| The first thing you
need to understand is the difference between a handrail and a guardrail.
A guardrail protects you from falling over or through the stairway and a
handrail is usually something that you hold onto, to keep your balance,
while walking up or down the stairs.
Now that you understand what a guard rail is, you make sure that you
understand all of your local building codes and safety requirements,
before building one.
You can use wood, metal and even certain types of glass, to construct
your guardrails. However, they need to be built strong enough and tall
enough, to prevent anyone, and I'm talking about anyone, from falling
through or over them.
Make sure that the building materials you use, will provide you with a
structurally sound guardrail. If you're using a set of building
blueprints to build your stairway, they might or might not have enough
structural and construction information, for you to build the ideal
guardrail.
If this is the case, then contact your structural engineer, architect or
building designer for more information. The last thing you want to do is
build a guard rail that isn't safe.
Back To>
How To Build Stairs
Next>Lay Out -
Floor Plan - Walls
- Ceiling - Landing
- Platform -
Stringer Layout
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