Newel Posts

[everylittle]

Want to revamp my stairs with new hand rail, base rail and spindles. Can anyone tell me if I could/should remove the newel posts? How far do they go into the floor? The house is a 1920's detatched. I would really like to replace them with more modern ones.

[ELVIS68]

I would have thought they go under the floor about 18 inches, is it floorboards or tiles you have?

[everylittle]

Thanks Elvis68. We're all Floorboards. Could I chop the newel off at the base and screw a new one in? Is the newel set in concrete? Crikey, didn't think I'd need to know so much about something that I use everyday and rarely take much notice of!!!! LOL!

[ELVIS68]

I doubt whether it would be stable enough if you chopped it off at the base and screwed the new one to it.

Best way is to lift the floorboards and see how the old one is fixed, it`s likely to be screwed so you just have to undo them remove the old post and replace with the new one

[buildersmate]

I have done as you are prosing to do using parts from Richard Burbidge. There may be other manufacturers, but these people are big and provide lots of options. You buy a new newel and it has a spigot on its base. Its about 50mm diameter and has to be to support the forces involved on the staircase. Burbidge then sell a drill attachment to create the right sized hole drilled into the top of the old newel stub.
Try phoning their technical help line here - I couldn't immediately find in the website that they still do these parts (it was about 15 years ago).
http://www.richardburbidge.co.uk/main.asp?page =62