MITRE CONTRACTING, INC.

Stair Railings with Wrought Iron Balusters

Here we would like to highlight a few past stair railing projects that have wrought iron balusters. Iron balusters have a classic time tested look that stands out from the ordinary. 

Wrought iron balusters come in hundreds of styles, sizes, and colors to suit most anyone's design style. In this blog I would like to feature some of the most popular wrought iron balusters and baluster layouts most customers request.

This first set of stair railing pictures include boxed newel posts, 6010 style railing and a layout of plain iron balusters and single knuckle iron balusters. The color is a semi-gloss or satin black finish.

Oak Stair Railing with boxed newels and black wrought iron balusters

Stair railing landing with boxed newels and wrought iron balusters - unfinished 

This next set of pictures shows an oak stair railing system utilizing wrought iron balusters with scroll and double twist designs in satin/semi-gloss black.

Overlook railing with wrought iron balusters

Stairway Landing with scroll and double twist wrought iron balusters

 These following stair railing pictures show an oak stair rail with 4010MT oak newel posts, 6010 style oak railing and wrought iron balusters in double knuckle and single basket styles... in satin black You can see more pictures of this stair railing project HERE

Oak stair railings with wrought iron balusters of double knuckles and single baskets in alternating layout

Stair rails with wrought iron balusters... interior trimwork & mouldings by Mitre Contracting, Inc.

Overlook Railing with "belly" type wrought iron balusters

Wrought Iron baluster stair railings

Oak Stair Railings with Wrought Iron Baluster

 

Natural Oak Stair Railings with Single basket and double knuckle wrought iron balusters in semi-gloss black

See this page for before and after pictures of the above railing replacement project

There are virtually unlimited stair railing designs, balusters, and baluster combination layouts you can choose. See this page on our website for links to several stair parts manufacturer's websites and catalogs.

To work on your own stair railing design, go to this page, choose the "Stair Artist" tool, and you can choose your stair type, newel posts, and baluster type... then play around with the layout until you have something you like.

The above pictures have been just a small sample of what is available to you. Please call or email  us anytime for your in house consultation and free no-hassle estimate on your stair railing renovation.

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Custom Finish Carpentry in Northern Virginia

Custom Finish Carpentry in Northern Virginia

Here we feature several pictures showing off our finish carpentry we completed for a custom homebuilder in Northern Virginia. We completed this finish carpentry interior trim project in 2014

We start off with custom cased arched openings with fluted & paneled columns, two piece chair railing with shadowbox moulding wainscoting

This finish carpentry interior trim work project was installed for Quaker Custom Homes in Northern Virginia. All the mouldings & millwork was provided by Accent Millwork.  You can see more pictures of this custom home on Quaker Homes facebook page HERE ... they are a lot better quality than mine are!

The baseboards are WM-163E fjp, The windows are trimmed out with wood jambs, wood sills and WM-445 fjp casing. The 2 piece chair railing consist of a LWM-304 backer with a LWM-302 chair rail. The 3 piece crown molding is made up from a WM-49 fjp crown mould on a WM-753 beaded backer with a Wm-167 neck moulding. In the Dining room, Foyer and Hallway we installed a shadowbox panel moulding of LWP-184 under all the chair railing. The custom cased openings  are MDF construction with arched headers, fluted above the chair rail and applied panels under the chair to match the shadowbox wainscoting.

The stair railings are an (over-the-post) & (post-to-post) system consisting of 6010 oak railings, 4010PT & 4010MT red oak newel posts, with wrought iron balusters featuring an alternating layout of single baskets and double knuckles in semi-gloss black.

 

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Craftsman Style Stair Railing

Just a short blog to show some pictures of a custom stair railing installation we completed last year 2014 for Quaker Custom Homes in Northern Virginia. This stair railing features painted boxed newel posts and painted square balusters with a stained oak handrail.

This stair rail installation was part of a whole house interior trim finish caprentry project for a custom built home. 

This first picture shows the main staircase looking up from the foyer to the second floor. Here you can see the painted boxed newel posts with square tops and square mouldings, the stained oak 6010 style railings, and the painted 5060 style square balusters.

 

Custom Craftsman Style Stair Railing

 

Here is another view looking down to the foyer from the upper hallway:

 

Upper Hall Stair Railing with painted balusters & newel posts

 

And yet another view of the upper hallway:

 

Upper hallway stair railings

Here I have attached several close up pictures showing several different details of this installation

 

 

Close up view of stair railing corner with boxed newel posts

All these particular boxed newel posts were custom fabricated for us by Mike Hart out of Springfield, VA. They feature solid wood construction... no veneers over junk filler wood, and a nice square profile on the wrap around mouldings. You can see more of his work and custom turnings and rail fittings over at American Turnings

 

 

 

Starting newel post with upeasing fitting

 

Curved Overlook Stair Railing

 

All the newel posts are installed using the "suretight" newel bolting system... a 1/2" x 12" long bolt that gets bolted into the floor joist and then tightened down with a 3/4" wrench. This makes for an exceptionally strong installation.  

All the balusters also get bolted into each tread and all the lander plate using a 1/4" x 2" double ended bolt. This proceedure adds time and extra cost to the installation but again it makes for a very strong and time tested install.   See these pictures for installation details... CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

Newel Post Installation 

Baluster installation using bolts

 

We have been installing stair railings for over 30 years, and during that time have tried pretty much every type of installation method we could think of, and this system beats them all hands down. Have been using them for years and years and never had a callback because a newel post came loose.  

Very important to check with your contractor to verify how they plan to secure the newel posts and balusters on your stair railings! Those little brackets the big box stores sell for newel post installation are toys compared to using a 12" long 1/2" thick bolt.

This stair railing installation was completed in 2014 in Manassas, VA, in Northern Virginia. Along ,with Mitre doing the stair railing installation we also installed all the other finish carpentry for the house. This included installing all the interior doors and casings, the window sills, aprons and casings, baseboards, crown mouldings, char railings... etc. Mitre also installed all the kitchen and bath cabinetry along with all the hardware installations. All the interior doors and 1st floor windows got entablatures consisting of 1x6 with 1x2 cap and bead moulding. 

Please call us anytime if you would like a free estimate for all your finish carpentry needs, or you can fill out our estimate request form here and we will contact you shortly.

Thank You, Roger Beesley

 

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Stair Tread and Railing Renovation

In this blog we show a few pictures of a small railing and stair tread replacement project we completed awhile back.

The homeowner had another contractor in to finish the basement, and you can see the final outcome of the stairway they were left with. It's really hard to believe that someone would actually finish a basement and leave anything even close to this type of workmanship behind.

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BEFORE PICTURES:

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AFTER PICTURES:

New oak stair treads & oak landing

New radiused landings with bullnose starter step & volutes

Looking down the stairway at the new oak treads and railings

New foyer oak railings

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This stairway renovation includes custom newel posts made to match the balusters. These were custom fabricated by Mike Hart owner of, IKCO Construction, Inc. in Franconia, VA.

Scope of work: demo existing iron railings, repairing stairway framing, cutting back existing marble flooring in foyer for new oak landers, supplying custom made solid 5/4" oak stair treads oak brackets and oak risers. Also we had Mike Hart, custom make the radius oak lander & risers for the landing. We also installed oak flooring at the landing and an over the post oak rail system. This railing included full volutes, over the post up easings and  "s" fittings. The oak railing is 6010 design, the oak balusters are 5040 design, newel posts custom designed to match balusters. Then we had the whole system and flooring professionally sanded, stained and finished in a golden oak color. There is still a little painting to be done around the inside and outside stair stringers and ogee mouldings.

Please call or email us anytime if you would like us to replace your old creaky stairs and outdated railings. We will come by, discuss your projects, make sugesstions, and provide a free price quote.

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Fill out our CONTACT FORM for your free quote on a new stairway, new stair treads, new railings, or any moulding, cabinetry or remodeling you may need.

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Stairway and Railing Renovation

Boxed Stairs to Open Stairs

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 Small foyer stairway that we remodeled from a boxed stair tread design to an open tread design.

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BEFORE PICTURES

  

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Scope Of Work:

• Modify existing treads to accept new solid 5/4" oak treads and oak risers
• Modify existing stringer to accept new stair treads, risers and brackets
• Add new outside stair stringer and mouldings
• Add oak newel posts and railings... "Over The Post" Design
• Primed 5015 balusters - balusters & newel posts are all bolted into the treads / floor joist
• Stain and polyurethane new oak stair treads, risers, newels and railing

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One side note: Please notice that the stair treads are actual treads... not hardwood flooring! Whoever you choose to have your stairway renovated with, make sure they use the proper methods and materials. I have seen far too many stairways just covered over with harwood flooring, which in the end looks like you have a stairway covered over with hardwood flooring! When we are finished with our stairway improvements and retreads, they look just like new stairs. You should not be able to tell they were ever re-done. We ONLY use real solid 5/4" thick oak treads, and real solid oak risers not plywood verniers (or hardwood flooring).

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     See more Railing and Stairway Remodels on our Before and After Pages:  HERE   under the Balustrades, Bannisters, Stairways, Stair Railings Section  Or look in our Stairways & Balustrades Album

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 If you would like us to quote you a price on renovating your stairway or railings in your home, please don't hesitate to CONTACT US anytime. We will be glad to come out, take measurements, discuss your ideas, offer some of our own, and hopefully work together to improve the quality and value of your  home.

Thank You, Roger Beesley

Please call us at  703-330-3486, or email us here ,

 

Stairway & Railing Replacement in Northern Virginia

Here we feature a few pictures of a recent stairway and stair railing remodeling project. This Vienna, Virginia homeowner chose to go with wrought iron balusters with oak railings and newel posts.

The scope of work included, removing the old railings, replacing the loose broken stair treads with new solid oak 5/4 thick treads. Adding a full bullnose starting step with a volute fitting on the new rails along with new paint grade risers and brackets. Also installing oak newel posts and (over-the-post) style railing system with black wrought iron balusters. Refinishing the existing oak hardwood floors in the hallway and landing areas. Staining, finishing and painting the new railings and stairway topped off the project.

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Here are a couple before pictures: (click to enlarge)

   

Not very good pictures, but as you can see the railings were practically falling down and had been improperly installed to say the least.

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COMPLETED PICTURES

New oak treads & railings, painted risers & brackets, black wrought iron balusters

New bullnose step allowing a nice full volute and going with an over the post style railing, really changed the entire look of the rail system and added to the Foyer 

Newly refinished oak harwood floors to match the new oak railings.  

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Here are a couple pictures of the new remodeled lower level railings

  

These railings were installed on the lower level boxed in type stairs. Notice the left hand railing with the "S" fitting going to the wall handrail, allowing a continuous rail design.

 
 

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One side note: Please notice that the stair treads are actual treads... not hardwood flooring! Whoever you choose to have your stairway renovated with, make sure they use the proper methods and materials. I have seen far too many stairways just covered over with harwood flooring, which in the end looks like you have a stairway covered over with hardwood flooring!

When we are finished with our stairway improvements and retreads, they look just like new stairs. You should not be able to tell they were ever re-done. We ONLY use real solid 5/4" thick oak treads, and real solid oak risers not plywood verniers (or hardwood flooring).

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     See more Railing and Stairway Remodels on our Before and After Pages:  HERE   under the Balustrades, Bannisters, Stairways, Stair Railings Section

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If you would like us to quote you a price on renovating your stairway or railings in your home, please don't hesitate to contact us anytime. We will be glad to come out, take measurements, discuss your ideas, offer some of our own, and hopefully work together to improve the quality and value of your  home.

Thank You, Roger Beesley

Please call us at  703-330-3486, or email us here ,

Curved Stairway Renovation

This blog posting features a curved staircase remodel project we just completed in Ashburn, VA.

The original curved staircase had carpeted treads and risers that were made from standard builder grade pine and plywood materials.

The scope of work included removing the existing carpet, removing the old treads and risers and replacing them with custom made solid oak stair treads and solid oak risers and decorative brackets.

The new oak treads, risers and brackets were then hand sanded, stained and finished to match the existing hardwood flooring.

The handrails were not replaced as the original railing were in great shape and looked fine. The bannister was disassembled as needed and rebuilt.

 Note also that the balusters were reinstalled by bolting each one into the new oak treads. Previously they had only been sitting in a drilled out hole and nailed in with brad nails.

BEFORE PICTURES:

 
 
 

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AFTER PICTURES:

 
 

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DURING INSTALLATION PICTURES

 
 

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When upgrading a carpeted stairway to oak, you need to clarify the scope of work with the contractor you choose. There are a lot of flooring companies that simply cover over the existing treads with hardwood flooring and nosings... leaving you with a set of stairs that looks like someone installed hardwood flooring up the stairs! Another thing to consider, is do you want a hardwood flooring company re-installing your handrails?

We install actual custom made solid stair treads... not hardwood flooring. We install solid risers not verniers or hardwood flooring. We have years and years of railing fabrication and installation experience in order to re-install your existing stair railings or brand new updated railings.  Quite a few of our customers update the railings at the same time as the stair-treads. Wrought iron balusters seem to be  in demand these last few years.  Your newly re-treaded stairway should look just exactly like an original stairway... not a renovated one.

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Custom Curved Stair Treads fabricated and installed by Mike Hart of IKCO Construction, Inc. Located in Alexandria, VA

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Please call us anytime 703-330-3486, or email us, and let us provide you with a free in home consultation and free no obligation price quote for your next home improvement project. We service the entire Northern Virginia area and all the surrounding counties.

Thank You, Roger Beesley, Mitre Contracting, Inc.

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Fill out our CONTACT FORM for your free quote on a new mantel, built-in or moulding installation!

Interior Finish Carpentry in Virginia

This posting features a few pictures of some custom interior finsh carpentry trim work we completed awhile back. The home is located in Alexandria, Virginia.

Custom maple cabinetry with granite counters and stainless appliances

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Foyer Staircase with curved treads and railings

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Looking down the curved oak railings. This features 6010 oak rails, 5015 painted balusters and is a "post-to-post" design style bannister

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Fireplace mantel with a matching surround feature. This fireplace surround utilizes standard mouldings to mimic the mantel construction.

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  Another view of the fireplace moldings. The surround iplasters extend to the ceiling and are wrapped in the crown molding that trims out the entire living room.

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  This wainscoting for this powder room is 36" high, features a real tongue and groove pine beadboard capped with a two piece chair rail.

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Here you see a close up of the three piece crown moulding. This is made up from two pieces of a 4" baseboard used as backer with a piece of 4 5/8" crown moulding.

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Please call us anytime 703-330-3486, or email us, and let us provide you with a free in home consultation and free no obligation price quote for your next home improvement project. We service the entire Northern Virginia area and all the surrounding counties.

Thank You, Roger Beesley, Mitre Contracting, Inc.

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Fill out our CONTACT FORM for your free quote on a new mantel, built-in or moulding installation!

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Wrought Iron Railings

Here we show off a nice oak balustrade system that features black wrought iron balusters.

We used an alternating layout, consisting of balusters with double knuckles and balusters with single baskets.

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CALL US @ : 703-330-3486 OR MY CELL @ 703-615-3077

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Please click the pictures to enlarge them in a separate window and also you can hover over the picture for descriptions

 

 

 

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FILL OUT OUR CONTACT FORM HERE

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If you would like us to come out and take a look at your stairs to quote you a price and give you some ideas on how to improve your old railings or stair treads, please don't hesitate to call us or email us anytime. All estimates and consultations are free of charge.

Thank You,

Roger Beesley

Mitre Contracting, Inc.

 

Walnut Bannister & Stair Treads

On this posting we feature a small project we just completed in the fall of 2009. This was for a homeowner in Fairfax Station, Virginia. They had had another contractor do some work and the upper stairway we show was part of their work. As you will see the framing of the stairs was practically non-existent, and had to be completely re-framed and trimmed out to accept the new stair treads and mouldings.

These are beautiful solid walnut treads and railings, combined with primed square balusters and boxed newels.

The lower stairway was originally done in oak... these we modified to accept the walnut treads and did the installation of the treads and new railing balustrade system.

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CALL US @ : 703-330-3486 OR MY CELL @ 703-615-3077

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Please click the pictures to enlarge them in a separate window and also you can hover over the picture for descriptions

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BEFORE                                                 AFTER

 

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BEFORE                                              AFTER

   

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BEFORE                                                   AFTER

     

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BEFORE                                                     AFTER

   

BEFORE                                                       AFTER

   

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Please notice we use real solid stair treads on all of our projects. We do not just install hardwood nosings and flooring as a lot of other contractors sometimes do. Also if the project will call for stained risers we only use solid resawn wood... not plywood. This way there is no chance of the floor finisher or anyone damaging or going through the thin veneer of the plywood riser.

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FILL OUT OUR CONTACT FORM HERE

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If you would like us to come out and take a look at your stairs to quote you a price and give you some ideas on how to improve your old railings or stair treads, please don't hesitate to call us or email us anytime. All estimates and consultations are free of charge.

Thank You,

Roger Beesley

Mitre Contracting, Inc.