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Goedjn Goedjn is offline
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Default Stair railing clearance?

On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:35:17 -0400, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


"mm" wrote in message
Stairway handrails shall have a circular cross section with an outside
diameter of at least 1¼ inches and not greater than two inches.


"Circular" seems to exclude a lot of pretty bannisters. Isn't a
bannister a kind of handrail? Even a lot of handrails don't have
circular cross sections. Does some code not permit them to be
installed anymore?


The ADA does not permit them, but under some circumstances, OSHA does. I
don't know about residential as codes can vary locally.


The last version of the ADA regs I looked at had a fairly long
list of specifications that seems to have been designed to make
you toss up your hands and go with a length of galvanized pipe,
but it doesn't actually require a circular ccross section.

4.26.2 talks about "equivilent gripping surface", which looks
like a good way to get into an argument with your inspector.

The bit in 4.9.2 is far more restrictive, and makes me glad that
normal residential stairs don't have to be ADA compliant.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Italy and we stopped at a fairly new shopping
center, less than a year old. We went down some outdoor concrete steps that
were between two walls. There was no handrail at all. In the US, it would
not have been allowed to open.