Hello
In a earlier post, I was considering the possibility of building my own staircase. In the end I bought one instead - a straight flight with three winders at the bottom, all in redwood, which I've installed.
I now have the balustrade to assemble. What I have is this:
-Newel bases fitted at each end of straight flight, with mortices drilled for newel tops.
-Newels to fit into them (newels have squared tops with no holes, fittings or brackets)
-Bottom rail, with groove on top, to cut to length and angle and fit over stringer
-Banister rail, with groove under, to cut to length and angle and fit to newels
-Spindles, and spacers for bottom rail and banister rail
Now, I can see quite clearly how all this needs to be cut, and how it goes together, but in the interests of not missing anything obvious, I wondered if anyone could give me some tips, or point me at a quick guide, on the sequence of construction, methods of fixing, and so on. I've Googled slightly but not found anything that isn't horribly basic and unhelpful. The sort of questions I have in mind are:
- Do I toe-nail the spindles, top and bottom, between the spacers, or glue, or both, or just fix the spacers but not the spindles?
- Spacers- pin, glue or both?
- Banister rail to newels - do I just but them up and screw from underneath?
- order of construction?
- other tips?
I know this is all simple, but I'd rather ask a few numpty questions than miss something obvious.
Cheers Richard