On rare occasions, I’ve also seen designers or builders make handrail returns greater than 90 degrees as a decorative element (see photos, left). A handrail return is the easiest and most common way of creating a so-called “safety terminal.” Most returns I see are made by turning the railing 90 degrees and making it square to the wall. My interpretation of this section is that both the top and bottom ends of a handrail must be constructed so that clothing, handbags, and the like are less likely to snag on the ends of the railing when a person walks up or down the stairs. A handrail is required on at least one side of stairs with four or more risers. Handrail ends must be returned and terminated at rail posts.
The top edge of the handrail must be placed between 34 and 38 above the nosing of the stair treads. Reading on in the code, we come to Section R311.7.8.4, Continuity, which relates more specifically to your question: “Handrail ends shall be returned or shall terminate in newel posts or safety terminals.” The term “safety terminal” is a catch-all phrase and does not indicate a specific handrail design or component. Handrails are required for stairs in many applications and must meet standards as specified by R311.5.6.3 in the IRC code. There are also specific regulations for the graspability of the handrail. The handrail must be between 34 and 38 inches measured vertically from the nosing of the stairs-that is, the sloped plane of the stairs-and must be a minimum of 1 1/2 inches from the wall. The Handrails section, R311.7.8, of the 2018 IRC requires a handrail on at least one side of any stairway with four or more risers.
INTERIOR STAIR RAIL CODE CODE
Q: Do wall-mounted handrails need returns?Ī: Victor Staley, a building official in Brewster, Mass., responds: The short answer is yes, but let’s first take a look at what the code requires for basic wall-mounted interior handrails.