Stair Railing has loosened: Need advice

[John TenEyck]

I installed (my first) stair railing project a couple of years ago on a new house build. The banister railing, shown in the attached picture, has loosened at the top, where it attaches to the wall.
IMG_5586.JPG

I don't know why it's gotten loose. Maybe the wall studs were wet when I attached it and have since now dried? I attached the railing to the wall with a single (if I remember correctly) large screw through the top of the railing and into the wall studs, covered by a plug. Shame on me, I should have used two screws or a hanger bolt, but what's done is done, and now I need to fix it so I need some help. I can think of about four solutions.

1. Bore out the existing plug and replace the screw with a large one or lag bolt.
2. Bore one of more new holes, install screws/bolts, and plug.
3. Bore holes and glue in dowels between the railing and wall studs.
4. Remove the railing and install a hanger bolt between the wall and railing.

Option 4 is the hardest because of having to remove the railing entirely and not one I want to do if at all possible. So, what option would/have you guys/girls used, or how would you go about it. Thanks. I appreciate the input.

John

[Richard Shaefer]

Option 5: punch a hole in the drywall and run something really beefy like a timberlok screw in from the back of the stud.

[Cary Falk]

IF the walls arn't textured I like the idea of punching a hole in the wall and driving a screw from the back side. I hate patching textured walls. You can also drive a large screw into the wall from the bottom of the rail similar to the top.

[Richard Wolf]

Try to remove the plug. Take a dry wall screw and drive it into the plug. When the screw hit the installed screw, the plug will either back out or break into pieces. Now that the plug is removed you can determine what happened. Maybe the screw broke or loosened up. Repair or replace. Replace the plug and touch up the finish.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for the replys all. Clearly I like your idea best, RW, since it (hopefully) involves the least amount of work.

[Bill Cooper]

For reference, I have installed more stair railing than I care to remember. Personally, I would have run the railing into a half post, or at the least, a rosette. As it is, there is a 3/16” – 1/4” of joint compound filled in between the corner beads of the finished end wall, and that is what you are tightening against. If you tighten the current new fastener snug it will just work loose again in time as there is not enough surface area at the end of the rail to prevent crushing the joint compound.

If you are looking for a short-term band-aid fix, remove the plug and tighten the fastener, re-plug and touch-up. A permanent fix in my opinion would be to remove the rail and install a half post or rosette and then attach the rail blind with a rail bolt kit. http://www.stairsupplies.com/eng/pro...9600_rail_bolt Standard practice is to not drill where it can be seen from the top.

Just my .02 and worth what you paid. Good luck!

[Larry Edgerton]

If you use Richards method, here is a trick I use. After you get the screw replaced and before you replace the plug, take a small gimlet and make a hole on an angle inside the plug hole for a GRK trim screw so that you have two screws at opposing angles in the same hole. Now you are not just counting on the threads, you have changed the holding power from friction to shear force.

I agree with Bill Cooper that screwing a rail to drywall is a no-no. If I have to do that I drill in a 1" dowel through the drywall glued into the framing and stubbed out of the drywall, drill a corisponding hole in the miter on the rail and let that do all the work, with one fastener just to hold it to the pin. One screw is not enough if you think about how people abuse houses.

I always imagine a drunk jock type, two hundred and forty pounds, trying to show off to the girls when I put anything together that can cause a fall. I have too much to lose to have a lawsuit, and will walk away from jobs where I do not feel the design meets the drunk 240# jock criteria.

This is how we learn, my work is a string of mistakes that I only made once.........

Larry

[Paul Girouard]

Why not use a combination of two ideas.

Back the plug and screw out as Richard suggests, make a "flat" rosette with chamfered / beveled edges pre-finish to match.

Take a Japaneses saw at trim off the thickness of the "rosette" from the railing, slide the rosette into position , screw the rosette into the wall above and below the rail , then re-screw thru the rail thru the rosette and into the wall , use a longer and thicker screw then you originally did so you catch fresh wood in the stud wall.

One other thing you could try IF you can push the rail out of the way would be to stick a dowel with glue applied into the screw hole in the wall before you attempt what ever part / parts of the fixes written in this thread.

Good luck!

[John TenEyck]

Thanks to the next batch of responders. Some good points, and things to ponder. My customer asked about using a rosette when I did the job, but I hate the look of those things and talked him out of it. We also talked about running a trim board up the wall, which would have provided a solid attachment point, but decided against that because the wall thickness isn't constant and it would have required a lot of extra time. (Time I'm now going to have to spend anyway, w/o getting paid. Yep, a mistake I won't make again.) I'm really surprised the joint has loosened because the guy I did this for lives alone and isn't all that large, although he does like to drink ! When I go to do the repair I'll see if the joint compound is broken where the rail meets it as some of you suggested. I can see how that could happen - now. Anyway, I'm thinking the better option now might be to drill a 5/8" to 3/4" hole where the current plug is all the way into the studs, removing the screw that's there now, and gluing in a dowel. Then drill a secondary hole at an angle to install a screw to hold it tight so the glue can cure, and then plug the hole and touch up the stain/finish. Sound like a plan?
Thanks. John