Quote:
Originally Posted by V
I need to build some handrails for my stairs that go from the front landing to both upstairs and downstairs. The rail would have to be mounted directly to the wall, as there's no railing.
Just curious if I could get away with routing a 2"x2" piece of wood, or if I should upgrade to 3x3? I can save quite a bit of money at 2x2, but I'm worried the profile might be a bit small.
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It depends on the profile you're routing. A 2x2 is normally fine unless you're removing a lot of wood, in which case it might be a little narrow. For simpler profiles, it'd actually be preferable to a 3x3 unless you're routing in a finger recess, since a 3x3 is too big to be graspable for many people.
Generally the accepted standard for handrail size is either:
-a perimeter of between 4 to 6 1/4 inches (so a nominal 2x2 would be right near the high end of that at 6 inches), or
-if larger than that then the profile needs to be a shape that allows the the top part of the rail to be graspable.
So I wouldn't worry about a 2x2 being too narrow, as long as you're not taking off too much wood and it's mounted well.