Hi,
I’ve removed the upper part of brick bannister besides the stairs with the intention of replacing it with wooden balustrade.

I think my next step is create a wood frame around the top part (to fill with concrete), drill and put in steel brackets for the Newel posts. Then pour concrete in the top to tidy the wall up and secure the steel brackets. I’m not sure how I deal with the 45 degrees angle down the side of the stairs though.

Does that sound right? If I’m stuck the backup plan was always to completely remove the wall and get a carpenter to fix the stairs up, but I’d obviously rather save the cash.

Pics here

Any help much appreciated.

Stu.

You could mix the concrete drier than normal, still wet enough to smooth off but not very liquid, and put in maybe a third of the slope at a time, between shutters as you’re doing already, so the weight trying to flow downhill won’t displace itself. We’ve done entire stair flights in one go & it just takes time & care not to overload the bottom concrete.
If the finish isn’t too important, you could use postcrete which sets in minutes (hence can’t be worked to a nice finish)

Postcrete sounds promising as I’m not too worried about the finish. I was planning to cap the concrete with wood on all sides matching the bannister.

Is postcrete close to being as strong as normal cement? I’ve read the newel posts need to have a really strong anchor. I’d planned to use a ”sure tite” fixing for the newel posts.

Thanks for the help.

Bump for some evening help… Anyone got experience of Newel posts into concrete they want to share?

Stu.

how about making some temporary side fences and fit some metal mesh to reinforce the concrete down the slope. Then pour in the concrete and smooth it off nicely to form the slope.

***sucks in***

I’ll come and have a look but it’ll cost ya….

@flip, that’s what I’m trying to avoid 🙂

Will give the metal mesh idea a look, ta. Was thinking about getting the plaster corner mesh to fix the wall in the background. Had also thought of putting nails into the stringer on the stairs that the concrete would set around.

On another note, is that carpet? 😮

Yes. I could work out some sort of barter if you wanted it.

You just want to put in wooden shuttering to form a concrete beam to take some steel brackets for newels? Why don’t you just create a steel frame and resin anchor it into the blockwork? You could plasterboard or put a timber mask over the steel frame? Got to be easier?

Timber mask was what I’d been thinking for finishing. How’d the steel frame work? I was partially concreting to strengthen the whole of the top of the wall back up. A couple of the bricks are a little loose after removing the ones above. Thought concrete would hold it all together well and could be used to hold the sure-tite’s in place.

If the bricks are loose then I don’t see either option being perfect. I can’t see how a concrete topping would be man enough if not fixed to the brickwork below anyway ie if you have a railing fixed to a 150deep concrete top then I think with some foce on the future handrail it would just debond itself from the brick coursing. If the coursing below was man enough then you could have put resin anchors directly into the blocks to secure some metal newels and then covered the area with some timber trimmings.

If you want timber newels then maybe getting rid ofthe brickwork altogether is a good idea. You’ll only need 3 newels to support that section of stairs – back edge of half landing, change in pitch and bottom. I would have thought that would’ve been cheaper and tidier and would be my my preferred option if I were doing it

best answer is full length floor to hand rail newl posts plugged to brickwork. One at wall, one at landing edge, one at stair base.

Or knock it down and build wooden frame.

Take the wall away for a start. Trying to mount on that is asking for trouble. If you do you can fasten a nice tall post to the wall, then another at the bottom of the stairs. Then build in between & plasterboard to fill, & finish the timbers in line with the stair carcass. Make sure stair turn is well supported if taking wall out removes some supports.

Ok, taking the wall away sounds like it might be the best idea. I thought the stringer needed some sideway support though? The hall floor is concrete so do I have a Newel post all the way from an anchor in the floor to above the height of the stairs? Will that be enough support for the stringer?

I’m concerned that taking the wall away will make the stairs innaccessible for a long period of time. There’s definitely a wooden support strut that goes under the landing and into the wall so I need to be able to complete the job ASAP once I’ve dismantled the wall.

I love this forum.

You cold put a temporary support in for the half landing support strut. The strings will be fixed to the clockwork so it may be worth taking part of the wall down and putting ina temporary support while you remove the wall completely?

Yeah, just had a look under the stairs (accessible from a cupboard in the kitchen). I can put temporary supports underneath pull the wall down then put three newels in anchored to the floor. I’d attach the supporting struts to the side of the newel post.

I’d been thinking of drilling a big hole, threaded steel rod with a few bolts on it and the using resin to anchor it into the holes in the floor. Does that sound reasonable?

If it’s going to be hidden then a piece on angle with a decent fixing into the newel and an expanding anchor onto the concrete floor should be fine. You shouldnt needto se resin on the floor unless the concrete is a bit crappy

If you’re taking away the masonry wall to your hall then whatever you replace it with will need to be tied back to stop the whole thing gradually ending up in your hallway. I’d think some straps along the perpendicular wall as well as an anchor in the wall to the other side of the stairs.

The struts that support the landing are attached on the other side, I was going to bolt one of them to the middle newel post and have the newel on the far left plugged and screwed to the wall. Then screw a supporting beam between the two left newels for the struts to sit on.