wooden hand rails?

Question

i want to install four short hand rails leading from 2 eight ft openings into a sunken living room. each rail will only be 24 inches long and about 30 inches high. one end of each will be attached to an interior wall, the other end is what i am asking about. the rails and post will be made from some 2x3 inch oak and mounted on a concrete floor. my original plan was to drill into the concrete floor beneath the outer post (beside the opening) and install some type of bolt into the concrete (about 3inches??) then drill a matching hole in the bottom of the post and slip the post over the bolt to make it more sturdy. i know this sounds complicated but i don't want it to give or sway when someone holds it to step up/down, and i want to stay away from the metal brackets for mounting on concrete if possible. thanks and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS

Answer 1

when we mount a handrail post to concrete we use a special bracket that u drill out the concrete and install 2 3" screws into the concrete.......this will hold the bracket in place.....then the post will slip inside the bracket.....screw the post to the bracket on all 4 sides.......the bracket kit comes with oak trim pieces, pre cut, that cover up the bracket......u can this from lowes....


lic. gen. contractor

Answer 2

A two by three inch newel post is not very sturdy, even though it is made of oak. I would think it would be better to go with at least a 4" X 4" post, maybe a turned post with some shape to it if you want a decorative look. The problem with your idea of drilling into the concrete and the post and securing it with a bolt is the amount of shifting caused by weight applied to the rail. Over time, the bolt will loosen in the concrete, and maybe the post, thereby weakening the railing. I would think a better solution would be to apply a base at least one inch bigger than your post at the bottom of the post at the end of the rail, and use 4 bolts instead of one. This would keep the stress off the bottom of the post a bit better.

Answer 3

I would love to se the person that could bend a 3" newel post!! Ther are hidden mounts available for this aplication. The lead drive will eventualy work loose.You are on the right track here is a suggestion I have used kind of a combination of others. drill for a regular 1/2"concrete anchor bolt set the bolt with a connector nut instead of the regular nut it may take a couple trys but if you need to a djust the height you can just loosen the nut and drive it further down. BE SURE TO DRILL THE HOLE ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE CONCRETE! so if you need to change it out yyou can just drive it through and start over. use one of the lags which have been discribed before- machine threads on one end and lag threads on the other, but on the lag thread end make it long 6" at least! pre drill the base of your post and then counter bore to fit over the connector nut and washer on the floor. Screw the post down tight and finish your instalation. the comercialy available units are aproximatly the same but instead of a lag screw they drill a cross hole and a special adapter washer is used to bolt the opst to the floor and the hole is plugged and stained to match.

Answer 4

All good ideas,
LEt me add mine
They make a bolt that is wood screw threads on one end and machine type lag screw on the other,since it is a decorative piece for the most part , locate your position of the posts mark the center, drill a lag set into the concrete, this is a lead shield,take the wood screw end of the bolt and screw it into the post , then screw the post to the floor and tighten

Answer 5

just drill at a angle into the wood an concrete an drive in a espanding anchor an bolt the wood directly to the floor. drill a plug with a plug cutter in a piece of the same wood to cover the bolts an line the grain up glue it in place an then paint or stain it.

Answer 6

Can you lag it into the existing steps? Why not use the steel brace then cover the brace with some half round molding surrounding the bottom of the post. You can also try some gorilla glue which works well with concrete.