Hi

I need to put a railing around the opening for my stairs at the top. Should I put the flooring (hardwood or laminate) down first or attach the railing posts to the subfloor?

What kind of railing are you looking at. If metal then yes but a wooden railing will attach better and look better if you attach prior to the new floor.

Thanks for the answer. We haven't really decided on the type of railing yet. We were hoping to have 4x4 wooden posts with 3/16 stainless steel wire running horizontally between them. But we are second guessing this because of the difficulty in building this type of railing to code.

This would not pass in my area. The maximum opening anywhere in a railing is 4" (presumably in order to stop kids from falling through.)

Even if you installed the wires close enough together, they would have to be under tension so that you could not spread them apart to a 4" gap.

Code in Canada says in addition to the max 4" gap, the design must not be able to be climbed, pretty much eliminating any horizontal members. How about expanded metal panels floating 4" from the posts, rails and cap?

Something like this. Metal or wood.