02-01-2020, 06:25 PM
Following what Carm said, I've seen that type of balusters installed in 2 ways. First, the baluster is put in place in a groove in the bottom/top rails then a small piece of filler wood is installed on either side to fill that groove and holds the baluster in place (along with finish nails at an angle through the baluster). If that's the case with your railing it should be pretty obvious since there should be finish nails that have been filled on the wood on either side of the balusters. If you have that, it should be easy enough to pull out the pieces of wood and then install additional balusters between the current ones, replacing the filler wood with smaller pieces. I suppose you could also simply toe-nail additional balusters between the current ones but that will certainly not be nearly as secure as using the wood fillers to hold them in place, along with toe-nailing.
The other way I've seen it was a builder who drilled dowel holes in the bottoms/tops of the square balusters and then matching holes in the bottom/top rails and put them together. He told me he didn't like cutting those small pieces of wood. Seemed like a lot more work for a less-secure railing to me, but what do I know...
The other way I've seen it was a builder who drilled dowel holes in the bottoms/tops of the square balusters and then matching holes in the bottom/top rails and put them together. He told me he didn't like cutting those small pieces of wood. Seemed like a lot more work for a less-secure railing to me, but what do I know...