Attaching Balusters To Top Of Treads?

Chris G

A customer asked me if I could attached balusters to the top of the stair treads, (like an interior stair). I just mumbled some sort of vague answer to her, which I think bought me some time

Anyhow, has anyone done this. aside from making it hard to clear off debris and creating a point for water to perhaps settle and rot the baluster, are there any other drawbacks?

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bmcquin

Chris,
If and that is a big "if" I were to do this I would use Deckorators as they have the connectors that screw to the 2x4's on a handrail and they would work fine for fastening to the treads. You would have to buy several different lengths in the balustrade to make it would work.
Also, the debris on the stairs would not be blocked as much by a 3/4" dia. tube as by a 2x2 and no rot problems.

deck king

I would not attach the balusters to the tread. On interior stairs you have 2 fixed points the stairs go in between and no exposure to the environment. On exterior stairs, you have one fixed point and one floating point ( being the ground expands with moisture and freezing).
The impact of a 100lbs person going up or down the stairs is about 400 lbs with each step. ( I don't remember the exact # ) That is alot of impact on each step which ( in my experience ) the balusters don't handle well, and will be a bad example of your workmanship.

Chris G

Thanks guys, that makes complete sense now that you pointed out all the movement issues. I often say to my clients, about all sorts of things, that there is a very good reason why they haven't seen something before. And now I know what that reason is.

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silvertree

I did it on a home I lived in about 15 years ago, a 100 year old 4 square. The above posters are correct but my railing still stands. I had stone pads under the bottom step. I did this because the yard was sand and very stable. I redid the entire front porch with materials I already had in my shop.

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KennMacMoragh

And probably wouldn't give you the 200 lb rating that code requires for hand rails.

Just noticed you're in Canada, I don't know what the hand rail codes are there. But I'd imagine Canadian codes wouldn't allow that either.

KennMacMoragh

Why does she want it on top of the treads? I would tell her no, but you can protrude the balusters into the stringers then cut and notch your treads around each baluster, that way it would look like they were sitting on top of the treads. I'm sure you can think of creative ways to get the effect she wants.

Golden Rule

If you want to go overboard. You can get zinc coated electrical conduit and find a local powder coating outfit to give you 3/4 balusters in absolutely any color you want. Of course if its a small job this is cost prohibitive. Then boar holes into to the top of your treads and lock your baluster's in. This will give you the 200 LB or whatever your area requires for force. I have done this on one deck...Unfortunately the the homeowners wanted a custom color of white.....and were not satisfied w/ the white that Deckorators has. The nice thing is you can make them to any length you want up to 10'. I'd post a pic but i need 15 posts lol and this is only #4.

KennMacMoragh

Do you have the pictures on photobucket or something like that? Then you can link them. That's kind of what I meant by protruding them into the stringers, cut holes in the treads and stick them through. I'd make them go to the bottom of the stringers though.

Golden Rule

Here is a pic...Its not real obvious that I bored holes into the top and bottom of the railing, but it is what did.

Attached Thumbnails

 

BKFranks

Use LJ Smith dowel fast screws. Part #LJ-3076


http://www.ljsmith.com

If I were you I would explain that, yes, it can be done, but dissuade your customer by explaining to them the added cost of materials and labor involved to fulfill their request.

http://i40.tinypic.com/14y3mzm.jpg

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Chris G

She loves the look of her interior stairs, so that's where the request came from. It was pretty strong request, lol. The balusters she wants are 2 x 3 painted.

I guess I could go through the treads, there's not that many of them, 4 to be exact. The treads will be ipe, so all that end grain being created by cutting holes in them shouldn't be a problem. But I would want to fasten them to the inside of the stringers to hide them. Hmmm......leave on half of the tread off to get access to bottom of baluster. Hmmmm.........

Hmmmmmmmmmm..........

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Dan_Watson

If they are being painted you could use pocket screws and plugs.