Hello, i am replacing a staircase and plan on cutting down the newel and fitting a new post with a spigot/dowel into the base. Is there any need to reinforce this with a zipbolt or similar or will gluing work fine. Also what adhesive would you use? rg
Depends very much on the surface area. Picture would help. Personally I wouldn’t take a chance. For the extra time it takes to drill into post and base as deep as practical, but a good few inches minimum either side and insert a hefty wooden dowel, or better still a section of steel tubing. Not going anywhere then. There’s potentially a fair bit of leverage applied on a newly post
So the newel post comes with a 50mm dowel which has been turned on the end, does this not achieve what you are suggesting. There is a pre-fab zipbolt screw which can be screwed up into the new post but i dont think it is designed to go inside the dowel portion, risk of splitting the end and not getting to length because of the extra dowel length.
The dowel once glued in is fine, if it wasn't then the manufacturers would have a long line of angry homeowners moaning about wobbly posts. Like anything though, newels are not designed for children to swing off or drunk adults to fall into so wear and tear and over time must be taken into account.
thanks for the advice, what would you recommend for adhesive? Ive read a thread about someone using some 2 part epoxy windowcare, gorrila glue or will the Evostick standard green bottle do? rg
PVA is fine, gorilla glue, titebond, elmers are all very good and final. I wouldn't use a PU type glue as the expansion may cause a problem and in any case is a swine to clean up, especially if you are staining the balustrade.