Joanne carefully handpicked seasoned contractor for her first-floor restyle, just as she does in her daily work. We were hired to refinish her floors. Our neighbor Warren, a master carpenter with a third-generation wood mill, replaced the entire railing system. When we all showed up on-site, it felt like a neighborhood block party!
Besides erasing any hint of the old, dated orange’d appearance on the red oak floors, the grand staircase was flawlessly and smartly updated. Out went the rounded newel posts and landing tread. They were replaced by sleek, square ones with metal balusters.
As Warren worked his magic on the railings, newel posts and balusters, we overlapped by sanding and refinishing the treads and painting the risers. Both working together it was a pleasure to complete the transformation.
As floor refinishers we often are asked and hired to revitalize stairs and railings along with the hardwood floors. And while we are happy to sand and refinish the various stair and railing components, we don’t endeavor in replacing, building or installing them when requested.
So we stayed in our lane. Our casting call was to focus on updating all the floors on the first floor. Adding to that we also refinished the stair treads, risers and upper hallway. View our masterful transformation of the floors here.
Instead, this highly specialized, this work was best left to skilled master craftsman. One main reason was new or upgraded ones must be brought to current building code (which we are not “up on’). Also, with so many intricate parts, angles, layers and levels, there’s lots of geometry and ingenuity needed to adeptly deliver a reliable, safe and secure system. Knowing this and where we were best suited we kept to our expertise. Moreover, knowing the complexity of the project Joanne commissioned Warren for the railing system conversion. It was a tale of two tradesman teams working in concert, not conflict.
Actually Joanne got the best of both worlds, and a really awesome rock-solid grand and stunning stair and railing system!
As Warren capably orchestrated all the moving parts of this stair and railing conversion, ours was but a minimal dance to help complete the job. Simply explained, we assisted Warren in providing him with the precise stain, seal and finishes we used on all the flooring we refinished. And when appropriate we replaced the risers with a veneer for a sleeker look that would be painted white, instead of stained. And finally we sanded and refinished the stair treads, once all the modifications were made.
Well, if we might toot our horn on behalf of our shared effort: We gave them one gorgeously smart, impressive grand entry that’s sure to get the attention and compliments from friends, family and visitors alike. But the craftsmanship is also worthy of a nod from fellow tradespeople too! Touché’ Team Hopkins!