Matthew Jones
There are several things of interest here that Matthew has done that should be
pointed out. His treads are two layers of spruce 2x6's, The railing has a strip of wood
on each side of the balusters to give the railing a thicker look, and his use of a router
to round the tread ends instead of a band saw.
I have all the balusters in place and two thin wood spines stapled to them to hold
them in the correct place. I'm thinking of leaving them there after I get the railing in
since I couldn't make my thick railing like I wanted. It might give me the extra
thickness look I wanted.
My steps are made from 2x6 spruce that I bought at my local lumber yard and are
glued together in two layers to make 3 inch thick steps. I think the staircase looks
pretty good considering I used common spruce 2x6's. It's getting lots of oos and aahs
from everyone that sees it.
When cutting the treads I tried a reciprocating saw, but the blade wandered too
much. I ended up using my router with a long straight bit. I made lots of passes, each a
little deeper until I was all the way through. I found a long router bit at home depot.
The cutting edge is only two inches long, but the shaft on it was four inches total. This
gave me one inch in the router and three sticking out. Just enough. I had planned to cut
from both sides, but when I saw that bit at the store, I knew I had lucked out and could
do it all from one side. I made lots of passes and cut only about 1/4 to 3/8" deeper at
each pass. I took the base off my router and attached a thin piece of wood so I could
just swing the router back and forth at the correct radius. On the narrow end I just used
a cap off a small bottle as a guide. After running through the planner and sanding, it
almost looks like one solid piece of wood.
One thing I did that which I think helped making it easier to install was to
stretch the railing out over night. I clamped it to the upper floor so it would hang out
horizontally and not sideways and then hung some weights (just a couple of pounds) on the
other end to stretch it into the helix. When I took it down today, it had about five feet
of the helix permanently in it. I only had to stretch it the last three feet to install
it. Letting it stretch overnight seems to have done the trick for spreading it out. It
went right into place without any groaning or creaking. This railing is 7/8" thick. I'm
planning on fastening it to the two splines I have running around the top of the
balusters. I like the look of them, so I planning on leaving them in place. By fastening
it to them, I won't need to drill and fill any holes in the top of the railing. I think
it will look nicer that way.
ps. I was surprised how stiff everything got just by attaching the primary
balusters between the steps. After the primary balusters were in place I started using it
as my primary staircase even before I added the two splines up the sides.
My total cost for everything in the staircase is going to be under $500.
More
pictures posted on Matthews own site.
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Jim Calvisky
Well I have finished the staircase, approx. 6 weeks and weekends while working full
time.......The plans were excellent to work off. It took my wife and myself 6 hours last
Sunday and myself a few hours Monday to finish the install. It is gorgeous
One thing that I did was to add a third baluster to the tread about 22 inches tall
with a cross piece, also I did not have the room in my garage to build the handrail forms
so I built the hand rail right in place. It worked pretty well.
In closing, a final thank you for the plans and am enclosing some photos.
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Jay Geil
Jim,
I purchased plans from you last year and now have it complete. You are more than welcome
to use them on your web site if you like.
My stair case is 72" in dia, 14' and rotates 420 deg. It is attached to my deck
outside so it is built from 1" Ipe (Same as the deck) Since I have a 3yr old I needed to
close off the openings a bit so instead of adding balusters I used 3/4x1/8 Aluminum
strips that I pop riveted to the 1" balusters ( read 3/4 galv. water pipe). It fit well
with the design of the deck that I used horizontal cables to close of instead of wood
balusters.
I also used 4" PVC painted black as the spacers between the steps (you helped me on
that one). I am very happy with the outcome and thank you for your assistance!
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Tony Gentile
Hey Jim,
Thought you'd like to see the finished product. Thanks for the plans!
Sure....you can post the photos....the antler inlay is redwood burl...the spacers
are 6 pieces of oak, pressed and glued,,,,turned on the lathe,,,,then bored out. the
handrail is figured cherry.....it was appraised at $25,000.00....I made it for my brother
in Pa. just for the cost of material....lol!!!!!
Tony
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Lisa Baldwin
Hi Jim,
I have 2 pictures for you. It's still not completely finished because other house
projects have trumped that for now. People can't believe I could built them, and they
really love them!
I think i mentioned before that i had a welder cut the steel, but other than that i
did it on my own. I knew how to how to use power tools, but mostly I just studied and
followed the plans which are quite detailed. The stairs are quite solid! And yes, I did
have fun! What a rewarding project...
thanks again, lisa
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Lanny Graham
Jim:
Building a spiral stair was a challenge but thanks to you it turned out ok. The
stairs are at my sons residence. I tried to talk him into a regular type stair but he
said we had done that before and now he wanted something different. He has had very much
interest in the finished project as it can be seen by people from all directions. Sorry
but one is enough so I give anyone interested, instructions to find you on the
internet.
The green stuff is masking tape to keep any rain out of the predrilled holes until
the railing was in place. Top post was cut to deck baluster height (42") later.
I used 2" (1 1\2") construction grade spruce, cut in 2" wide strips and edge glued
with Tightbond III to make the tread blanks. Needed 16 strips for each tread
blank.
The balusters were made the same way, only using 3 strips and the cutting them down
the middle to get my 1 3\4" thickness.
The railing was made with strips of clear fir. Was able to get one 20 foot
length.
All metal surfaces were primed and then painted with a high quality white paint. I
don't paint so my son did this.
All wood surfaces were primed with a 50/50 mixture of turpentine and boiled linseed
oil and then balusters were painted with 2 coats of white paint and the treads were
coated with a product for decks call Spantex ( this is a three coat process that gives it
a rubber like surface).
The information for the three part coating material my son used on the treads can
be found on their website.
http://www.ducan.com look under Product &
Information - Ducan Roll-Dek
With all this done I made only one mistake that I know. The bottom tread should
have been level with the deck surface not one step up.
Thanks Again
Lanny
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Brian McManus
Of particular interest here is how Brian has used 2 by 4s to temporarily hold the
stair vertical while determining his handrailing requirements.
Plans are very good to work from. I have been taking my time becuase of too many
other things going on but enjoy this project.
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Michael F. Meyer
Jim,
I finally completed my project, thanks to your Great! plans. It took me over 2
years to complete. I started it then the project got put on hold for awhile. The landing
for the top of the spiral was already there. The houses in our development have long
stringers (with steps) running from the landing to the floor. I gained about 30 square
feet of foor space in my living room from where the original steps were. The brass I
found on Ebay. It started out as a roll of 12" wide by 25 feet, 34 gauge brass stock,
which I glued on to the steel pipe spacers. It took a few practice runs at the gluing, as
contact cement is not very forgiving.
People keep asking me if I would do it again. I say yes and no...:o) I probably
would be a lot better prepared the second time around.
Finally got the hand rail done. We almost talked once, because I was frustrated
with the hand rail part, because I didn't follow your instructions. Anyway, attached are
pictures of the completed stairs. I think they turned out pretty good. Got a lot of
positive comments on them.
Thanks again for the plans. They really do allow you a lot of flexability. I like
Red Oak, so thats what I used. Didn't add any color to the wood, except the slight tint
that is in Gym Floor sealer. I like the Gym Floor sealer because its pretty durable and
covers nicely.
Anyway.. Have a good one and thanks again for the great plans.
Best Regards,
Michael F. Meyer Santa Maria, CA
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Michel St-Louis
It's started, look at the attached photo, I will send you a set when it's finished.
Whe just had one problem, the piece that you screw on top broke while whe where
tightening it, The welding didn't resist, We think that it's because the treated piece
was in cast iron instead of steel.
Thank's again for your help.
|
Click the small image for the bigger ones.
Troy Moore
This one was looking like it's turning out nice, but I don't know anything more
about it.
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Donald J Paul
Hi Jim,
You may remember, I'm the guy from North Dakota who bought a set of your stair
plans several years ago. I thought I'd finally get around to sending you a pic of
it.
Per your suggestion, I used the hollow plywood tubes from the company in Mt Clemons
(I think) as the tread seperators. It worked just fine and was eaiser than the
alternative. Don
|
Click the small image for the bigger ones.
Mike Schlossmann
Hi Jim:
I attached a few photos of what I am doing with the treads. I wanted to show you
what I am doing and, maybe, get your opinion. I'll try to explain the long and short of
my reasoning.
Originally, the plan was to build the stairs according to your plans, but I did not
want oak because I have grown tired of the usual oak finish look. I built a bar in the
basement of my current home of pine, finished it with a light stain, and it turned out
fantastic. So, I want a light color wood. Any place within an hour drive of my home only
carries oak in 8/4 stock. I did eventually find a place that carries a variety of
hardwoods, but I just found them recently.
After much time browsing at the home improvement stores, I got a plan. One store
sells 2'x4' laminated, finger glued Aspen boards. Someone suggested that I use Poplar
since it is a hardwood, but light in color and, Aspen I believe, is a sub-species of
Poplar. The boards were only 3/4" thick, but a 2x4 board is perfect size to make 2
treads, So, I glued the Aspen board to a 2x4 sheet of 3/4" ACX Pine plywood to create a 1
1/2" thick tread. The ACX plywood is finish grade on one side, so the treads have the
spliced board look on top, with the bottom being Pine.
I made a couple of prototype treads and trimmed the edges with some wood trim. The
top edge was then routed to blend into the trim with an olgee bit. As you can see in the
photos, I tried a couple of different styles of trim.
I do like the way the Aspen boards look. The finish looks blotchy in the pictures,
but not in real life; besides, I will use a natural color stain, not the color in the
photos. Some of the Aspen boards have streaks of purple and blue. I'm not sure if it is
natural.
I don't like the way the trim looks. I am trying to find an alternate way to trim
the edges.
Lastly, I appreciate your information and your responses. It is apparent that you
enjoy doing this. $20 for your plans is a steal. I only found one other spiral stair
plans for sale on the web, and it was not nearly as sophisticated. It was somewhat cheap,
and he wanted $75.
I would appreciate any feedback. I can take criticism so don't hold back!
Thanks again
Mike
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
Scot Mcginniss
Yes, I consider myself fortunate. Here is the start of the stair project. The loft
height is 101.5". I believe I will shoot for a 48" counterclockwise design. The cabinet
and counter are not fastened to the wall yet so my only impediments are the door and its'
stepdown. The jamb to loft floor is 36", but I think that by starting about 16" under
loft floor, I can wind around and still have headroom to clear main floor
ceiling.
Here is a photo of the handrail after glueup this afternoon, Definitley a two
person job. Worked my butt off alone. Had one of the screws on the blocks break so I had
to scramble with some clamps.
Your plans and design are outstanding! Simple to follow and understand. Finished
roughing out my treads and now working on the spacers. I made a slight devaiation on the
spacers and pressed them into a piece of four inch PVC the same length. This allows me to
have a 1/2" wider spacer and the contact cement seems to adhere well (using veneer on the
spacers). If you clean the clear sealant off the pipe, the PVC can be pressed (hammered)
over it and it gives an OD of four and 1/2 inches. I plan to start preassembly next week
to fit landing and baluster
|
Click the small images for the bigger ones.
|