# Cladding staircase



## Discobob (25 Jun 2020)

Hi All,

I am looking to clad the Newel posts and stringer (outside) on our staircase, while replacing the spindles, base rail and hand rails with oak.

what would be a good material to use to box out the newel posts in - I don't want to add too much to the dimensions. I have seen rolls of real veneer for the stringer - self adhesive - that I think I will use there.

I will hopefully be cutting it down using my track saw and then table saw.

Cheers


----------



## LBCarpentry (27 Jun 2020)

We do stair refurbs like this loads - mainly in oak.

I use solid 15mm oak to clad the newels. Pre - Making the boxes (But don’t glue them yet) using festool dominos so they fit snug around the existing newel. They need a bit of scribing before glue and cramp in situ - then sand down and finish. For the strings we use 6 - 12mm oak veneered mdf, And just trim with oak bead if necessary. 

If your painting the newels I can’t see any reason why 9/12/15mm MRMDF wouldn’t suffice with cladding the newels.


----------



## Discobob (29 Jun 2020)

LBCarpentry":1fxht9xl said:


> We do stair refurbs like this loads - mainly in oak.
> 
> I use solid 15mm oak to clad the newels. Pre - Making the boxes (But don’t glue them yet) using festool dominos so they fit snug around the existing newel. They need a bit of scribing before glue and cramp in situ - then sand down and finish. For the strings we use 6 - 12mm oak veneered mdf, And just trim with oak bead if necessary.
> 
> If your painting the newels I can’t see any reason why 9/12/15mm MRMDF wouldn’t suffice with cladding the newels.



Wife doesn't want paint - although we have previously painted areas due to the carp the house builder put in (or rather - stained in/over)

We are looking at Oak for the cladding - if you use 15mm wouldn't that give an increase of 30% on the size of the Newel post though - Doesn't that make them look very boxy - or is it to give more strength to the box??

Where is a good place to source the oak from - preferably North Wales/Cheshire/Merseyside area - or that will do delivery

Cheers


----------



## Doug71 (29 Jun 2020)

Not cheap but I know someone who used these recently and it made a tidy job.

https://www.stairbox.com/products/produ ... ductid=317


----------



## Discobob (30 Jun 2020)

Doug71":38sfw7da said:


> Not cheap but I know someone who used these recently and it made a tidy job.
> 
> https://www.stairbox.com/products/produ ... ductid=317



Seemed expensive at first - but they are not just 45 degree angles I suppose. Trouble with this is it can get really expensive with waste/cockups which for me is a given


----------



## LBCarpentry (30 Jun 2020)

Discobob":rr9amb9p said:


> LBCarpentry":rr9amb9p said:
> 
> 
> > We do stair refurbs like this loads - mainly in oak.
> ...


Well If you can neatly veneer an old newel and still have it looking fresh after even 1 year then Your a better man than I :lol:


----------



## Discobob (1 Jul 2020)

LBCarpentry":3izonaax said:


> Discobob":3izonaax said:
> 
> 
> > LBCarpentry":3izonaax said:
> ...



The veneer is going to be on the staircase string - I know I will need to clad the Newel - in our house a veneered newel wouldn't last 30 seconds  
The stringer is flat so that will be OK - The newels are turned for a big part of it - I am thinking about boxing it and filling the voids with resin to make it more solid and remove the boxing before cladding


----------



## LBCarpentry (12 Jul 2020)

Resin the voids? Come on that would be so OTT :lol: your a bolts and braces guy ain’t ya


----------



## Discobob (27 Oct 2020)

LBCarpentry said:


> Resin the voids? Come on that would be so OTT :lol: your a bolts and braces guy ain’t ya



Been a while - apoligies - but yes I am  - the Newell is a two part affair that has a bit of movement on it (the bottom one - always has but NHBC said it was within specification!!)

I have never got to the bottom of would it be possible to just remove the top part of the newell leaving it suitable to connect another newell post in - or is the looseness a sign that even if I done this the new top part would still have movement

I have had another idea - putting a piece of flatbar in recessed, on three sides to give the strength to what is already there.

I am also looking at removing the bottom step which is a landing step that has a 90 degree turn to the stairs and using the step that is in that to make the staircase just a straight flight which will free up quite a bit of space in the hallway


----------



## bigbigblue (27 Oct 2020)

I did exactly this 2 years ago, transforming a 1970s ranch style staircase to oak spindles, handrails and oak clad newels. I used engineered flooring for the cladding. took quite a bit of work, but looks pretty good now IMNSHO 




Detail from above of the newel post cladding:


Stringers were veneered and finished with hockey stick mouldings.


----------



## Discobob (28 Oct 2020)

bigbigblue said:


> I did exactly this 2 years ago, transforming a 1970s ranch style staircase to oak spindles, handrails and oak clad newels.
> Stringers were veneered and finished with hockey stick mouldings.



Were your Newels 100mm??


----------



## bigbigblue (28 Oct 2020)

The newels were 90mm square IIRC, so ended up around 125mm square . They actually look better proportioned with the cladding on. The oak is 6mm thick, so will tolerate the knocks it is bound to get.


----------

