20 years experience here in Stairs, spindles, and railings. Was taught by an old English carpenter and always love to learn more. You my friend are a master. Love these videos.
It's obvious this man makes a good living doing what he does. This level of craftsmanship and pride in work is damn rare in building trades and most anything for that matter these days. A true professional.
Really interesting video, again! The only thing I do a little different, is when I’m marking the center of the balusters from the end of the tread, I go from top to bottom with a straight edge. I’ve found that the lengths of the treads can vary a little throwing off perfect alignment on the bottom of the balusters. Keep making these videos. You’re a great teacher!
I'm glad you keep the newel post to baluster spacing the same as the spacing between the balusters; there's very little that irritates me more than seeing that first baluster either too close or too far away from the newel post. Great video 👍
I am completely a novice and hadn’t thought of the newel post and first baluster spacing. I mean, I did think of it in the manner as, it was too close to the baluster. I was just about to leave a gap because the newel post is covering up the step a bit too much. Now, I have to rethink this a bit. Dang. Thank You though! I can do this.
Great explanations into explaining why to do things the way that we do . Some of the things I do that different is I usually stretch spindles to 4" center to center roughly on landings and stairs . To do that easy I measure with 2 foot level from 1st nosing to 3 nosing then divide by 5 so the treads go 2 3 2 3 . This allows it to match landing spacing easier . Less spindles is money saved and less effort . Only down side is you have to measure the spindle 1 by 1 . Also i always tape the underside of the rail for marking as well as it also helps resist chip out when drilling . Subscribed
Great, clear videos. don't work with metal balusters but many things, tips and tricks still apply. Not aware of the Bullett benchtop mortiser. Wish I didn't pull trigger on Powermatic floor machine. But at 71 yrs of age probably couldn't manhandle the Bullett on site anyways. Just subscribed.
That PLS 180 it's one of the best lasers I've ever owned. Very acure. I found out it works great when I set circular stairs. No need to do the whole lay out when installing the curved stringers. In line.
Hey, Love the videos. Quick question, my stair tread aren’t the same length, 10” to 10.25” What is important to do here? Keep the baluster spacing the same on the step, even between all the balusters, or line the balusters up with the riser. You didn’t really explain or touch on this in your stair baluster video. Thank you so much
I also snap a chalk line top to bottom for my baluster line. Plumb down from the bullnose to the tread below all the way down the stair and connect all those lines. It makes all your balusters in a dead straight line. Instead of going off the tread return with a combo square. Treads might be slightly out of square and not perfectly straight to each other. Takes longer my way, that's the only downside.
Wow, at this point 277K views and less than 4000 likes? Come on guys, it’s the minimum amount of a thank you for this guy. He’s a great teacher and I’m sure almost everyone watching picked up at least one useful tip. Thank you Spencer for putting these videos together!
I’m actually following along to install mine. Same exact measurements and iron balusters and the math to make the template is just not working ! If I do 2 13/16 my last space on a ten inch board is almost 4 inches ! I am so lost
Biggest screw was a helper of mine drilled all the way through the handrail.... I was half way done with epoxy the iron balusters when it happened... it’s was not a great day
Thank you for the great channel and content. Is the intermediate newell post sized to maintain the same 2 13/16" spacing between the bluster above and below?
No, name size newel. The spacing around that newel is a little different. I basically just tried to pick what was going to work best with baluster spacing and handrail drops.
@@InsiderCarpentry you should do a video on how to do this if you don't have a laser. I place the handrail on the nose of the treads I don't have to worry about sagging then use a square to mark the rail. I also get the length of the rail this way I didn't see how got your length in this video. I noticed you didn't tell the center to center distance I know you add the size of your blaster to the spacing. This is the first time watching you if you have done before ignore everything I said
The main reason I don’t do it the way you mention is because I’m typically installing box newels that come with a 3/4” wrap at the bottom. So it doesn’t work to place the handrail in position between the newels due to the lower wrap protruding.
looking for a stainable putty I have white oak thanks . When I mix the tile bond too with the sanded powder it still turns a dark color looking for something more blonde to blend better any ideas would help thanks
Does an intermediate newel post meet building code? I thought the handrail needs to be continuous unless there is a landing. I think I would make a wreath fitting at this angle transition.
My biggest error was as an apprentice plugging into 210 thinking it was optimal power and frying my bosses Thomas pancake compressor and ending the day quickly.
Have you ever laid the rail on top of the treads, between the post and just made all your marks with a speed square? That’s what I do when I can. Nice work.
My biggest stair screw up was in fact my very first stair job . I spent all day, a long day, on a straight rake run to the second floor. It was hot out so the front door was open. After admiring my work and patting myself on the back for what seemed like a job well done, I went to close the door and ......., it wouldn't close. I forgot to consider the door swing when mounting the newel and the door was hitting it. A long day became longer, as I had to remove the newel just to close the door. Needless to say, one day turned into two since I had to return to solve the issue.
@@InsiderCarpentry hello. Thank you for all the great videos! They are very helpful. I have a question. I am laying out my balusters and my run is 10” so I know my center point and spacing for each, but when I am calculating the balcony area and center points and spacing is a little larger than the treads. Is that ok to have them like that on the same staircase.
This video and some of your others are a big part of why I decided to do the finish carpentry on my garage stairs! You've got such a great manner of explaining how all of this works. I've done all the finish carpentry in my addition myself largely from watching you, so thanks for doing what you do!
I've been following you for the last 2 years now.. I'm guessing you're probably in your 30"s and for a young age you have a lot of knowledge and wisdom and I appreciate you taking the time to make these videos to teach the younger generation some of us old Carpenters as well... I know that making these videos is costing you money because it's taking away your production and production is time and time is money... I have a few questions if you don't mind... How are you mounting your newel post to your treads.. Thank you!
I am about to build a set of stairs with the same cast iron balusters. What size are your balusters here and the height of your handrail. The balusters I have are 44 inches, so I will have to cut them down. Great tip on where to set the knoll post in regards to the spacing of the balusters. Thanks for all you do,
I think you would like "Essential Craftsman" on RU-vid. Your mannerisms kind of remind me of Scott (The Carpenter) and your attention to detail as well. He has the best "instructor voice" ever. You can tell he really cares about what he's talking about, just like I can tell that you do as well. Great video. I'll be doing a short run of stairs in my near future. Thanks for the tutorial!
I"m a big fan of the Essential Craftsman. I agree, he has the best, most soothing teaching voice out there. LOL I'm a subscriber and watch a lot of his videos. I still enjoy learning about the broader trades and I am able to pick up things I don't know from his videos. Great channel.
Do you still try to line up the balusters with the riser if the stairs are carpeted on a rake wall type application? Since the rake wall will have a cap board that sits above all the risers and treads, does it matter in that situation?
My biggest screw up was my first staircase i ever did oak treads and risers with an exposed stringer and i thought the simplest thing to do would be veneer the 2x12. 2 days after i applied the veneer the stringer cupped by every cut and bubbled the hell out of it. At this point of course the treads were applied with returns. Fair enough to say i was up shits creek.
done a lot of stairs and use a laser constantly but I've never thought to use it for this. Often the simplest solutions are the best. No different here. Fantastic tip.BTW I recently switch from Dewalt nailers to RYobi.... I know what you're thinking but seriously their consistence of depth of drive and how little marring they leaving is unbelievable. I ended up switching all my finish nailers to ryobi.
Nice video bro. I do the same type of carpentry you do up in Northern Ontario. I use many of the same techniques you do and I always appreciate great craftsmanship.
The best stair builders I know are Canadians. Great craftsman up there. A lot of what I am sharing in these videos on square mortising is stuff I picked up from watching Canadian guys on IG, no one does square mortising around here.
brother, where are the following videos to this serious install of iron balusters. Please, l don't see the link. Thanx for the quote: "Slow makes smooth, smooth makes Fast "
@@InsiderCarpentry l found the link,,it was right there at the end of the video... but l didn't notice it the first time around. Thanx brother, you rock !
Dude I have to thank you,, so I have a small business, it's supposed to be home repair but people keep asking me to do all kinds of stuff, building, designing, etc., so today I got called to come look at a job,, it's interior railings, just like what you're doing, I was totally not going to do the job but now I absolutely am going to try,,, first I am watching this video 3 times ,thanks again
My biggest stair screw up was the first time doing radius stairs and I kept re- drawing them out on the floor because the front door kept hitting the bottom tread. I finally got it to clear. Well, when I built them I built them on the wrong Mark's and the door hit the bottom tread anyway! Had to tare them down and build them again!
Thanks for this great video! We are DIY-ers building a cabin and (unsafely) left the stair rail for last because of the expense and time. We just started researching and are so happy with this video. Can we have a large expanse with just balusters and no support? I would like to do that because it looks better but worried about safety.
Just save me a bunch of headache,, doing my first set of interior stairs rn and everything I was reading online didn't quite get it as exact as this. Big thanks and props brother
I watched one of the videos on this channel on how to trim windows and doors. Loved that video. Balusters always sucked for me. Really appreciate this video. Dude is sharp.
Hi Lewis. Do you you the video for installing the mitered riser+skirtboard in this video? I'm really interested in learning how you did this masterpiece
Even with the sag problem, this video is excellent. The sag 'problem' turned out to be good. It gave us novices a 'teaching moment' and something to check when making our efforts. The difficulties in practice and in video presentation are enormous. Very nice work and very clear examples. I imagine this applies to all stairs inside and outside. Thanks for sharing.
I will be making new treads and you have just showed me an awesome tool with your laser device on a better alignment of the hole for the baluster and the rail..
This formula for spacing did not work for me , when it changes from step to step the spacing is different, i cant figure out a correct formula for it to make every single one with even spacing. I instead found center of each tread then tried a few different combinations to finally find the right spacing
My biggest stair screw up was that one time I had to build a set of steps for a double wide trailer set on a foundation. The opening was already cut and I laid out and cut a stringer. Well needless to say there wasn't enough headroom, so I had to adjust all the treads and risers to get 6'8". That is my stair screw up debaucle.
In school they teach you how to calculate the space between spindles without going over the max 100mm spacing. In the real world you never need to do the math though lol
