Thicker newel posts?

[Ian H]

We have put in a loft staircase with 90mm square newels and the existing staircase has 70mm newels.

Could I go round the old ones with some 10mm timber or will I need to hack them off at floor level and replace them?

Thanks

 

[Tigercubrider]

Depends on the finish that you want but adding 10mm on each side if done well can be fine

 

[Ian H]

They will be just painted white.

 

[Tigercubrider]

if the post is truly square, then cutting the jointed surfaces at 45 degrees so that it all mitres together would be my preference, or even just boxing with but joints and careful use of filler would work

 

[tony1851]

10mm thick timber will 'cup' as it dries out when the house heating is on, and the joint lines will open up slightly.
Why not consider a board product - such as mdf - or something similar, which should be more stable.

 

[Ian H]

I’m finally going to do this this weekend!!

We have a mix of 68mm on the original stairs and 86mm on the loft stairs so would you say 9mm MDF, screwed and glued?

 

[big-all]

ok my thought
4" txg cladding is around 8mm thick its coverage is 88mm
now iff you remove the back off the groove plus say 3mm [equivillent to increasing the slot to 9mm]
and the tongue up to the shoulder this will now make the plank with a 88mm coverage
so with the front forward about 5mm to sit in the back off the part removed tongue will cover 69/70mm off the post and leave about 14mm to play with[5+70+13=88mm]
now this allows you to remove excess timber and reform the champher or trim square both sides
if you connect correctly with the chapher remaining with the groove front off say 3mm set back the same 3mm from the face off the other timber[the removed tongue surface] you will in effect have a 45% angle corner with a very small V groove in the angle
clear as mudd ehhh

 

[Tigercubrider]

A.ll they need to do is look roughly the same size but done well. Better than exactly the right size done badly.
Nobody is going to measure posts 10 feet apart

 

[big-all]

A.ll they need to do is look roughly the same size but done well. Better than exactly the right size done badly.
Nobody is going to measure posts 10 feet apart

yes i fully agree but throwing ideas in the mix as 10mm thick timber is hard to come by but 8mm txg is readilly available and a 4mm overlap easier to hide than a 10mm one
he could off course add say 20mm to one face [end]and 8mm to the sides if it will look ok but as i say just ideas and thoughts

 

[Ian H]

ok my thought
4" txg cladding is around 8mm thick its coverage is 88mm
now iff you remove the back off the groove plus say 3mm [equivillent to increasing the slot to 9mm]
and the tongue up to the shoulder this will now make the plank with a 88mm coverage
so with the front forward about 5mm to sit in the back off the part removed tongue will cover 69/70mm off the post and leave about 14mm to play with[5+70+13=88mm]
now this allows you to remove excess timber and reform the champher or trim square both sides
if you connect correctly with the chapher remaining with the groove front off say 3mm set back the same 3mm from the face off the other timber[the removed tongue surface] you will in effect have a 45% angle corner with a very small V groove in the angle
clear as mudd ehhh

You lost me so I went with the MDF. I’ve only done 1 so far, girlfriends going to sand and paint it during the week.

 

[big-all]

ok fair enough thought you wanted it with a wood finish
glad you got it sorted

 

[Ian H]

Thanks, it’s done now except the paint.

I’m not sure how well it will last and halfway through I was thinking of replacing the newels because they aren’t straight. But i’ll give it a chance. The handrails attach with some brackets so if they don’t work i’m only £14 out of pocket.

 

[big-all]

nice job
is that handrail 900mm above the nose level ??

 

[Ian H]

nice job
is that handrail 900mm above the nose level ??

No, it’s 800mm same as the original, my loft one is 900mm.

Do you think I should raise that while i’m at it? I could go up another 50mm until i’m very close to the top of full size part of the inner/original newel.

 

[big-all]

to comply with regs 900mm no sphere 100mm pass through any gap etc
http://www.stairplan.co.uk/regulations.htm