Showing posts with label unsafe handrail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unsafe handrail. Show all posts

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Brazilian Cherry Stair Box Newels and Handrail with Iron Balusters Northeast Philadelphia



New Brazilian Cherry Stair, Box Newels, and Handrail with Iron Balusters in Northeast Philadelphia really makes a huge difference when entering the home now. The happy homeowners really love the new look and communicated that often which is always appreciated. No matter how many times you've been told over 25-30 years, it never gets old. We get old, but that's another issue altogether. Hearing compliments about our work reminds us of why we do what we do. This year we installed stairs and or rails in over 80 of your neighbors homes all over the Delaware Valley. I often talk about the beauty of the stair and rail and how it makes folks feel, and I know that's a big part of our business. But, another reason folks call us to fix, or replace their stair or rail is safety. The stair I reconstructed last week was redone because one of the homeowners young sons fell down the stairs. He fell down the stairs because they were constructed very badly about 30 years ago by someone who didn't know the correct method of solving the unique landing problem they were faced with or didn't care and wasn't paid enough to care, probably by the equally inept, and usually less caring homebuilder. If you or someone you love has fallen down the stairs, it's not always because of clumsiness. Be sure to get your stairs checked out by someone who has spent the last 30 years studying and being responsible for stairs and rails to be "up to code" standards of 2015 not 1915. Old homes often have glaring stair and rail violations that are usually overlooked by the realtor who wants to sell the house and the home inspector who's often really only interested in getting to the next house to keep his sales up, and who, honestly isn't really trained for all the issues concerning stairs and rails. So, if you're looking to make your old, (or new) home a little more beautiful, a little more safe this holiday season, give Ron a call at his cell 215-694-5046, or shoot him an email at 45stairman@gmail.com and schedule your free consultation with your local stairmaster and order your very own Brazilian Cherry Stair, Box Newels, and Handrail with Iron Balusters in Northeast Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs.  

Monday, February 2, 2015

Historic Fraternity House Reproduction Staircase Philadelphia

                                                  New stair with bullnose starting step


                             New balusters bolted into the new treads for maximum rigidity


                                                New handrail "over the posts"





                                                       Posts "dropped all the way through" 


                                                                  Upper stair


                                                                  Up to 3rd floor


                                                            Down to 2nd floor


                                                From top looking down to 1st floor


                                                       1st and 2nd floor hallways



Decorative stair bracket

                                                                    Removing the old

                                                                       Rail before


                                                             Existing stair horses

Here's an Historic Fraternity House that was in dire need of a makeover, so we gave them a brand new Reproduction Staircase in Philadelphia. I don't know how many frat houses you've been in, but some of them look like they've been....really, really well used, shall we say. This stair, like many old stairs, was pulling away from the wall, and many treads were moving significantly when you stepped on them. The handrail was very loose and was compromised severely by the rather small balusters that weren't attached very well originally, and. many of them were missing altogether. Most of the posts were broken as well making for a very scary, loose, handrail. There had been many repairs made to the stair over the years, and none done very well, and they finally decided to bite the bullet and do it right from top to bottom. And, they wanted to duplicate everything, as much as possible. So, I took some samples of the handrail, balusters and posts, and moldings, and took them to my wood turner, and he created new drawings from the existing pieces, and proceeded to make them exactly as they were originally, but we increased the size of the balusters and we used maple instead of poplar to make them much stronger than before, (and less likely to get "accidentally" broken), like so many of the originals. It took the turner a few weeks to reproduce everything, and for the local stair shop to duplicate the treads, risers, and handrail. We then removed everything but the existing stair horses, because they were really solid, and rebuilt the stairs in place with all new oak hardwood. It took about a week to rebuild all the stairs, and about 2 weeks to install the handrail, posts, balusters and moldings. It sounds like the Alumni are thrilled with the end result. They just had their 75th anniversary party, and I'm confident my stair will be still going strong for their 150th anniversary party in about 75 years or so. So, if you want to greatly increase the value of your property, and maintain the Historic significance of your Fraternity House, sorority house, your church, your townhouse, or your MainLine mansion, be sure to give Ron Hartman a call @ 215-694-5046 to schedule your FREE consultation ($250 value), and to learn all about the options you have for your Reproduction Staircase project in Philadelphia, MainLine, Ardmore, Radnor, and surrounding areas.....Ron's email is 45stairman@gmail.com.