Interior Wood Stair Railings in Baltimore, MD

What an Interior Railing Is Made Of

An interior stair railing is three parts doing three jobs. The handrail is what a hand slides along and grabs in a stumble. The balusters fill the open side so nobody, least of all a toddler, slips through. The newel posts at the top, bottom and turns carry the load, and they are where most interior railings start to loosen. We build all three in red oak, white oak, maple or paint-grade poplar, and replace any one of them on its own when the rest is worth keeping.

Rowhouse Stairs Are Their Own Problem

The typical rowhouse stair is steep, narrow and run hard against a brick party wall, with the open side facing a hallway barely wider than the treads. A full newel-and-baluster system can crowd a stair like that. Often the better answer is a wall-mounted handrail on brackets anchored into the masonry, with slimmer balusters or a single guard on the open side. Detached houses in the counties tend to have wider, open stairs where a turned newel and a full run of balusters suit the room.

The Numbers It Has to Meet

Under the 2021 International Residential Code a handrail is required on at least one side of any flight with four or more risers, mounted 34 to 38 inches above the sloped line of the nosings. A round rail must be 1¼ to 2 inches across to be graspable, and a rail beside a wall needs at least 1½ inches of clearance. Where the open side of a stair or landing is more than 30 inches above the floor below, it needs a guard, with no gap a 4-inch sphere can pass. If yours falls short, that is a handrail code upgrade as much as a style change.

Refresh or Replace

Plenty of staircases need less than a rebuild: a sound oak handrail can be stripped and refinished, a loose newel re-anchored and dated balusters swapped for square ones. When a newel or rail is cracked, that is a railing repair first. For lofts and modern stairs, cable or glass keeps the stairwell open. We fit interior railings in Baltimore rowhouses, Towson and Columbia townhomes alike.

How long does it take? A straight run of handrail is often a day. A full set of new balusters and newels takes longer, and stain or paint adds drying time.

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