Making a re muddled porch steps into ones that are appropriate for the house

An investor purchased a home in the Historic District and decided to put new steps and balustrade on the front porch.

He used store bought newels that are not the correct style and too slight. The lattice on the steps apron is also wrong. The cities preservation specialist informed him that he wold have to redo it. He came to me for help. I made custom spindles and rails for him to match the rest of the porch. I also made new appropriate treads for him. He found old interior newels for the balustrade which turned out to be a terrible mistake.

The newels were not kept caulked and painted so they rotted off in a matter of a few years.

New owners purchased the house but did not know what to do about the rotten newels. For months I had mentioned to the owners that I was interested in helping them. The City inspector informed them that the newels had to be repaired so they finally approached me for advice. Being short of funds they wanted to do the work themselves but needed some advice. I suggested buying fiberglass round columns from a big box store. They are about $100 and need to be cut in at least half for a newel. I then suggested that they take the bottom tread off and beef up the back of the first riser with a 2 X 6 to give something strong for the newel to attach to. They bolted a 4 X 4 to the beefed up riser making sure to line it up with the rail. Square holes need to be cut in the tread and column bases to slip them over the 4 X 4. The fiberglass column is then slipped over it and screwed to the 4 X 4. If the column is too small to fit over the 4 X 4 the corners may have to be sawed off. Below is the finished project. Notice they added a new cement first step when they put in a new sidewalk.