Spiral Stairs
November 2022 - we decided that we would try and restore the spiral staircase and see if we could make it good enough again. This staircase is our only means of getting upstairs to Bedrooms 1 and 2, apart from a hatch in the floor of Bedroom 1 that opens up to the hallway by the front door.
The treads bounce and squeak and the blue carpet tiles on them were very old and frayed. There was also a number of blobs of what could have been blu-tack for some reason that needed to be removed. We had no idea how to take it apart and googled it, asked builders and friends and had no one who actually knew what to do so we started at the top. We found where there were two screws on the underside of the banisters at the very top of the staircase and removed those. This lead us to other parts, as can be seen below, until we were left with the spiral itself which stubbornly refused to shift. Not knowing how it was assembled we needed to be very careful not to force it and break the whole thing.
We had hoped to be able to remove each tread and tighten each nut of each stair but we have come across an issue with a 'bolt' that appears to be driven from the top stair right through to beyond the base of the bottom stair. We would cut it out but we want to renovate, not replace, if we can. Builder around again with some little puffy inflatable cushion thingies (technical term) that he tried to help prise off the top step with. No-Go.
Eventually Ray went to The Men's Shed in Dunoon. If you don't know about Men's Sheds then this is a community enterprise and their primary role is to improve the health, well-being and social needs of older men. They do this by creating a warm friendly environment and workshop facilities. Members can work on their own projects or involve themselves in the many and varied community projects. Some older members just come in for the company, a cuppa and a chat. It helps to keep men active and involved. Well, we asked for their help. Did anyone know about spiral staircases? No, they didn't but they were willing to look at the photos and discuss what might be done. They thought that wedges may work so they quickly cut 4 wooden wedges that could be driven between the spiral sections and gradually prise those sections apart. Amazingly, this worked!
Gradually we took the stairs off, one-by-one, and Ray then cleaned them up, removing carpet and debris from them, before we put the whole lot back together again. They still creak and groan but they look a bit better. We will get round to deciding how to stop them moving eventually. In the meantime we just bounce along!
The back wall of the spiral staircase, peeling vinyl strips
Still with carpet on but with some of the peeling backboard carefully removed to reveal wood panels beneath
The damaged sections at the base of the spiral where they had been pushed in somewhen
The top of the staircase, with the banister on the left that was the first to be removed
Close up of the sections in the spiral. Those pieces between each stair turned out to be two metal rings
The first screw to be removed, on the banisters at the top
Top of the spiral removed - revealing a metal disc, with a central pole and a locking nut
Tools of the trade! Ray about to try and removed sections of the staircase but there is a piece of the banister over-lapping
The metal banister needed to be lifted off and underneath two of the metal rods there was a hole with a screw in
Lifting the wood to reveal a metal anchor structure holding everything (supposedly) steady from the top
The very top of the very top stair with that iron bar in place, held down by the banisters. Top metal ring off and at the back
Once the top bar was unscrewed then the wooden wedges from The Men's Shed were brought into use
Each tread slid off the central pole and each has a locking spike that slots into the tread beneath to stop it swinging round on the central pole
The inside of a tread, showing the position of the locking spike in the end nearest where it fits onto the central pole
The central pole and showing the top of one of the treads. The locking spike is the larger circle on the left with the hole for the spike of the next tread above
Driving in the wedges to prise the sections apart and gradually work our way down the whole length of the staircase
The lower you go the more difficult to remove from the central spike as the stairs are no longer there either!
Until you have to employ a stepladder to get the bottom few removed. Two-man job it turned out to be
Each section had a piece of sandpaper on the base with the grit side up and the two metal rings on top. My job to source and cut the holes into the new pieces of sandpaper
Ray's job to , clean, prepare, repair, sand and coat each little soldier stair tread, ready to be replaced on the central pole
Outside, drying off
Others waiting to be put back
Building them up again
Stairs clean, but still wobbly