Indoor Stair Railing: Which One Your Stair Needs

The two things on a stair

A stair can have two different rails, and people mix up the names.

• The guard. It runs along the open side of the stair and the edge of the landing above. Its job is to stop a fall. It has posts and bars. Our railing panels are guards.
• The handrail. It goes on the wall side. Its job is to give your hand something to hold. Our wall mounted handrails are handrails.

A stair with a wall on both sides needs a handrail only. A stair with one open side usually needs both. We make both in the same black finish, so they match.

Room by room

The foyer stair. The open side gets a guard that follows the steps, and the landing at the top gets a guard along its edge. The wall side gets a handrail. This is the stair people see first, so most pick the framed railing (Keystone) or the vertical bar railing (Axis).

The basement stair. Usually walls on both sides, so a handrail on one wall does it. Where the stair opens into the basement at the bottom, or the top has an open edge, a short guard closes it.

The loft or open landing. No stair at all, just an edge with a drop. That is a guard, 36 or 42 inches high, in whatever length the edge is. A level run like this you can order straight from the product page. The horizontal bar railing (Horizon) keeps the view across the room open.

The split level. Short flights, often four or five steps. Four steps or more and the code wants a handrail. A short wall rail does it.

Replacing a wood banister

The old oak railing comes out and the new steel one goes in its place. Send a picture of the stair as it is now and the length of the run. We draw the new railing over your stair, with every measurement on it, and you approve the drawing before we build.

In New Jersey we take the old one out and put the new one up on the same visit.

Order online, or text a picture

A level run, a loft edge or a landing: pick a design on the railings page, slide to your length, and the price is on the page. A handrail: pick a profile on the handrails page, slide to your nose to nose length, and the price is there too.

A railing that runs down the stairs, a turn, or two flights: text a picture and how many steps. We draw it first and give you a price.

Steel, black, welded

Inside the house the railing is steel. Welded, ground smooth, then powder coated in matte black or semi-gloss black. The bars are spaced under 4 inches. It arrives in one piece with the posts on, and bolts to the floor or the stair with the screws in the box. The install is a drill and a level. Nothing to weld at home.

Which design, and how it mounts: metal stair railing.

In New Jersey we install it

Ocean and Monmouth County and beyond. Text a picture of the stair. We come back with a price, build it, and come out and put it up. The railing arrives finished and goes up in one visit. How installation works.

Everywhere else in the lower 48, we build it to your measurement and ship it free.