Railing for landing

[Peter Pedisich]

Hello,

A friend of mine is thinking about building a railing for a 2nd floor landing. I had done one for my last home after tons of research and am giving him some tips.
He want's to do craftsman/bungalow style box newels and post to post handrail.
I have a few questions for the pros:

1) On a 3' x 11' railing I was suggesting 3 newel posts are needed to combat flex in the handrail plus the half newel on the wall, he thinks he only needs 2 on the 11' run. Which is correct.

2) Which wood species do you reccommend for the newels if they are going to be painted.

Thanks for any help!

Pete

[Mike Cutler]

This sounds like a question for Mr Wolf. Richard does this for a living and I'm sure he could tell you.
As to the type of wood. I'm having a little trouble with "Craftsman" "Bungalo", and "painted". I'd personally go with QSWO, or mahagony, and finish them as they are, no paint, and let the grain and tone of the wood show thru. If they do have to be painted I'd go with maple, flat sawn oak, or maybe even poplar with a hard enamel paint.

[Richard Wolf]

The rule of thumb is not to go longer than 10' on a balcony. So one post at the start a half post at the end and one in the middle is plenty of newels for this landing.
Most box newels are 6 1/4" square at the base and 4 3/4" at the waist so 3 plus a 1/2 post is a lot for that size area.
Mike has it right about craftsman style being dark oak, but painted box newels are very popular now and are made from maple or poplar. Both paint very well.
If you would like to purchase premade newels and rails and balusters, you could PM me and I could direct you and your friend to a local supplier.

Richard

[Roger Everett]

Peter:
Just to add to what Richard has said. The rule of thumb is 10' between newells is max., I generally try to go no more than 8', for lateral strength. Also the IRC code calls for min. 36" heigth, I always shoot for atleast 40" as my min.,as the comm. code in my area is 42". Gives better lean over the railing protection if a 6 footer is leaning over the railing.
Roger

[Peter Pedisich]

Mike, Richard & Roger,

Thanks, after re-reading my post I realized I did not say the balcony railing is 'L'-shaped. A 3' long section perpendicular to the wall and an 11' section running parallel to the staircase. I think there should be a half newel at the wall, one at the corner and one in the middle of the 11' run and one at the top of the stairs, for a total of 3-1/2 newel posts.

The painted part is not some something he wants to do but has been "asked" to do by you know who.

I was recommending 39-40" ht with 3-3/4" between ballusters.

Richard, I will PM you this morning, thanks.

Pete

[Richard Wolf]

Peter, just a couple of points to consider. I use 36" balusters on the landing which results in a rail height of 37". I know we are only talking a couple of inches difference, but in a small area if you have 8' ceilings it can get closed in fast.
You don't talk about the stairs, do they have rails already? You may want to keep the baluster spacing the same as on the steps. You most likely have a 9" run with two balusters per step resulting in 4 1/2 o.c. baluster spacing. You should keep the same spacing on the balcony.
I was wondering if you meant he had an L shaped balcony, and than 3 1/2 newels works out fine.

Richard