Hardwood flooring stair baserail too low

LimerickGray

Hope this is the right place lol

ripped up the upstairs carpets and laminate and replacing with 22mm hardwood (retired and lots of time to play these days).

most problems were predictable except for this one. There is subfloor plywood all over thankfully level. The stair base rail sits on top of it but when I lay out the planks they are too high for the baserail.

are there any flooring guys here with ideas?

I saw a YouTube video where they took out the baserail and replaced the spindles etc to raise it up to get planks under. Costly.

Thanks

LimerickGray

I asked a local carpenter last night. He said nosing. It would be very ugly. No ideas? Hardwood needs expansion too so can’t just runt it up to the baserail.

denismc

You can buy wood trim strips that will cover any bad edges or gaps.

Most DIY/ builders providers will have a variety of shapes and sizes, so you should be able get something to suit your job.

The Mulk

In my own house I removed the baserail, but it was infill baserail and handrail, and was easy to shorten the spindles and refit.

I'm not sure how the spindles are fixed though. and as it looks curved, it will be hard to get a nice flexible beading

CelticRambler

You'll get next to no expansion along the length of the grain, especially if the landing is as narrow as it looks in the photo (about 1.5m?)

If it was my landing, I'd probably rout the ends of the boards to create a suitable moulding/nosing and bring them down to the desired level. That said, it looks like your sample board is stained on the top face only, so you'd have to find a matching stain for the new fresh edge.

10-10-20

I'd definitely do a piece of molded beading in that gap between the spindles and the floor. It would also act as a phone-catcher for when it inevitably falls and slides...

LimerickGray

Good ideas. Lol

the landing is only 1020mm so tiny. My issue with trim is the boards are already over the height of the base rail and if I add trim it will be miles over. The plank in photos is just one from kitchen but same dimensions.

the landing loops around and meets the stairs. If I have trim at 1 side of baserail with none on the other it will look daft (and wife very unhappy). I know she is going to tell me to “modernise” the stairs Change newel posts, too and base rails and spindles.

is that ok to do of an I mad?

Thud

something like this flush to the end of the boards? Again would need to stain it to match

https://www.diy.ie/departments/natural-pine-quadrant-moulding-l-2-4m-w-9mm-t-9mm/1821907_BQ.prd?storeId=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAopuvBhBCEiwAm8jaMT2JxFi-2q2Mpcg9wY08J4tZ8nY7EEreQ774cc508r8ms6K1UXrllRoCsKQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds