[illinois1]

I want to put a handrail on brackets on the right side of the stairway going down to the first floor. I saw a video on “This Old House” and “Family Handy Man” for how to put up a handrail, however, the stairs went straight up and mine are not. I understood the idea for how they did it, but with my handrail being multi-angle it confuses me.

This is what I want to do. The handrail is to be at height of 34” (code is 32” to max 36”). I want to put two brackets for the first angle and than two more for the next angle, have the rail in two pieces with an angle cut on each end to connect the two with each end mitered to the wall.

In the video, it said measure from the tread of stair with a 48" level the rail height minus the rail thickness and distance to bottom hole of the bracket. My rail is 1 3/8” and the distance for the bottom bracket hole is 2 ½. The info said mark at start of the first tread and make a mark at the top tread. Then make a plum line with the line running through the two points. Locate the studs and put a 7/64 hole in center on the line where brackets needed with a max of 48” between brackets.

How would I locate proper bracket location and then fit the two pieces with the proper angle. It confuses me because some of my stairs are deeper front to back and the baseboard is not the same from each stair. I see/picture how to layout my locations so everything goes together and lined up.

If I could understand how to do the first section, it would be a good start.

It is same procedure on the stairs 1st floor to turn. The turn has shelves that require you to run about 10" short from corner to miss overlapping the fame of the shelves. It is straight run so it can be one solid handrail without needing to angle it.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm a novice but would like to do it myself if able.

[illinois1]

Here is picture of the stair way from the upstairs.

[hkstroud]

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