Project
This week I have something a little different. Progress on the addition is still going on but I needed to mark this project off the list. I had a set of stairs that was missing the hand rails. This was a risk of danger and not a good situation, so I bought the materials and got it completed.
Post
First step was to cut the post to length and notch the base to fit to the side of the steps. The post was cut to put the hand rail to the required height from the front of the steps, in this case it was set at 36 inches high. The bottom was notched to fit and screwed in place with six 3 inch screws.
Rails
The hand and bottom rails were fit to the post and cut to the correct dimensions. The space under the bottom rail was kept to the correct size required by code. The rails were attached to the top and bottom with two 3 inch deck screws.
Balusters
The balusters are the difficult part of the railing. The balusters were premade treated lumber bought from a lumber yard but you have to cut the top of them at an angle and screw them on the rails evenly spaced. A compound miter saw makes fast work of this job once you get the angle correct. A long 3 inch screw is used in the top of each baluster and a 2 inch screw in the bottom of each one.
