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Home & Garden Articles
House Stair Handrails and Guardrails Safety
Wed 26 Nov 2008 - 09:53
House Stair Handrails and Guardrails Safety
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dariusz_Rudnicki]Dariusz Rudnicki
With guardrails and handrails on our stairs, it is the same concept as with many other safety requirements guiding our daily commute - we often believe these rules are created for others only, until we suddenly realize that there's nothing to hold on to when gravity's force pulls our body down the stairs with an increasing speed.
That's why somebody came up with a list of rules:
1. The stairs' handrail must be graspable, and the best shape / size to put your grip on must have a 1¼" - 2" circular shape cross section (preferably circle, but square, or a section of the square with rounded edges and a groove for your fingers, is also acceptable). Flat boards, 2"x4", or anything else that you can't close the palm of your hand on, is not acceptable by the building code.
2. The stairs' handrail attached to the wall should not project further than 3½" into the stairway (some jurisdictions accept 4½" max distance). The distance between the handrail and the wall should not be less than 1½". This is to keep your fingers from getting trapped between the wall and the handrail, and give enough clearance for your hand.
3. Any stairs with 4 risers or more require handrails. Risers are the boards between the steps (treads); of course you may just have an empty space between each tread.
4. The required stairs' handrail height is between the 34" and 38".
5. When you attach the handrail / handrail brackets to the wall, make sure that they are secured with proper screws to the wall framing, not to the drywall sheet. This is because they have to support a 200 lb load applied at any point of the stairs' handrail in any direction. Brackets may often be supplied with small, plastic anchors which provide no support whatsoever when used in drywall, and even a small child can pull it off the wall.
6. The ends of the stairs' handrail attached to the wall should return to that wall. When you're carrying a shoulder bag, or even wearing a jacket, it might get caught up on that section of the handrail and you'll either ruin your wardrobe or loose balance and fall down the stairs. If you have a navel post at the end of the handrail, the handrail should return to this post or volute. Also, the stairs handrail should extend to area above the top and bottom nosing of stairs.
Handrail / Guardrail
7. This one is extremely important if you or your visitors have small children. If you have a 4" diameter ball handy, it should not pass through any of the openings along the stairs' handrail and guardrail (guardrail pickets for example). The only exception is that triangular space between the riser, tread, and base of the guardrail - a 6" max diameter is permissible in this area. If you don't have risers and there is an open space underneath treads, the 4" max applies there as well. If your ball fit through any of the openings, a small child's head may as well.
8. The guardrails are required on any walking surface elevated 30" or higher above the floor / grade.
9. Guardrails in single family properties must be a minimum of 36" high from the walking surface (balconies, decks, galleries) and no climbable / horizontal bars - kids love climbing.
So how does it look in your house ?
For more valuable information from Dariusz Rudnicki, on how to maintain your real estate property, correct most common problems and learn extremely important house selling tips (including step by step self-performed home inspection), please visit http://www.checkthishouse.com .
Dariusz is a licensed Illinois home inspector who has been in this business for over ten years, crawling through the areas you'd newer expect that even exist in your house ... just to let you now that everything is working properly... or not. If you need a [http://checkthishouse.com]house maintenance advice, you can always ask him for help.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dariusz_Rudnicki http://EzineArticles.com/?House-Stair-Handrails-and-Guardrails-Safety&id=1716269
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