A local builder had renovated a home in the mainline Philadelphia area. The style was in the current best- selling trend, rustic modern farmhouse design. As part of the renovation, the interior iron stair railing design had a mix of traditional and minimalist design aspects. The stunning iron stair railing design had a standard molded profile caprail. Then it had ¾” round pickets with a cast iron knuckle on every other picket. The typical method would be to have these pickets be welded to a bottom channel. However, to keep with the trending design of minimalist aesthetics, we drilled the pickets directly into the wood tread. We then applied epoxy to keep them in place and covered them with custom shoes to hide the holes.
The renovation contractor had previously hired a different ironworker, but were not happy with their outcomes. The level railing on the top had been put in crooked, welds were not grinded smooth and the posts were stuck in between pickets that interrupted the design symmetry. They also installed the iron volute at the bottom of the stair on an angle. To make matters worse, there were burn marks on the wood treads from weld sparks. The contractor then called us about correcting these issues. However, there were so many, that we recommended taking out the old iron railing and replacing the wood treads. Then, we would completely redesign a new railing and revise the iron volute at the bottom to be an ascending volute for a more graceful start up the steps.
After we redesigned the entire iron stair railing the contractor approved the new design drawings. We then laid out the front railing exactly how it should go. We used 3-dimensional lasers to get the exact X, Y and Z axis of all the critical points for the stairs and railing. The bottom of the Iron railing pickets did not have a horizontal bar channel, so we had to tack a temporary bar to the bottom of each picket to stabilize them.
We then pretreated and powder-coated the entire front railing project. Next, we replaced the temporary bracing at the bottom with foam and 2X4 wood structures so that the iron railing could be placed into its exact location and marked for drilling purposes.
The iron railing installation was labor intensive! We had to drill the holes on site, set each individual picket into place and then fill the holes with epoxy. However, the end result was worth it! It dramatically enhanced the staircase for this home in Main line Phili. Now they have a correctly done, beautiful iron stair railing to enjoy for decades to come!
