use from another handrail that had been taken down previously. I first had to clean out the filler from all the mortice's and then cut each spindle individually with a little tenon on the end to provide a good Strong fit. I glued and screwed the tops to the handrail after cutting the mitre to suit. In the end it firmed up the whole handrail and the new spindles matched in pretty well, a quick polish and no one will no I've been there!
I've been asked to come back next year to finish off another handrail that has been altered, but this will be a bigger job involving turning a new newel post and altering steps, but one I'm looking forward to!