This staircase was not rebuilt. The treads, the strings and the newel posts are the ones that were already there. What changed is everything above them: the timber handrail and the turned timber spindles came out, and a stainless steel and glass balustrade went in, built as a variation on our System 1 stainless steel glass balustrade.
Same flight, same window, same spot on the hall floor.
It is the cheapest way to make an ordinary staircase look like a different staircase, and the reason it works comes down to two details that most people never think about until a quote lands: what happens along the top of the string where the old spindles were cut off, and what happens to the newel post.
Project overview
- Project type: Staircase modernisation, existing stair retained
- Removed: Timber handrail and turned timber spindles
- Fitted: A variation on our System 1 stainless steel glass balustrade, glass bolted through to a stainless flat bar along the string, with brackets up to a stainless handrail and posts at each end
- Spindle cut line: Covered by the stainless flat bar, so no making good by a joiner
- Newel post: Cut down and finished with a made to measure stainless steel newel post cover cap, which also carries the end post
- Finish: Brushed stainless steel
- Scope: Surveyed, supplied and installed by us
- Trades on site: One. Ours
- Fabrication: BS EN 1090-2, UKCA marked
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This balustrade is a variation on our System 1 stainless steel and glass system, drawn to your staircase and made in Sheffield.
The stainless flat bar along the string, and what it is really for
If you have been quoted a staircase like this, the flat bar is probably the part of the drawing you are least sure about. It is worth understanding, because it is doing more work than it looks like it is doing.
Look at the string on the survey photograph below. Every spindle is housed into the top of it. Take them off and they do not come away cleanly: you are left with a line of cut stubs, old glue, filler and holes running the full length of the flight. That line has to go somewhere.
There are only two ways to deal with it. Either a joiner comes in first and makes it good, which means a second trade, a second visit and a second bill, with a new capping piece planted on and finished to match. Or it gets covered by the new balustrade itself.
That is what the flat bar does here. It runs the full length of the string, sits over the cut line, and the glass bolts through to it on round stainless bosses. It is a structural part of the balustrade that also happens to hide the mess, rather than a trim stuck on afterwards to tidy up.
The question people usually ask next is whether it looks like a cover up. Look at the photograph above and judge for yourself, but the short answer is that it does not, because nothing about it is apologetic. It is a continuous brushed stainless line running the length of the flight, in the same metal as the handrail, the bosses and the posts. It reads as part of the balustrade, which is what it is.
The newel post, cut down and capped
The other problem a modernisation runs into is the newel post. It is usually a chunky turned timber post with a ball or acorn cap, and it is the single thing that most dates a staircase. It is also structural, so taking it out entirely is a bigger job than anyone wants.
So it stays, and it gets cut down. What finishes it is a made to measure stainless steel newel cover cap, which drops over the cut top of the timber. The cap is made to the exact size of the post rather than to a standard size, which is why it fits like a fitted thing rather than a loose hat.
The cap then carries the stainless post that the handrail lands on. The timber does the structural work it was always doing, the stainless takes over visually from the cap upwards, and the join between the two is a clean line instead of a repair.
One trade, one visit
Put those two details together and the whole job is done by one team in one go.
Nobody has to come in beforehand to make good the string. Nobody has to come back afterwards to finish round the newel. There is no waiting for a joiner between the strip out and the fit, which on a staircase is the part that actually hurts, because a staircase with its balustrade removed is not a staircase anyone wants to live with for a fortnight.
That is not a design flourish, it is the practical reason this approach gets specified. Decide it at drawing stage rather than on site, because the flat bar has to be drawn in from the start for the glass to bolt through to it.
What the balustrade itself is
It is our System 1 in a variation made for this staircase. Standard System 1 stands on posts at intervals along a run. Here the glass is bolted through on round stainless bosses to the flat bar on the string, with flat brackets taking it up to the handrail, and posts only at each end.
Everything is brushed stainless steel, and the same system is made in powdercoated steel if you want colour instead. Our material finishes page covers both.
Heights, glass specification and whether a stair needs a continuous graspable handrail are decided against the particular staircase, not from a photograph. Our glass balustrade building regulations guide and staircase building regulations guide set out what gets looked at, and your building control officer decides what applies to your building.
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Send photographs of your staircase as it is now, taken from the bottom looking up and from the landing looking down, to sales@diomet.co.uk, or call 0114 243 9009. Photographs matter more than measurements on a modernisation, because what we need to see first is what is there. This job was surveyed before anything was drawn.
- System 1 stainless steel glass balustrade, the system on this staircase
- Stainless steel newel post cover caps, made to measure, the detail that finishes a cut down newel
- System 10 powdercoated glass balustrade and handrail, the same idea in a colour rather than stainless
- System 4 frameless glass balustrade, where the stair is being rebuilt anyway and the glass can sit in a base channel
- System 7 side fixed frameless glass balustrade, where the glass fixes to the face of the string rather than the top of it
- Internal metal balustrade, where you want metal infill rather than glass
If you are not sure what to send, our how to get a price page sets it out.
Before you order
- Glass balustrade buying guide, comparing the systems
- Glass balustrade building regulations
- Staircase building regulations
- Glass balustrade fixing guide, methods and substrates
- Material finishes
- Installation
- Our certification and what it covers
Frequently asked questions
Can I put a glass balustrade on my existing staircase?
Usually yes. The treads, strings and newel posts stay, the timber handrail and spindles come out, and the new balustrade is drawn to the staircase you already have. It is the approach on this page, and it is a fraction of the cost and disruption of a new staircase.
What happens where the old spindles were?
Spindles are housed into the top of the string, so taking them out leaves a line of cut stubs, filler and holes along the full length of the flight. On this job that line is covered by a stainless flat bar which the glass bolts through to. The alternative is having a joiner make the string good and plant a new capping on it before the balustrade is fitted.
Do I need a joiner as well?
Not with this detail. The flat bar covers the string and the cover cap finishes the newel, so the whole installation is done by one team in one visit. Tell us at enquiry stage if that matters to you, because the flat bar has to be on the drawing from the start.
Does the newel post have to come out?
No, and it is usually better that it does not, because it is structural. It is cut down instead, and a made to measure stainless cover cap goes over the cut top and carries the end post of the balustrade.
Are the newel caps a standard size?
No. They are made to the size of your post rather than picked from a range, which is why they sit tight rather than loose. They are also available powdercoated at no extra cost over the stainless, and as half newel caps where a post runs up against a wall.
Can I have it in a colour instead of stainless?
Yes. The same arrangement is made in powdercoated steel to any RAL colour. Our material finishes page covers the options and System 10 is the powdercoated equivalent.
Do you survey the staircase first?
On a modernisation we usually do, and we did here. An existing staircase is rarely as square as a drawing of it, and the survey is what the balustrade is drawn from. Site surveys are a chargeable visit in their own right. Ring 0114 243 9009 and we will tell you the cost for your postcode.
Does your certification cover my installation?
Our UKCA marking under BS EN 1090-2 covers the steelwork we fabricate. Where we install it ourselves we are responsible for that work. On a supply only order, how and what it is fixed into on site is the responsibility of whoever installs it.