Stair railing problem

[keith micinski]

Well I have tried four ways to figure this stair rail out and come up with way to make it work and I can't do it. No matter what I do the gap going down at an angle is thinner then the gap on the flat. Any suggestions on how to maintain a consistent gap all the way down the stair case?

IMG_0483.jpg

[John TenEyck]

Your horizontal pieces need to be the same width as the cut end of the angled pieces.

John

[Bill Orbine]

stairs.jpg This will give you equal spaces between railings. Though, not to code.

[Wayne Lomman]

I agree with John - Its the only practical solution. Cheers

[Justin Ludwig]

Measure down the angle the width of the boards that are flat. 5-1/2"? Then rip the excess off on a table saw.

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The angle on the the piece in the pic is 33.5*

[Pat Barry]

Well I have tried four ways to figure this stair rail out and come up with way to make it work and I can't do it. No matter what I do the gap going down at an angle is thinner then the gap on the flat. Any suggestions on how to maintain a consistent gap all the way down the stair case?

IMG_0483.jpg

You can never have the gaps the same on the horizontal and sloped sections unless the board widths are made to different widths _ wider for the horizontal as compared to the sloped. Of course then it will still look a bit irregular to you. As it is I think it is normal

[Steve Schoene]

The VERTICAL gap can be made to be consistent with the vertical gap on the flat. But the basic geometry dictates that the gap measured on the right angle to the boards MUST be smaller on the sloped section. You can't change it, so just be sure that the vertical gap is consistent and live with the results. It will end up looking right.

[keith micinski]

After speaking with the customer it looks like we are just going to run it with the gap varying between the verticals and the horizontal. It doesn't really look that bad I just wanted to make sure there wasn't an easy solution that I was missing.

[David Helm]

Is that legal in your jurisdiction? Here horizontal boards (that can be climbed by a child) are not legal.

[keith micinski]

As long as any gap is less then 4" it's legal to the best of my knowledge. The home owner could care less about legality though since they originaly wanted to just run a couple of ropes for a railing.

[John TenEyck]

Homeowners seem to care a lot more about what's legal if someone gets hurt. Be sure what you did is to code.

John

[Marc Burt]

Homeowners seem to care a lot more about what's legal if someone gets hurt. Be sure what you did is to code.

John

This is very true. Also, should they decide to sell the house and it's not to code who's name do you think they will drag through the mud?

[Mel Fulks]

I agree with John. But some code things, I think, are clear compromises between good and cheap. Like having stair rails too high to lean on just to get by without a guard rail when often both are needed.

[mreza Salav]

As long as any gap is less then 4" it's legal to the best of my knowledge. The home owner could care less about legality though since they originaly wanted to just run a couple of ropes for a railing.

that gap you are referring to are between vertical spindles. Here in Canada that railing is not allowed anywhere.

[keith micinski]

I'm not even sure that guard rail rules apply here since at no point is the stair case more then 30" off the ground. I think the hand rail requirement applies in this situation.