Born Survivor & The Stroke Society

We’re a Family Business which means that even though we’re not all related we look after our own as if we were. We were shocked and saddened when a very good friend and colleague was afflicted with a stroke earlier this year. A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off and can cause severe long term damage.

We have been inspired by his grit and determination to recover and overcome the effects of this stroke. In tribute to his heroic efforts members from all departments of the team; fitters, office staff, designers and directors will be participating in a gruelling Born Survivor event and are preparing to run, climb, haul, leap, slide and crawl through the wet, muddy and muscle sapping course.

 

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sapele Stairs

Newel Post Caps

When browsing our website, you’ll find that there is an Abbott-Wade newel post cap to suit every type of staircase, in every style of home. Our extensive range of bespoke products allows us to offer our customers a stair newel post cap to suit any requirement, whatever design they have in mind! As we can provide and install everything from glass staircases to …

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Manufacturing a helical staircase

Manufacturing a helical staircase The precise curves of a helical staircases means the design and manufacturing process requires a level of skill, expertise and precision beyond that needed for a straight staircase. A comprehensive digital site survey is taken using state of the art measuring technology that is accurate to within 80 microns to capture …

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Watch: Taking the stairs like a movie star

Abbott-Wade staircases are fit for any movie star and over the years staircases have been important backdrops in many movie scenes (take our Movie Staircase Quiz). In this scene from the end of the 1942 movie Yankee Doodle Dandy, movie icon James Cagney plays the role of Broadway Showman George M Cohan and shows us how a real movie legend takes the stairs! It goes without staying – Don’t Try This At Home! 

 

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From the Archive: Amazing Glazing

Shaped Glass with square steel clamps

Glass remains a very popular choice for our customers. Back in 2016 we ran a series of articles about the process of producing our toughened balustrade glass to meet our high standards. We select experienced, proven glass suppliers carefully to ensure we can install excellent quality glass into our staircases. Our suppliers receive our glass drawings as a CAD file from our design team and then precision cut each panel before sending them for toughening.

The articles cover the glass cutting, toughening and bevelling processes as detailing of the standards we work to inline with the Glass & Glass Federations criteria.

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Before & After: Changing from spindles to embedded glass

One of the popular trends we have have seen over recent years is customers moving away from traditionally turned spindles in favour of glass. This is largely due to a desire to create a bright contemporary space within the heart of the home but there are practical implications to be considered too. The original staircase (pictured right) was painted white in an effort to lighten the hallway but the transformation to oak and glass adds the warming tones of oak with the open feeling of glass which allows unobstructed light to fill the hallway. The new 10mm toughened  glass panels means there are no gaps between spindles to collect dust and the absence of glass clamps offers a more streamlined look. An added wall handrail makes a further safety feature while the new carpet injects colour with the stripes creating a further illusion of extra space.

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