Changing stair handrail.

413x

413x

413x

Caporegime
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13 Jan 2010
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Llaneirwg
Have stripped some more wallpaper off. And the wall, yet again, needs skimming. Decided I want to change the kind of cheap stair rail. So I need to get the rail off

Problem is I have no idea how its. Fitted to the wall!

It's one of those that makes direct contact to the wall all the way along. Like one long piece of wood.

I cannot see any screw points. Any ideas?

FYI, the walls are plasterboard


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Underside
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Top-full length
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You'll need to go digging. Under all of that paint, there must be fixings of some sort.

Maybe a really strong magnet or a stud detector would help find them.
 
I would also be tempted to get the crowbar out like. Get a piece of scrap wood on the wall side so the crowbar doesn't damage the plasterboard.

I'd also probably get a stanley knife to carefully remove the caulk/sealant and break the paint first.
 
If it does wreck the wall I'd rather not remove it. Just sand it down best as possible.

It absolutely doesn't move. There is no flex whatsoever when I try and move it with my hands
 
I'd be using a hot air gun or paint stripper on that. Sanding that smooth would take forever and make a right mess with the dust.

If you start stripping the paint the fixings will probably become obvious.
 
413x said:
If it does wreck the wall I'd rather not remove it. Just sand it down best as possible.

It absolutely doesn't move. There is no flex whatsoever when I try and move it with my hands
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That's what the scrap piece of wood is for, you put it against the wall to spread the force of the crowbar. It's what I did for the skirting board in mine and it worked great.

Otherwise you could work your way down the rail looking for possible fixing locations and gouge out the cap/filler to reveal the screw or nails used to fix it.
 
bremen1874 said:
I'd be using a hot air gun or paint stripper on that. Sanding that smooth would take forever and make a right mess with the dust.

If you start stripping the paint the fixings will probably become obvious.
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Makes sense. It looks like layers and layers of paint.
I've genuinely been quite disappointed with how this house has been decorated internally. Often, wallpaper has been put directly onto plasterboard, or somehow the paint surface is really bumpy. I'm not even sure how that's possible to paint this badly.

When I do get another house ill certainly look for this. Didn't think wallpaper was this much of a nightmare!
 
Cadder said:
That's what the scrap piece of wood is for, you put it against the wall to spread the force of the crowbar. It's what I did for the skirting board in mine and it worked great.

Otherwise you could work your way down the rail looking for possible fixing locations and gouge out the cap/filler to reveal the screw or nails used to fix it.
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It's worth a go.i might try and find one hole first. If it's screwed on might be the first attempt. If it's nailed, well, not really much option
 
bremen1874 said:
If the walls are really poor do consider reskimming. I had a lot of mine reskimmed after I rewired and it wasn't expensive.
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They are poor enough that I need to get the plaster in for at least some of it.

So far..
Bedroom needed a full skim. The walls were terrible after stripping.
Living room was one wall. I'm considering skimming this whole down/upstairs hall and stairs.
One of those things I just didn't think would be so much cost /effort when moved in!
I only didn't do my study as the painted surface was bumpy but not horrendous.
 
413x said:
Makes sense. It looks like layers and layers of paint.
I've genuinely been quite disappointed with how this house has been decorated internally. Often, wallpaper has been put directly onto plasterboard, or somehow the paint surface is really bumpy. I'm not even sure how that's possible to paint this badly.

When I do get another house ill certainly look for this. Didn't think wallpaper was this much of a nightmare!
Click to expand...
It is a rounding error in the grand scheme of things. Take the thick with the thin. All of my wooden windows were glossed over crap that meant I can to strip to bare wood and refinish; on the flip side, it had clearly had a rewire not that long ago! Superficial stuff is for you to leave your mark.

As others have said, heat gun - then if you still have the energy, the fixings/soft plugs should become clear and let you drill them out.

A quick slightly dirtier approach to partial crowbar till you can identify the fixings and then just attack that bit.

I'd crow bar the lot off personally. A quick skim is simple in the grand scheme of things.
 
413x said:
It's worth a go.i might try and find one hole first. If it's screwed on might be the first attempt. If it's nailed, well, not really much option
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If its nailed the crowbar will do the job perfectly adequately. Unless the nails are barbed which I don't think is a thing :p
 
dLockers said:
It is a rounding error in the grand scheme of things. Take the thick with the thin. All of my wooden windows were glossed over crap that meant I can to strip to bare wood and refinish; on the flip side, it had clearly had a rewire not that long ago! Superficial stuff is for you to leave your mark.

As others have said, heat gun - then if you still have the energy, the fixings/soft plugs should become clear and let you drill them out.

A quick slightly dirtier approach to partial crowbar till you can identify the fixings and then just attack that bit.

I'd crow bar the lot off personally. A quick skim is simple in the grand scheme of things.
Click to expand...

That wall is getting skimmed whatever. It's too **** to leave.
 
Definitely rip the thing of then. You'll kick yourself later on for not doing it whilst all the other mess is being created. Use a multi tool and chop it into manageable bits whilst it is on the wall.
 
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