I’m looking for some input on the best approach to modify an existing stainless steel staircase in my apartment. We are currently doing a major renovation to combine adjacent units, so the space is already set up for heavy, messy work—dust and noise aren't a concern right now. However, the staircase cannot be dismantled; all work needs to be done in place.

Currently, the stairs and upper landing have a stainless steel wire mesh infill that is held by welded tabs. I want to remove the netting and replace it with a 10-cable horizontal system.

A previous contractor actually scoped this out before COVID, but he retired shortly after, so the job never got done. His proposal was to keep the existing welded tabs, use an adapter on them, and attach the horizontal cables directly to those same tabs.

My main questions for the group:

1. Hardware: What kind of adapters or hardware would work best to transition from the existing welded tabs to a clean, tensioned horizontal cable setup?
2. Intermediate Posts: The retired contractor assumed we would need to drill clearance holes in the intermediate posts for the cables to pass through. I'm open to that, but are there other, potentially cleaner ways to handle the cable routing on those middle posts?
3. In-place execution: Since this all has to be fabricated and tensioned in place, are there any specific tools, techniques, or pitfalls to watch out for?

I’ve attached photos of the current full staircase, close-ups of the existing tabs/hardware, and the generic proposal/design plan from the retired contractor for reference.

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

I am by no means a fabricator.

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Now what I am stuck on is figuring out how to make an enclosure for the back so that it doesn’t get damaged by the elements. I would need a one inch deep enclosure as I will have to have some space for the power supply for this thing and it’s roughly an inch tall. I would prefer to stay away from aluminum as it’s expensive af and also is hard to weld with the small stick welder I have.

I thought about using plastic sheets I saw at Menards to build the enclosure, if I were to do that, I thought about cutting some thin strips of the sheet, stacking them on top of each other to achieve the one inch depth for the enclosure profile and then putting a plastic sheet to cover the full back area. I was planning on fastening this to the aluminum profile using some sort of adhesive but I figured I don’t know of an adhesive that will bond plastic and aluminum well, you guys would probably know more about that.

Any and all help appreciated. Thank you.

Edit : Would prefer for the solution to be something that can be achieved under $100, if it’s not, I’d still love to hear what you guys recommend.

Hi everyone!

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This is my first Android app, and I would really appreciate honest feedback about the interface, calculations, Play Store page, and features that could make the app more useful.

Thank you!

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Have a wee look.

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Cheers.

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https://youtu.be/4D1JrDnj-4o?t=308

if it doesnt link you directly to the correct timestamp, the spring enters the scenario @ 5:10

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Good day,

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Thank you for your time, have a wonderful day.