Can I “screw down” square balusters?
PenobscotMan
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Andy Engel’s stair book says those double-ended screw things (lag screw threads both ends) are good for square balusters. I don’t see how this can work. The upper end of the baluster will be angle-cut to match the incline of the rail and needs to go into the plowed dado. So how can it simultaneously engage the screw on the tread, be in line with the rail center line, and be vertical as I rotate it down into position??? I just can’t visualize it.
Contributing to my problem is that I am fabricating the stair parts in one place for a star two days’ drive away, so I can’t try things out.
Thanks for the responses to my earlier query about newel posts. I’m gluing them up solid, as recommended.
Replies
You hold the baluster still and turn the house.
I haven't seen the book, but I suspect he said square cut balusters. Obviously for angled cuts it would be impossible to use the double ended lags.
The double-ended screw is really only good for a baluster that is symmetrical, so that it only need be rotated a quarter turn or less to bring it into alignment, after a snug fit is achieved. The screws will work in your situation only if you cut the tops after installation (or install, mark, remove, cut, reinstall), or if the dado in the rail is deep enough to hide the flat top.
Otherwise, your options are to set the baluster into a notch in the tread (the "authentic" way to handle this problem), or to use something akin to a newel post fastener kit: http://stairfasteners.com/p7ssm_img_1/fullsize/newel101_fs.jpg
(Actually, it occurs to me that if the top will be set into a dado, with a reasonably ridgid handrail, there's no real need to have the bottom that tight. One could possibly use the double-ended screws but drill a clearance hole -- big enough that the post would screw on but slip when tightened. Then maybe use a dab of construction adhesive when you install the post. Or maybe pre-set the screws in the posts and drill the clearance hole in the tread.)
You fit the handrails temporarly, remove them, place the square ballusters with the dowel screws, install the rail. Same way you would if using round spindles that have a tenon on the bottom and fit into a hole in the rails. These are standard stair construction methods. If you have already installed the handrails, drill a hole for a wood dowel in the end of the ballusters, don't use the dowel screws.
Exactly.
Not too hard to envision when you think about the ballusters all installed first and then dropping the handrail on top. That is exactly how I did mine. Newels, Ballusters, handrail, bud light