Hey all, first post here. I'm going to be installing 3/4" hardwood flooring in my living room and at one edge I have a stairs going down. The shoe rail for the banister is nailed directly to the floor instead of sitting on a tread or whatever you would call it. I really really don't want to take the banister out just to raise it up 3/4" if I don't have to. I was wondering if there was any other type of solution for this that others had done? If the shoe rail was square on the edges I could just butt up to it but it's curved so it would look odd.

If I have to remove the banister, anyone have suggestions on the best way to do it without damaging it?

Thanks,
BlackNoir

My hasty reply would be to suggest carefully cutting the plate back to where the little reveal detail starts, apears to be about a half an inch. This will require skill and proper tooling, but could be done. Problem with that, the bottom plate would either look off balance, unless you cut both sides, which would then lead to other visual issues, such as appearing too narrow.
Im thinking you will have to bite the bullet and remove the entire assembly, and run the floor under it and then re-install.
This is probably not as big a job as you think. how is the base plate attached to the floor? How is the railing attached to the end wall? More pics with detail, please.

Well, the wife now insists we replace the entire thing so we can get a better stain to go with the new floor. Oh well, who wants to have things be easy.

I agree with your wife. A stair nosing and butt to it along there. I just did a bamboo practically just like that.