Stair & Railing Remodels in Savannah, GA
Built to the three numbers an inspector measures — and to the look you actually wanted.
Every stair we build has to pass these
They are not our rules and they are not negotiable. Knowing them before you design is the difference between a stair you love and a stair that fails inspection.
3/8 of an inch
The most the tallest and shortest riser in a single flight may differ. Your foot expects every step to be identical, so a bigger gap than this is the classic cause of a trip on the last stair down. We measure every riser in the run, not the first and the last.
Four inches
No opening in a guard may allow a four-inch sphere to pass through — the rule exists so a small child cannot get their head between the balusters. It is the single most common reason a railing design brought in from a photo cannot be built as drawn.
Thirty-four to thirty-eight
The height band a handrail has to sit in, measured from the nosing — and it has to be graspable, roughly an inch and a quarter to two inches, with the ends returned to the wall or newel so a sleeve or a bag strap cannot catch on them.
Stairs and railings, and nothing else
One trade, built in our own shop. If it is a tread, a riser, a baluster or a rail, it is our work.
A stair shop on Bull Street since 2006
Wynstead is a stair and railing shop and nothing else. We do not do kitchens, we do not do decks and we do not subcontract the build out. Treads, rails and newels are made a mile from where they get installed.
That narrowness matters more here than it would elsewhere. Savannah runs from antebellum houses with original flights that predate the code entirely, to new builds in Pooler where the inspector has a tape measure and a four-inch ball. Working across both every week is how you learn where the line sits.
- ✓Built in our own shop, installed by the people who built it
- ✓Stairs and railings only — no general remodeling
- ✓GA Residential-Basic Contractor #RBQA-008741
- ✓Historic District and new construction, weekly
Four things we do before we quote
Measure every riser, not the flight
We record each riser individually and the diagonal of the opening. Old flights drift; a run that looks fine can carry half an inch of variation across it, and that changes the scope entirely.
Test your design against the sphere
Bring us the photo you saved. We model the spacing and tell you whether it passes before anything is ordered, then design the nearest thing that does.
Check where repair becomes rebuild
An existing stair that predates the code is generally left alone. Rebuild it and you can lose that, and the new flight has to meet today's requirements. It is worth knowing which side of the line your project is on.
Ask about the Review Board early
In the Historic District a visible exterior stair or rail can need approval. We would rather raise it at the measure than after the timber is cut.
Flights around Savannah
Most of the railings people fall in love with cannot be built here
Horizontal cable runs, wide-spaced modern balusters, single-bar Scandinavian guards — the photographs are usually of somewhere with different rules, or of a mezzanine that was never inspected as a residential guard. Then a four-inch sphere goes through the gap and the whole thing has to come back out.
We would rather have that conversation with a tape measure on the table than after you have paid for it. Almost every look has a legal cousin: tighter vertical spacing that keeps the same lightness, a glass panel that keeps the same view, a slim bar system at a spacing that passes. Bring the photo.
- ✓We test your saved design against the rule, free, at the measure
- ✓There is nearly always a compliant version of the same look
- ✓Nothing is ordered until the spacing is confirmed
From the first measure to the last baluster
Measure and design check
Every riser recorded, the opening squared, and any design you have brought tested against the spacing rule while we are standing there.
Drawing and fixed quote
A drawing of what will actually be built, with the materials named and the geometry stated. If the Review Board is involved, we say so here.
Built in the shop
Treads, rails and newels are machined and finished on Bull Street, which keeps the dust and the noise out of your house.
Installed and walked
Fitted, then we walk the flight with you — every riser, the rail height, the returns and the spacing — before we take the tools out.
What homeowners say
I brought them a photo of a horizontal cable railing I had saved for two years. They measured it out and showed me the gaps would let a four-inch sphere through, which is the rule that exists so a toddler cannot get their head between them. They designed something with the same feel that actually passes. I would rather have been told.
Our 1871 stair was original and beautiful and nothing about it met current code. Wynstead knew exactly where the line was between repair and rebuild, and they knew it before the Review Board did. That saved us a submission we would have lost.
Two companies quoted a full re-carpet to stop the squeaking. Wynstead went underneath, replaced the wedges and glue blocks, and it cost a fraction. They were straight that the carpet was never going to fix it.
Saved a railing you love?
Send it over. We will tell you for free whether it can be built here, and if it cannot, what the nearest legal version of it looks like.
An original stair is worth more than a new one
Savannah has flights that have been walked on since before the Civil War, and the instinct to rip them out and start again is usually the wrong one. Original treads can be turned, worn nosings can be pieced in, and a loose balustrade is nearly always a fixing problem rather than a replacement.
There is a practical reason as well as a sentimental one. An existing stair that predates the code is generally left in place as it is. Rebuild the flight and you can lose that standing, and the new one has to meet today's geometry — which in a narrow townhouse is not always possible without taking room from somewhere else.
- ✓Repair and replication before replacement
- ✓We flag when a rebuild would trigger current code
- ✓Review Board submissions raised before the timber is cut
Stairs and railings, answered
Why can't I have the cable railing I saw online?
Usually because of the four-inch sphere rule: no opening in a residential guard may let a four-inch sphere through, so a child cannot get their head between the runs. Horizontal cable can be built to pass, but it needs tight spacing and enough tension hardware that most people find the look changes. We will show you the compliant version and let you decide.
How much does a staircase remodel cost in Savannah?
Replacing balusters and refinishing a handrail on an existing flight commonly runs in the low thousands and is the biggest visual change for the money. A full rebuild — new stringers, treads, risers and guard — runs considerably higher and depends heavily on whether the geometry of the opening can stay as it is. We quote from a measure, never from a photograph.
My stairs squeak. Do I need them replaced?
Almost never. Squeaks come from movement between the tread and the riser or the stringer, and the fix is at the wedges and glue blocks underneath. If the underside is open we can usually get to it from below in a morning. Re-carpeting hides it for a season and does not fix it.
Can you make my stairs meet current code?
Sometimes, and it is worth checking before you commit. Riser and tread geometry is set by the total rise and the space available, so in a narrow older house a compliant flight may need more floor length than the room has. We measure the opening and tell you what is achievable in it — including when the honest answer is that the existing stair should stay.
Do I need approval for stair work in the Historic District?
Interior work generally not; anything visible from the street — front steps, porch guards, exterior rails — often does. We raise it at the measure and can prepare what the submission needs. What we will not do is cut timber and find out afterwards.
How long does the work take?
A baluster and handrail replacement is typically two to three days on site. A full flight is usually one to two weeks, most of it in the shop, with a few days of that in your house. We build first and install second precisely so your stair is not out of service for the whole job.
Can we still use the stairs while you work?
For railing work, yes, with a temporary rail where it is needed. For a full rebuild there is a stretch of a day or two where the flight is out, so if it is the only stair in the house we plan it around you and tell you exactly which days those are.
What timber do you use?
Oak and poplar for painted work, heart pine and walnut where the stair is a feature. On exterior steps and porch rails we steer toward materials that handle coastal humidity at the bottom rail, because that is where a Savannah porch guard fails first.
Tell us about the stair
How old it is, what is bothering you, and whether it is in the Historic District. If you have saved a railing you love, send that too — checking it against the rule costs you nothing.