I need to build a wooden handrail on a porch for safety reasons for my 86 year old mother in law.
The porch is about 4" off the ground with no rail at this time. It is about 5 feet deep and 8 feet wide. The house is stucco.
The porch is constructed of 2 x 4's that are perpendicular to the front door and covered with 1 x 4 wood. The 2 x 4's are 24" apart.
I plan to build a railing that is the depth of the porch and is attached to the house. At the end near the step down, I will attach the front of the rail to the vertical base of the front of the porch. I thought I would use 2x2 for the uprights and maybe rip a 2 x 4 down to about 3" for the top and bottom. I would screw the bottom rail directly into the wood of the porch and the other upright rail into the house.
Question - it is unlikely that the vertical studs under the stucco will line up with the horizontal studs on the porch. I do have some leeway as to where this railing goes, as I can't put it on the edge of the porch, as it will be too far away for her to reach. Is it better to align it with the horizontal porch studs for screwing in or with the vertical stucco studs? I thought which ever way I go I could use hollow wall anchors to mount where it is hollow. Which is the best strength?
By the way, I live in Phoenix so rot is not an issue with mounting the bottom rail directly to the porch.
#1 a hand railing needs to be gripable, a ripped 2 X 4 is not concidered gripable. #2 It's almost never a good idea to attach anything to any wall that's stuccoed. Hollow wall anchors will never be conciderd strong enough for a railing and may start to crack the stucco. I think I would look into the post mounts sold in the area where the stair treads and hand rails are sold in the box stores. Each set takes about 20 screws to mount it directly to the deck and the post. Once there in place the post can not move in any direction. Use ceramic coated deck screws to mount them. A railing needs to be able to withstand a 200 lb. load from the side. A picture would be a big help.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: joecaption,
joecaption
Posts: 10675 | Location: Halieford VA | Registered: Jan 31, 2004
i ran into the same problem with my rail,i installed a post from the floor up to the ceiling that matched the other posts holding up the roof. i installed the post 2 inchs from the exterior of the house. i did not want a nephews head getting stuck in there , while on a lizard hunt. the post at the top of the stairs. i mitered out the porch flooring and ran the post down to the floor joists, where i drilled and bolted it to the joist.
Unfortunately, I have nothing overhead to attach to and the porch is only 4" off the ground. So it has to attach to the house and the porch only. Thanks Monica
