Around the world there are more than 10 billion homes. In the western hemisphere alone it's estimated that there are over 5 billion homes with stairs.
In the home accidents happen all the time and stairs are no exception. In the United Kingdom 1000 people die each year from stair falls. It is a shocking statistic that something that we all take for granted could actually responsible for killing 1000 people a year.
Staircases inside homes come in many different lengths, widths, and configurations. Some have split landings plus they have curved shaped stairs. Normally stairs have hand rails they are either elegant balustrades or functional in appearance.
With these statistics and the type of stairs in the home what we can do to make our stairs safer to use.
All stair cases must have a rail or balustrade fitted to them this is an essential safety feature. By installing extra or new interior railings you can greatly reduce the risk of an accident.
The first thing to think about is where the rail will be. An assessment is the best way to do this. Talk to the people who regularly use the stairs. Find out what problems they come up against when negotiating the stairs. By doing this you can find out the most unsafe areas.
The installation is by anyone with basic DIY skills. The rails purchased from any good store. Rails come with the fixings necessary to attach them to the wall. The tools you will need will be a drill for wood or masonry a screw driver, spirit level and measure. Start by measuring from the base of the stairs to the waist of the stairs user. Mark this on the wall so the user will be able to use the rail easily.
The key things to make sure you do when fixing rails is to make sure the fixings secured to the wall securely. The last thing you want is a safety handrail coming from the wall because it was not fixed properly. Fixings come in different types depending on what type of material there on.
Before installing the rail you need to find out the wall material. The best way to do this is to take a look at what's been installed in the house already and the type of fixes used. Whatever type of fixing you choose it's very important to make sure you use the correct length of fixing. This is critical for any installations success.