Handrails and Railings in Quartz Hill, CA

The county fence section, 22.110.070, covers fences and walls in yards. It does not set rail heights. A handrail is what your hand grips on a stair, and a guard is the barrier along the open side of a raised porch or landing. The building department checks each on its own, so we build to what the inspector measures off the finished surface.

Porch steps and ramps on an older house are rarely square. Treads settle, a landing tilts, and a ramp may turn partway along. A stock rail trimmed to length fights that geometry at every post. We measure the run as it stands, count the risers, note where each end dies into a wall or open air, and cut and weld the rail to those numbers in the shop.

On older steps the mount decides whether the rail lasts. A baseplate on the tread puts its anchors at the nosing, the weakest concrete on a step. A side mount pulls the fasteners back into solid material. On thick sound concrete a post can be core drilled and grouted in. A rail on a stucco wall has to reach a stud or masonry. We choose once the concrete is in front of us.

Rust starts at the base and inside the tube. We cap post tops and drain the low points. Galvanizing needs vent and drain holes anyway, and a duplex finish of galvanizing under powder lasts far longer than paint. That powder needs the ASTM D7803 prep, and an AAMA 2604 class powder holds its color better in this sun.

A rail along a pool deck can be counted as part of the pool barrier, and then Health and Safety Code 115923 applies: at least 60 inches tall, no more than 2 inches underneath, no gap passing a 4 inch sphere, and nothing on the outside a child could climb.

This work runs out of our shop on Division Street in Lancaster. Read the full handrails and railings details, or call (818) 220-8704 and we will come out.