Installing a Handrail

How To Install a Handrail

What is a handrail?

Ask a simple question, get a simple answer : A handrail is a rail fixed to posts, a wall, or otherwise for people to hold onto for support. Handrails are designed to be grasped by the hand to provide stability and support.

Handrails are commonly used for ascending or descending staircases, steps, ramps and escalators and frequently used throughout disabled homes and premises to prevent injury from falls.

What height to install the handrail?

Generally a handrail should be placed at a height of between 900 and 1000mm from the stair nosing or landing level; this although being a common building regulation for domestic and commercial properties, should be checked with local building control prior to installation.

How to affix a handrail to a staircase wall?

1) Place a long spirit level vertically on the end of the bottom stair nosing, ensuring perfectly level. Draw a pencil line along the level.

2) Repeat further up the staircase, 1 or two steps up.

3) Measure your desired handrail height from the nose of these steps, vertically up the marked line and pencil another mark.

4) Using the spirit level again to form a straight line between these two new marks, connect them with another pencil line. You have now transferred the angle of the stair to the correct height and angle required for the handrail.

5) Offer the handrail into position and centralise on the stair, equidistant from top and bottom of the steps.

6) Physically fixing the handrail is dependent on the rail design and wall construction but generally the handrail brackets should be marked through, the wall drilled and plugged and then subsequently the rail attached by screwdriver.

Who can install my handrail?

Handrails are a simple product to install with many companies supplying DIY kit rails complete with brackets and fixings for the end user to install themselves.

DioMet’s range of stainless steel and powdercoated handrails are especially easy to install for the average consumer as all rails are pre-drilled allowing brackets to fix without having to drill and tap the rail itself.

Should you not feel confident to install the handrail yourself, any local tradesman, general builder or Handy Andy should be able to offer this service with ease.

In the absence of people called Andy, DioMet do offer an installation service for larger projects or individual homeowners dependent on location.