Handrails and banisters

A staircase is in the middle of the house, it’s the first thing anybody sees through the front door, and it’s the one surface people put their hands on every day. All three of those change how it gets done.

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Why do spindles cost what they do?

A staircase with forty spindles has about two hundred and forty surfaces on it, and no two of them face the same way. Every one gets sanded, cut in and coated by hand, twice. There’s no roller anywhere in the job.

Count your spindles before you ask anybody for a price. It’s the single number that moves a staircase quote, and you can do it from the bottom step.

The handrail is its own problem

Everything else on the stairs gets looked at. The rail gets held, by people coming down fast with wet hands and kids who swing off the newel post.

So it wants a harder finish than the spindles beside it, and it wants proper time to cure before anybody leans on it. Rushing that’s why a repainted rail goes tacky and then shiny in the places people grip.

Painting over stain, and the decision worth making slowly

Oak stair parts painted white is the most common thing people ask us for, and it looks like a different house afterwards. It’s also close to permanent. Going back to bare oak later means stripping every one of those surfaces, and that costs more than the painting did.

So it’s worth being sure. Some people keep the treads and the rail stained and paint only the risers and the spindles. That splits the difference, and it’s usually the right answer in a house where the floors are wood too.

If the rail is staying stained, it gets stripped or scuffed and recoated rather than painted, and that’s a different line on the quote.

What moves the price?

How many spindles: The number that matters most, and the one you can count yourself.
Their shape: A square spindle has four flat faces. A turned one has beads and hollows that have to be worked into by hand.
Paint or stain: Going from stained wood to paint means sanding and priming everything first, and primer on bare oak isn’t optional.
Whether the stairs stay in use: They usually have to. That means working in halves and leaving a way up and down, which stretches the days.

Stairs are often their own job rather than part of a room. There’s no minimum. Send a photo from the bottom and we’ll price it.

Stairs usually go in alongside interior painting. For the trim and doors on the same floor, that’s the same conversation. A staircase is in the gallery.

Thinking about painting the stairs?

Send a photo from the bottom step with the spindles in it. We call back and set a time to come look.

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