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Building an Exterior Stair Railing/Co…

| Posted in General Discussion on July 31, 1999 10:24am

*
‘>’I’ve rebuilt the front porch on my 90-year old city-farmhouse and removed all that awful wrought iron, now I want to add the stairs with a nifty railing and columns. Anyone can build a utilitarian version of stairs with a 2X4 railing; I’m looking for an aesthetically pleasing design and construction details to show me how to ‘dovetail’ it seamlessly onto my porch. I have driven round Seattle looking for ideas, finding only a few front stair designs bordering on the quality and proportion I’d like. Lest you think I’m lazy, I have also scoured the library and bookstores for instructions and/or construction details on exterior stairs/rails/columns.

The porch is approximately 5′ deep x 10′ long and is 43″ from the ground. It has tongue-and-groove fir flooring and a half-wall that is sheathed with beveled cedar siding. The stairs will be to the left side of the porch (not centered on the porch but on the front door).

Anybody out there know of a source? Maybe an old issue of Fine Homebuilding?

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Replies

  1. Guest_ | Jul 28, 1999 02:17am | #1

    *
    Bet you had no trouble getting rid of that "awful" wrought iron. Porch have a lid on it?

  2. Jammer_ | Jul 28, 1999 02:56am | #2

    *
    The porch is attached to the house on the right side, it has the same pitch roof as the house. The stairs leading to the porch will not be covered.

  3. Guest_ | Jul 28, 1999 06:30am | #3

    *
    I did same - haven't finished railings. Replased columns with the heavy plastic ones (polystone?). Used a lally column as a temp while I shanged out one at a time.

    I used a pattern book reprinted by Dover - has a whole slew of porches and railings. I'm struggling to find a good paint grade wood in non-standard sizes - like 1 11/16" square balusters to match original and a 3 1/2 X 2 1/2 bottom rail - which will have an oval crossection - but I'll get there. Good lusck!

  4. Suzanne_Price | Jul 28, 1999 07:01am | #4

    *
    I've been looking for the same thing for our 80
    yr. old NW farmhouse (stairs are now concrete,
    brick, and one 3"iron pipe railing). There is a
    beautiful 6 riser wooden staircase in Berkeley on
    the side of a porch like yours. The railings are
    flat, like a porch rocker's arms, and very gently
    flared outward, almost unnoticeably flared but
    making the stairs more roomy. It fits in well.
    Every time we go visit our son, I look at those
    stairs

    1. JWLong | Jul 29, 1999 12:28am | #5

      *Say Bill:Where can the book you reference be found? If you could leave the exact title, publisher and date I might be able to dig it up.I too am having a hard time finding a milled railing system. I found some nice turned cedar balusters for 5.50 each. Yikes!JW

  5. Guest_ | Jul 29, 1999 01:41am | #6

    *
    Porch parts! These people in Texas have a catalogue of porch parts and a desigh-a-porch book that I bought. Still haven't done anything about the project, but the books are a great source of ideas as to what is possible with off the shelf pieces. They also sell stair parts and have a book to cover those too. I think all the books total came to about $20, shipment was next day. http://www.vintagewoodworks.com
    Joe H

  6. JohnH | Jul 29, 1999 05:09am | #7

    *
    If you're not obsessed with authenticity, you might try ripping your 1-11/16" balusters from 2x material - you'll end up with 1-1/2" x 1-11/16" but if you orient them with the wider face to the view it'll still look right as long as you don't have them sitting right next to the old ones - and you won't spend a fortune on them.

    John H

    1. Seb_Eggert | Jul 29, 1999 08:24am | #8

      *Hello, Jammer! You've probably got one of those cute old cottages in Fremont or Ballard. It's amazing what people do to "improve" their homes, and the wrought iron is a typical example. The original railings no doubt rotted and were removed years ago and it's the same for most houses of that vintage. It's no wonder that you haven't seen anything that looks appropriate. I've been restoring the exterior railing systems (18 of them!) at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend. These houses on Officer's Row were all built around 1910, and the detail seems simple at first but actually uses quite number of parts. The system starts with a 6" square newel post capped with a mildly sloped and stepped cap 10" wide with a 1-1/2" cove moulding beneath. There is a 5/8" half round moulding around the post just beneath the point where the railing joins the post (two inches under the cap trim), and below that the corners are chamfered about 3/4" on the flat and stop a few inches above the bottom step. The railing is 4-1/2" wide, about 1-1/2" thick at the middle and slopes to each side to 1-3/16" on the edge, with the edges rounded over slightly. The balusters are spaced appx. 5" on center, and are a simple square crossection at 1-7/16". They are supported on a shoe rail of the same dimensions as the top rail. The bottom of the balusters are cut to slight notch to match the top of the shoe rail to avoid moisture saturation. The tops of the balusters are secured to the handrail and covered on each side with a 1" x 1-3/4" moulding that is held tight to the underside of the railing. A heavier 1-3/4" x 3-1/2" backbone rail supports the shoe rail and has a 5/8" quirk bead on the lower edges. This system joins the porch columns at the level of the porch railings. This may be closer than the wrought iron to something that was on your house originally!Be sure to use good quality dry D.fir and primer every piece, especially the cut ends, before assembly. Get some marine grade sealant from the ship supply (try Doc Freeman's or Fishery Supply) and always use hot-dipped galvanized fasteners.I'm sorry I can't put up a photo on the web site yet, but if you make a trip to P.T. you can see for yourself. Good luck!-Seb

  7. Guest_ | Jul 29, 1999 09:22am | #9

    *
    Hey, I paid $3.50 ea. for 50 pine balusters that I installed in an eave-protected area and sealed the heck out of. Even pt is expensive when you multiply it out. But the look is far more elegant than square porch balusters which are on every single house in the neighborhood (client loved my alternative).

    1. Guest_ | Jul 30, 1999 05:44pm | #10

      *Sorry - I'm away from home but think this is it:Old House Measured and Scaled Detail Drawings for Builders and Carpenters : An Early Twentieth-Century Pictorial Sourcebook With 183 Detailed Plates by William A. RadfordAmazon.com link is:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ts/book-glance/0486244385/ref=sim_m_books/002-7085478-7594838

      1. Guest_ | Jul 30, 1999 05:46pm | #11

        *Thought of that but don't care for it - need better match. I have thought about resawing 4X4's with a band saw but worry they will twist too much. At the moment I'm looking for rough sawn hoping that if I plane it myself I'll get the 1 11/16 finished dimension.

        1. Guest_ | Jul 30, 1999 07:58pm | #12

          *Must be frustrating chasing that extra few sixteenths!You might consider laminating strips together with West Epoxy and then ripping/planing to your precise needs. Having gotten around to using the product, I would strongly recommend it for outdoor lamination (heck, they use it on boat hulls). The combination of different pieces of wood would probably resist warpage better as an extra benefit. Paints great too.

          1. Guest_ | Jul 31, 1999 10:24am | #14

            *Thanks Andrew for the encouragement based on your experience. I have been considering this - perhaps 2 pc. of 5/4 pine or one 1 by and one 5/4. But still seems simpler if I could find solid material.

  8. Jammer_ | Jul 31, 1999 10:24am | #13

    *
    '>'I've rebuilt the front porch on my 90-year old city-farmhouse and removed all that awful wrought iron, now I want to add the stairs with a nifty railing and columns. Anyone can build a utilitarian version of stairs with a 2X4 railing; I'm looking for an aesthetically pleasing design and construction details to show me how to 'dovetail' it seamlessly onto my porch. I have driven round Seattle looking for ideas, finding only a few front stair designs bordering on the quality and proportion I'd like. Lest you think I'm lazy, I have also scoured the library and bookstores for instructions and/or construction details on exterior stairs/rails/columns.

    The porch is approximately 5' deep x 10' long and is 43" from the ground. It has tongue-and-groove fir flooring and a half-wall that is sheathed with beveled cedar siding. The stairs will be to the left side of the porch (not centered on the porch but on the front door).

    Anybody out there know of a source? Maybe an old issue of Fine Homebuilding?

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