Hi,

My stairs have walls instead of a balustrade. The walls are not load bearing and are only about 4 feet high in place of railings. I would like to remove these walls and replace them with a balustrade.

I got a book on stair construction so I think I can handle the treads and baustrades.

What I'm not totally clear is what I will have to do after removing the walls down to tread level. I'm guessing there will be the ends of framing 2x4's showing. I don't think that these framing members directly support the stair stringers but nevertheless I suppose that bracing will have to be added to stabilize the vertical framing members. I need to remove a tread to see what it looks like inside but I was hoping someone could tell me if my thinking is correct and if something like this is even feasible.

Thanks

It is possible the wall runs down to the lower floor. Unless the stairs are open underneath the wall most likely doesn't break at the stairs.