Project Overview & Background
Curved stairs are where stair work stops being installation and becomes joinery. This Palos Verdes Estates home has a continuously curved flight rising to a curved landing, and the original handrail had cracked at two glue joints after decades of seasonal movement.
A curved handrail cannot be bent from solid stock at this radius without breaking. It has to be laminated — sawn into thin strips, glued, and clamped around a form built to the exact curve of that specific stair. We built the form on site from the actual stringer geometry, laminated in the garage, and hand-shaped the transitions where the rail meets each newel. Every one of those transitions is unique to its position on the curve.
Structural Challenge:
The original balusters were a turned profile no longer manufactured. Rather than replace all forty, we had a matching cutter ground and turned replacements only for the eleven that were damaged, so the balustrade retains most of its original material.
Engineered Solution:
Site-built lamination form taken from the actual stair geometry, plus a custom-ground cutter to reproduce the discontinued baluster profile.
You cannot tell which balusters are new, and that was the entire point for us.
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