Detroit stair railings
Wood handrails, balusters and newel posts for the stairs inside metro Detroit homes: bungalow attic and basement flights, enclosed stairs to the upper unit of a two-family flat, and the short half-flights of a split-level. Brackets go into studs or blocking, not old plaster.
The staircases inside metro Detroit houses fall into a few familiar shapes. Bungalow stairs are often a single straight run to a finished attic, plus a steep basement flight that was never given a proper rail. Two-family flats, a common building type in Hamtramck and parts of Detroit, usually have an enclosed stair between two walls leading to the upper unit, sometimes with only a bracketed board for a handrail. Split-levels and tri-levels, common in Livonia and Southfield, have short half-flights between floors, and each one with four or more risers counts as a stair that needs a handrail.
Most interior work is wood: red oak, maple or poplar for paint, with turned or square balusters and a newel at the bottom. On pre-war houses the wall is usually plaster on wood lath, which crumbles around a screw on its own, so brackets are located on studs or blocking found behind it. A newel that rocks gets bolted down through the subfloor or into the stringer. For the hand, the rule is a round rail 1¼ to 2 inches across, or a shaped profile within set dimensions, kept at least 1½ inches off the wall and running the whole flight, top riser to bottom.
Most houses in Detroit and its inner suburbs went up before 1978, so painted balusters and handrails on an original stair may carry lead paint. Cutting or sanding them calls for lead-safe work practices: containment, misting and a careful clean-up. If the old balusters are worth keeping, loose ones are re-glued and pinned, and missing ones can be made to match the originals. If the spacing is too wide, see handrail code upgrades.
Detroit's rental inspection checklist asks for handrails on every stair with four or more risers, and Ferndale and Warren inspectors also check that existing rails are firmly fastened. Before a sale in Grosse Pointe Park, the city inspects for its Certificate of Occupancy and code violations have to be corrected first. A basement flight with no rail is an easy item to clear. Loose spindles and wobbly rails go to railing repair, and an outside stoop to porch and front-step railings.
How long does it take? A wall-mounted handrail on one flight is often done in a day. New balusters and newels take longer, and stain or paint adds drying time.
These often come up on the same staircase or the same visit:
Missing handrails added, wide gaps closed and low guards raised to pass rental, point-of-sale and buyer inspections.
Read more →Rusted posts reset in spalled concrete, loose rails re-anchored, broken welds and balusters fixed, often keeping the rail you have.
Read more →Railings for concrete front steps, brick porch piers and wood porches, anchored to hold up through Michigan freeze-thaw winters.
Read more →Written quote
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