Proper Height for a Victorian Porch Railing

Basics

• If a porch to a Victorian house has the original railings and posts, then it is already at the correct height and style for the home. Railings in Victorian homes were designed to work together with the complete architecture, balancing the window height and length, the size of adjacent doors and the line of the roof. Attempting to change this height without consideration for the total architecture can produce a porch railing that destroys the esthetics of the facade, and reduces the value of the home. In this respect, the proper height of the railing depends on its supporting architecture.

Catalog

• The 1897 Sears, Roebuck and Company Consumers Guide offers some idea of common porch railing heights. Page 97 shows different architectural options such as ornaments, blocks, posts, rails and trim. It reveals porch rails to be sized at 2-by-2 inches. One ornate pine baluster is 6 inches wide and 18 to 20 inches long. Adding this to the measurements of the rail gives a height of 20 to 22 inches. A more cylindrical pine baluster, about 1.85 inches in diameter and 20 to 24 inches high, added to that same rail, would put the height at between 22 to 26 inches.

Code

• The International Residential Code, which is the foundation for all local and state construction codes in the U.S., dictates the height of handrails in regulation 311.7.8.1. It states that handrails must be from 34 to 38 inches high as measured from their lower starting surface, which can be a porch floor, stair step or adjacent ramp slope. Heights must be continuous and can vary only if it is a turnout or volute over the lowest stairstep, or if it provides a continuous transition between flights of stairs, or between a stair and an adjoining landing or floor.

Issues

• Unfortunately, unless the home is in a designated municipal historic area, if you replace a porch railing, you must use the height specified by current codes, even if that is higher than the original. This destroys the architectural balance of the home because the rail becomes higher than the lower sills of the windows behind it, producing a caged effect. The only way around this issue is to repair rather than replace the porch railings. As long as you fix rather than change, you can keep the original height regardless of code.