DIY Small Handrail Install

Safety first kids! There is a small run of steps in the guest cabin, and while they technically don’t need a handrail to meet the local building code, I always thought that there should be one, especially if we were going to use this as a guest house or an AirBnb. So, I decided to install a small handrail.

Here is the small run of steps and the wall area I planned to install the handrail.

Per the local building code, the handrail should be placed between 34 inches and 38 inches above the stair tread at the nose. I used a stud finder and determined that the handrail brackets would not hit the wall studs. So, to ensure the handrail was properly supported and not just anchored by drywall anchors (yikes!), I decided to open the wall section and add 2×10 blocks between the studs in the areas where the handrail brackets would connect. You can see in the photo above that I’ve already started to plan a drywall cut.

Support Blocking:

Here is the opened wall section and the newly-installed 2×10 blocking pieces between the wall studs. Where possible, I screwed the blocking through the opposite side of the wall studs. If needed, I “toe-nail” screwed the blocking to the studs until nothing wiggled under my heaviest of tugging.

There was no easy way to avoid the light switch without opening up more wall, so I notched the blocking around it and screwed the blocking in well. Thankfully the handrail bracket is closer to the opposite stud where it is solid.

Before closing the wall back up, make sure to measure where your blocking sections are placed in relation to the floor or a corner. I know, I already measured like 5 times and double-checked the blocking was set correctly for the handrail brackets, but it’s just good to have measurement photos. Something like this:

Drywall Patching:

If you make clean cuts and don’t break the drywall, you can use it again to patch the hole! This way, you also keep a lot of the drywall texture as well. Here are the drywall sections re-attached to the studs. I used a small piece of trim board to screw to the top and bottom joints and keep the joints from moving separately. There are a ton of great YouTube videos on drywall patching and repair, so I won’t go into a lot of detail there. Just know that I’m not great at drywall, but everything turned out just fine here, lol. You can do it too!

I used joint compound and drywall tape to cover the joints.

It’s not perfect, especially with the first coat. Just let each coat dry and keep adding and smoothing the joints out. It’s time consuming, but you’ll get there.

Here is a look down the stairs where you get a better sense of the elevation change. I’ve added more joint compound and will add a few more coats still! Yes, that’s a large new drywall section further down the wall….hmm a story for another day (will post someday soon!).

Once I was satisfied with the drywall patching, I sprayed drywall texture all over the area. I used the simple drywall texture spray cans you can find at hardware stores. They are not the best, honestly. It’s tricky to get the texture to match. If I ever do this again, I’ll look into what the pros use. But this time around it was good enough. After letting the texture dry, I prepped the whole house for paint to get rid of the yellow-tinted walls.

Handrail Install:

Finally, what we’ve all been waiting for, here is the installed handrail! This is a 3 foot long satin black aluminum handrail by Promenaid I found on Amazon.com. The price varies with the handrail length. This one was under $90, so it wasn’t the cheapest option, but it was the exact look I wanted. It came with instructions and all the connection parts, and was really easy install.

Overall, I think the handrail adds a nice, more finished look to the steps. Plus it’s nice peace-of-mind just in case you need it!