How to fix these in place?

[Jimk]

Now who'd do a thing like that...

[tabbypurr]

Plan is to fit timber bars under open stair steps to reduce the gaps to meet BR. They'll be positioned in the middle of the space up-down-wise. But I'm not seeing how they can be fixed. The right side is easy, a slim nail through the string into the end of the bar. But the left outer side of the stair is inaccessible, so not clear how one could fix them there. Yes it's easy to do so it looks bad, eg with little L brackets, but how to do it neatly? The problem with using a dowel is that the bar has to slide into place without being angled, so it would not be possible to get a dowel into position. 2 nails at an angle through the bar into the string is an option, but my experience with nailguns is that the bars will end up out of alignment. Ideas welcome!

NT

[Roger Hayter]

meet BR. They'll be positioned in the middle of the space up-down-wise. But I'm not seeing how they can be fixed. The right side is easy, a slim nail through the string into the end of the bar. But the left outer side of the stair is inaccessible, so not clear how one could fix them there. Yes it's easy to do so it looks bad, eg with little L brackets, but how to do it neatly? The problem with using a dowel is that the bar has to slide into place without being angled, so it would not be possible to get a dowel into position. 2 nails at an angle through the bar into the string is an option, but my experience with nailguns is that the bars will end up out of alignment. Ideas welcome!

Skewed screws, counter bored for heads and the hole filled?

[Steve]

Some sort of biscuit joint at the difficult string?

[tabbypurr]

Yeah, I reckon so.

NT

[John Rumm]

A dowel would not actually be that difficult - drill the initial hole in the stringer at a slight angle, and then straighten the drill as you reach full depth. In effect creating a squashed conical hole - with some slop near the surface in the front to back sense. That should allow the down to enter at an angle, but then straighten and tighten as it bottoms out.

Rail end sockets used with a bar:

[ggroups]

A dowel in a deep hole with a coil spring behind it?

[Andy Burns]

Spring loaded dowels?

[Roger Mills]

What is the cross-section of the bars? Could you use pocket screws?

[Clive Arthur]

I'm not sure what size the bars are, but let's say 1" square. Use two strips of 1" x 1/2" for each one instead, rout out a shallow slot in the ends so as to form a hole in the end if the two strips were held together.

Use a woodscrew with a steel spacer to form a dowel projecting from the inside of the stairs - or just a wooden dowel - then clamp and glue or screw the strips together around this.

Cheers

[Andy Burns]

Use wooden brush handle as dowel instead of square bars, drill a partial hole in the left stringer, drill a full hole in the right stringer, insert the long dowel and glue-up?

Or use pipe instead of dowel.

[alan_m]

Glue first and then nail. Make a removable jig to position the bars so they don't move when nailing.

Is nailing strong enough to survive someone (accidentally) kicking the bar when ascending the stairs?

[Clive Arthur]

Two woodscrews left proud by 10mm or so, one above the other, The softwood strips would probably not need routing, the screw heads would bite in nicely when clamped.

Cheers

[GB]

Or screw some timber under the tread?

[Tim+]

I think that would look a lot better than an ?extra bar?.

Tim

[tabbypurr]

A few people seem to have misunderstood this. It's not possible to angle the bar more than marginally when inserting it, so any solution relying on sticking one end in then the other won't work.

That would work, but it would look awful against what's already there.

NT

[tabbypurr]

I never knew such things existed. Now I do. Cheers.

NT

[tabbypurr]

2x2. I reckon that's what I'll do. On one staircase I can position them invisibly, but on the other I can't.

NT

[tabbypurr]

Clever. The wood has now been cut up ready to fit.

NT

[tabbypurr]

Yuck, but yes it'd work. Planning to pocket screw or angle nail.

NT