Handrails and ballustrades for stairs

by **Tom Barker** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 12:47 pm

What are the building regulation requirements for stairway handrailing and ballustrades, when fitting new handrail and balustrades to an existing staircase.

by **thedoctor** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:21 pm

What part of the regs did you need to know Tom, there are many regs regarding stairs. If its the spacing of the spindles, its 100mm. DIYDOCTOR

by **thedoctor** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:16 pm

MANY OF THE ANSWERS TO YOUR POSTS CAN BE FOUND, WITH DIAGRAMS, IN THE DIYDOCTOR PROJECTS SECTION. CLICK HERE www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects.htm

by **diydoctor6** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 1:02 pm

In summary, you need a handrail or banisters where the drop is over 600mm. They must be over 900mm high and as said in a previous post, you must not be able to get a 100mm sphere between the spindles.

You need to understand the context, and the regulation will differ for domestic or commercial stairs. Also if you are replacing stairs or adding new ones.

For information specifically on handrails, banisters and balustrades, please have a look at this project for more in depth information: https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/ba ... drails.htm

The building regulations for stairs (Part K) have been summarised here so that you can understand what is required for your stairs, and not just the hand rails:
https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/bu ... tionsk.htm

Thankfully these regulations are not as daunting as they sound, so you can get a very clear understand quite quickly.