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Wrought Iron Facelift
Between Front Entrance and Stucco Wall Patio
August 22, 2014 - in progress |
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The wrought iron that separates the front
entrance and the stucco wall patio area, has
always bothered me.
The main thing is how the iron is attached to
the wall. On the walls, it is just two
bolts on each side. The bolts are secure
and everything is solid, no wiggling. But
to me, and maybe it is just me, it just looks
flimsy. I want to make a cover for the bolts
that will make it "look" more solid.
I also don't like how the bottom part of the
stair newels are attached to the concrete
stairs. The metal in this area was just
repaired last year because it had rusted out.
I had sanded and painted it and the rust is
starting again because this area gets hit with
rain water. I want to cover this to make
it look sturdier and protect the metal from the
rain. |
Wrought
iron on stucco patio |
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My plan is to make faux newels that covers the
wall bolts.
For the newels at the end of the stairs, the same
thing, faux posts.
I also want to add a wood handrail painted black
to the top of the wrought iron so it matches the
wrought iron handrails inside the house.
In addition, I will need to grind off the new
rust and repaint the metal
The ugly stairs will have a
faux tile finish that I will cover on a separate
page.
I need to hit the hardware store to look for a
weatherproof material to make my faux posts.
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Wrought
iron on stucco patio |
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Wrought
iron on stucco patio |
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August 26 - 29, 2014 - The size
of materials I found that worked for the faux newels
against the wall was 1-3/4" x 3/4" wood moulding and some pvc lattice
moulding.
The wood moulding will be cut to fit on the inside
of the rail and the two pvc lattice pieces attached
to the wood with glue. |
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Checking
fit of wood moulding after cutting |
Three
pieces cut |
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After cutting the wood moulding
to fit, I glued one side of the pvc onto the wood
and let it sit to dry. I needed to attach the
second piece of pvc in place on the wrought iron.
After the glue dried, I spray painted the pieces.
In the meantime, I had to chip out some concrete
where the bottom of this faux newel will be so it
would lay flush in the corner and as close to the wall
as possible.
One thing I discovered about this wall....it had a
concave curve between the two mounting bolts.
Since my goal was to make the area inside the faux
newel water tight, a big huge gap along the side
would not do. The gap was also too large to
place some caulk in.
What I ended up doing was build up a area of texture
on the wall, so the texture would meet with the edge
of the faux newel. I used some DAP Vinyl
Concrete Patch I had laying around to do this.
I just dabbed clumps of the mixture on until I got
the height I wanted. Yes, it took a while. |
PVC glued
onto wood moulding |
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I fitted the two glued pieces of
the faux newel in place to make sure the texture was
high enough.
I also patched in areas at the bottom of the
concrete that I had chipped away to make room
for the faux newel.
After letting the patch material dry on the
wall, I painted the area with my stucco paint.
After the stucco paint dried I placed the two glued
pieces of the faux newel in place after putting a
bead of silicone sealant along the edge of the pvc
and the wall. After the piece had dried in
place, I added some more silicone caulk along the
outside of the edge. |
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Concrete
patch used to address the
concave problem |
Dry
fitting the faux newel to make sure texture was
high enough |
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I also needed to again add texture to the wall
and paint it on the back side before the third
and final piece of pvc lattice moulding could be glued in
place.
With this faux newel in place I worked on the
other side of the wrought iron.
Because of
the brick along this wall, I only needed two
pieces to make my faux newel. One piece of
the same wood moulding, and one piece of pvc
lattice. The wall was not concave on this
side so the faux newel was almost flush with the
wall. I did place some clear silicone
sealant along the edges to keep out water.
This faux newel is pictured below.
At this point, both faux newels are open at the
top and bottom. I did add a little scrap
piece of wood at both bottoms to make it look
square. I should have just cut a gap in
the wood instead of taking off the whole corner.
I was not too worried about this because it is
hidden at the bottom and not too noticeable
unless you are looking for it.
The top of the faux newels will be covered with
the handrail. The bottom will be left open
to allow drainage of water in case any gets in
side, which is unlikely at this point with all
the silicone I used.
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Repeated texture and painting on back side of
faux newel to address concave problem |
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Before
faux newel |
After
adding faux newel |
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The next thing to deal with
was the handrail. Here I ran into big
problems. I spent a couple of days on the
internet looking for just the right handrail for
this project. I was hoping to find a low
profile wood or metal handrail with a 1" wide plow so it
would fit nicely on top of my rail.
I did find handrails online with 1-1/4" plows which
would have worked, but the shipping was more than
the cost of the rail. The local hardware
stores only had huge handrails that were too big.
Companies that make vinyl fencing systems only had
4" wide handrails which were too wide for my project.
I basically hit a dead end looking specifically for
a handrail ideal for this project. |
Chair
rail moulding |
I then came up with the idea of adding moulding
instead, that
would "look" like a handrail. I ended up
purchasing some wood chair rail moulding and some
cap stop polystyrene moulding for underneath the
chair rail.
For the non-stair top rail I cut and spray
painted the cap stop moulding. The cuts
are mitered on the outside and inside corners.
The cap stop moulding along the top stair rail
section will be added last.
On the top of the rail, I added the chair rail.
I admit, it took me a while to figure out how to
do the corner. It takes three separate
pieces. The first has the one mitered cut.
The second piece is mitered like you are going
around a corner on say, a door frame. The
last piece of moulding going down the stair rail
was an angled cut at 20 degrees. See photo
below.
After sanding the glued joints and painting, the
handrail came out pretty decent looking. I
attached the chair rail to the wrought iron with
Liquid Nails. I then caulked the joint
between the cap stop moulding and the chair rail
moulding to make it appear seamless underneath
after painting. |
Polystyrene
cap stop moulding |
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Polystyrene cap stop moulding attached to both sides of top
rail with silicone |
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Chair
moulding added to top of rail. Detail showing
mitered cut and angled cut for stair rail section |
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The
work so far showing completed newel against wall and
hand rail |
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The
work so far showing completed newels against walls
and hand rail on left.
Pieces being fitted for newel cover on left |
I am still working on the newel
covers
at the end of the stairs. Because of the uneven
surface on the wrought iron newel, I had to carve
out chunks of wood on the inside so the wood
moulding would lay flat against the wrought iron.
Also, because of the resurfacing I am going to do on
these stairs, I will need to do the work on the
stairs before I actually attach the newel covers at the end
of the stairs.
So I went to work on the faux tile treatment on the
stairs... |
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Faux
treatment was done on stairs and the right side handrail
was added |
September 9 - 11, 2014 -
Now that I finished the faux treatment on the stairs
I was ready to return to the wrought iron.
To see how I
did the faux tile and bricks on the stairs,
please
go to this page...
I did finish placing the chair rail on top of the
right side while I was waiting for cement to dry on
the stairs. All that is left are the newel
covers at the end of the stairs and the moulding
underneath the hand rail on the stairs |
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How
I made the end of the
stairs newel cover |
For the newel covers, I used the 1-3/4" x 3/4"
moulding. I found that when I placed four
pieces in a square, I had exactly 1" square on
the inside, which is the size of this wrought
iron.
I did have to make 20 degree cuts on the ends so
it would fit underneath the stair handrail.
I extended the length of the newel covers to
almost touch the ground. I stopped at
about one inch from the ground. Even
though I was sealing the newel covers everywhere
except the bottom, I wanted
it to be able to drain, just incase any water did get inside.
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I was able to glue the outside and front pieces
of the newel cover together first on a flat
surface with wood glue. The third and
fourth pieces had to be glued on in place on the
newel.
Everything was attached to the wrought iron with
Liquid Nails. I used clamps to hold the
pieces in place while the adhesive set.
I then needed to re-sand the wood because my
clamps pulled off some of my spray paint.
After the newels were in place I cut the final
pieces of the cap stop moulding for under the
stair handrails.
Caulk was used to seal any cracks in the
moulding, along the newel cover and cement
stairs, and between the handrail and the cap
stop moulding.
Each piece of the moulding needed to be
custom fit to go around the wrought iron.
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One
newel in place, sanded down, and seams caulked.
Ready to paint |
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Other
side of newel cover also showing cap stop
moulding added on stair handrail |
Showing
fourth piece of newel cover being fitted into
place before painting and gluing |
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Underneath the bottom rail of the
stairs a small piece of moulding was cut to fit
under the bottom rail and against the cement stairs to
close the newel cover.
Some of you may be asking...What
about the center newel? I may go back later and add
a cover to them. For now, I will leave the
center wrought iron newels as it is.
I then painted the newel covers and moulding and painted
the side of the stairs with the same paint I used on
the stucco walls. |
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Completed
wrought iron and stairs facelift |
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Completed
wrought iron and stairs facelift |
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Completed
wrought iron and stairs facelift |
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The
before picture again.... so you don't have to scroll
up |
I think you will agree, the
wrought iron now looks less wimpy. My support
bolts on the walls and end newels against the
stairs, are now protected from the elements.
The handrail going down the stairs is now more
comfortable for the hands to grip
I plan to add some of the same type of additions to
some wrought iron gates this house has. When I
do, I will add the upgrades to this page.
As for the rest of this patio, I plan to do the same
type of treatment I did on the stairs.
Probably in 2015. |
