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What to do for a hand rail?

17 years ago

I am doing the finishing touches on my basement and in need of a hand rail. I need something that will attach to the wall with no banisters. I like doing different ideas and just dont want a stained oak hand rail like everyone else in the world. Got any ides or pics?

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Comments (7)

chris8796
17 years ago
This is one area I chose to use the standard materials. Because the codes are so specific its hard to deviate too much from the standard setup. In my area, the railing also had to "return" to the wall on both ends. I painted mine to match the trim.
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bus_driver
17 years ago
Yes, many codes specify minimum and maximum dimensions for handrail. The spread between the two is small. The result is little room for innovation.
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We did not used a painted/stained combo, but strictly stained. Disclaimer: We did not stain anything ourselves, but paid a finisher to do it before install. We used 'rustic' cherry stained quite dark for all our interior trim, including our wood handrails. Since the entire 1st floor minus office is 'rustic' Maple, Treads and risers are also Maple, stained the same dark color. Balusters are wrought iron. I would say on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the darkest stain possible before looking black) our cherry trim is probably a 7. Grain pattern is present but not overwhelming, it tends to be tighter on cherry than oak, hickory, or walnut. Our Cherry is not red-hued whatsoever, because its too dark. We had no issue with staining Maple, even though I have heard some on here mention it is impossible to stain Maple dark because it is such a hardwood. A good finisher will know what to do and should have no issues. I say 'rustic' because we requested wood with knots and such, to add more character and we wanted the cherry to match better with our knotty alder interior doors.
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Okay so I really need your guys help! The original pic I posted was of the current house b/c I wasnt able to get to the new house at the moment. The carpenter who did this doesn't seem to want to make the time to come and fix it... Please see pics of the new railing, inspector said just to do a straight cut on both pieces of wood and to place an "S" piece of wood to connect the two. But where the spindle is concerns me, I feel like the "S" would almost skip over the spindle, and we cannot remove the top spindle because then the opening between spindle and wall would be too big! Attaching pics-opinions please..... (Carpenter asked US to pick up the pieces??! We have no idea how to measure and what we're doing?!). What else would we need? I think the inspector mentioned something about a plate to go underneath where it connects? (and I guess that piece against the wall, will need to come off). Thank you in advance..
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wbralick
17 years ago
I guess I've never thought about it before, but we have a couple of sections of wall rail that 'return' to the wall. I didn't know it was a code compliance issue. Does anyone know the intention of this code?

Thanks,
Bill
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bus_driver
17 years ago
Handrails that do not return to the wall present the potential to catch on the cuff of a long sleeve. The end of the rail could go inside the sleeve. Body momentum with a trapped arm could cause one to fall down the stairs. This is my guess about the requirement. It happened to me, no significant injury.
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andrelaplume2
16 years ago
what if there is no wall at one end...like at the bottom of basement stairs?
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homebound
16 years ago
then you install a post at the bottom of the stairs
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dgmarie
16 years ago
Codes vary greatly by area. You need to find YOUR code for your area. Ours specified nothing about return to the wall. You just had to have one. Period.
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