Author Topic: How do I re-attach this stair railing?  (Read 8160 times)

john6221

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How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« on: December 20, 2016, 06:53:01 PM »
I had to remove the stair railing in our house in order to move some 4x8 sheets downstairs as I'm adding a bedroom.

Everything came out of the floor just fine. When I was removing it from the wall, I was a little confused as to how I'd get it back together. At first I thought that, naturally, it would be attached through the drywall to studs. But it soon became clear that I was not removing a lag screw anchor from a stud, but some sort of bolt that seemed to be threaded onto something inside the wall. As soon as the bolt was out, I heard something fall to the floor inside the wall.

I'm guessing that there are some kind of drywall anchors that I can use...but how? The size of the hole that is there now is huge. See the pic.

Definitely open to ideas!

Thanks.


« Last Edit: December 20, 2016, 06:58:43 PM by john6221 »

sokoloff

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #1 on: December 20, 2016, 07:23:24 PM »
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toggle_bolt

It would be sturdier if it hit a stud, but if a few brackets need to use toggle bolts, that should be OK.

paddedhat

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2016, 06:42:28 AM »
That's a pretty odd one. I have never seen anybody install rail brackets with anything but screws, straight into a stud, or similar structure. That's the specific reason that most brackets are narrow, and have three holes for long screws. I assume that the rail is a bit short for the job, and doesn't reach the end of that wall? The reason I'm guessing that is that there are frequently two studs nailed together, at the end of a wall like that, giving lots of structure to screw into. Another option is to grab a stud finder and move down slope until you find the closest stud, which shouldn't be far away.  Bottom line is that, if somebody is grabbing a rail to prevent a fall, they are placed the mounting flange of the bracket under tremendous load, and anchoring them to the drywall is far from optimal.

lthenderson

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2016, 07:46:42 AM »
I think paddedhat's advice is geared towards a handrail going down the stairs but in your picture, it looks more like a railing on a second floor preventing someone from falling down into the stairwell. If this is the case, they you really can't move "downslope" to find another mounting point. You do need to anchor it to more than drywall. The do it right option for me would be to find the studs on either side using a studfinder and then cut out a piece of drywall to allow you to add blocking between the two studs on either side. Then you will have to patch in the drywall, sand, repaint before attaching your railing again directly to your blocking. The other alternative is mounting something external that is screwed into a stud that give you firm support to attach your railing too.

paddedhat

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2016, 03:26:32 PM »
I think paddedhat's advice is geared towards a handrail going down the stairs but in your picture, it looks more like a railing on a second floor preventing someone from falling down into the stairwell. If this is the case, they you really can't move "downslope" to find another mounting point. You do need to anchor it to more than drywall. The do it right option for me would be to find the studs on either side using a studfinder and then cut out a piece of drywall to allow you to add blocking between the two studs on either side. Then you will have to patch in the drywall, sand, repaint before attaching your railing again directly to your blocking. The other alternative is mounting something external that is screwed into a stud that give you firm support to attach your railing too.

Good catch. In that case it sure as hell should have never been anchored with any type of drywall anchor, and MUST be in structure, as you stated.  How about pulling that short piece of base, reinstalling the rail (I'm guessing it's the iron balustrade in the background) in 3-4" where there is some structure in the wall, and patching the old holes?
« Last Edit: December 21, 2016, 03:34:50 PM by paddedhat »

john6221

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2016, 08:18:14 PM »
So, the railing actually does extend all the way to the wall. It is an "L" shape, and it's secured in the floor in two spots, and then to the wall in the spot in the picture. I think that what was there was definitely some sort of toggle bolt.

Here's the dumb part--the stud is only like 0.5'' from where they had the drywall anchor. If they had only moved the railing slightly to the left in the picture, then they would have hit a stud.

The problem is that I can't really move the railing in any direction due to the fact that the floors have been refinished, and there is a definite "hump" where they were sanded around the pieces that attach to the floor.


Goldielocks

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2016, 01:02:48 AM »
You won't like this answer, but as you have a hole there already --

make it bigger.

open up the drywall to within 2" of the corner, and long enough and wide enough to drill a sister stud to the ones at the end of the wall  Use long screws (three should do it) up and down a 2 ft sister board, avoiding where you will screw the railing in, and having it flush with the back of the drywall for stability.

Then, fix the drywall, and install the railing, just this time, you can drill it to the sister stud that you just mounted.  Much more secure that using a toggle bolt and drywall to hold up granny as she falls and clings to the railing before shattering a hip.

:-0

Fishindude

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2016, 09:37:30 AM »
Paddlehat is right.  Any stair railing should be anchored into solid wood wall framing.  If it doesn't line up with a wall stud, cut out some drywall and put in a piece of 2x8 blocking between studs for railing to anchor to, then repair drywall.   A stair railing is meant to protect against a fall and anchorage is no place to cut corners.

GuitarStv

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2016, 10:37:19 AM »
I slipped while coming down the stairs to the basement a couple years ago.  Grabbed at the handrail on the way down.  The whole handrail came off and landed on top of me as I bounced down the rest of the stairs.  This is when I discovered that the handrail was screwed into drywall anchors, not studs.

I echo the chorus of votes that very strongly recommend anchoring any kind of railing into studs . . . even if it means widening the hole and adding some studs into the wall.

john6221

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2016, 08:09:49 PM »
So, let's say that I open up the holes to sister on a 2x4. How do I then attach the drywall and patch? In other words, what's the best way to open up the wall to make it easy to sister a board and easy to patch/repair/paint?

Thanks!

BudgetSlasher

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2016, 09:15:32 PM »
So, let's say that I open up the holes to sister on a 2x4. How do I then attach the drywall and patch? In other words, what's the best way to open up the wall to make it easy to sister a board and easy to patch/repair/paint?

Thanks!

First question I would ask . . . what is on the other side of the wall? I almost alway end up repainting the entire wall when I have to patch, I just cannot get the paint to match (even if it came out of the same can), but the transition is hidden nicely by corners. And repainting the wall in the photo with the height and the stairs is going to be tricky, but the other side of the wall looks like it would be more manageable.

If you come in from the back side you can use the newly sistered 2x4 to anchor one side of the patch. For the others I normally use a piece of wood (such as a furring strip) screwed to the existing drywall and coming hole, then I screw the patch to the wood. Then its the standard tape (I prefer fiberglass mesh) mud, feather, sand, and repeated until satisfactory. There are plenty of youtube videos kind of like this one (https://youtu.be/Fdy9uRvpI-E?t=83) that should give you an idea.


john6221

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Re: How do I re-attach this stair railing?
« Reply #11 on: December 26, 2016, 09:53:56 AM »
The other side of the wall is just a regular wall in the dining room. Nothing special. I think it would be easy to refinish. Thanks for the tips!

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