Stairs and Railings: Installation Safety Rules

Stairs are very important. It would be quite unusual for a house, or any building for that matter, to be without stairs. Could you imagine what life would be like without stairs in your house?

Stairs are made up of different components, such as the balusters, railings, and posts. These fundamental elements make your stairs functional and comprehensive.

Stair railings are important in the sense that they give people safety when using the stairways. They are particularly helpful to people who have disabilities, or elderly people that aren’t sturdy on their feet anymore. Railings support them while going up and down the stairs without worrying about tumbling down.

Keep in mind that stairs and railings are utilized not only to add beauty to your home, but also to ensure safety for people who live in the house, especially for children and elderly people. You don’t want anyone falling while walking up or down your stairs.

Your home should be accident-proof, especially to little kids around the house. We all know that kids tear around the house, up and down the stairs, sometimes even using the railing as a slide. So, ensuring that everyone is safe by installing solid, sturdy stair railings is a must.

The safety of your stairways should begin by installing sturdy and perfectly fit stair railings. Railings should be installed the entire length of your stairs, up to the landing. Make sure that you get the accurate measurements to the specified areas to ensure the right fitting of the railings. The design of your stair railings should match that of your wood stairways.

When building stairs, there are lots of safety guidelines that must be followed. Make sure that the stairs measure less than forty-four inches wide, with the hand rail installed on the right side. Also, you need to consider putting a handrail at the topmost portion of the stair railing.

Interior stair railings and hand railings must be well secured. You can also add another hand rail at the wall side, but make sure that you will leave approximately one and a half inches of space from the wall so your hand will have enough room to hold onto.

When installing the hand rail, measure the height of the banister and put a mark beyond the stair treads at the top and bottom stair. The balusters play a very crucial role in a stair railing. Therefore, they should be properly spaced, approximately 3 to 4 inches apart, so that little kids around the house cannot stick their heads through them, which will help to prevent serious,or embarrassing, accidents.