How to Replace Stair Banisters & Railings

Insert a finishing nail into the holes where the old railing was anchored, feeling if the nail contacts the studs inside the walls. If not, use a stud finder to locate the studs in the wall, marking their locations with a pencil. Drive the finishing nail into the wall around where you marked the stud locations, finding the exact edges of the studs.

Measure a half an inch above any old mounting holes in the wall where you felt the presence of wall studs, using a torpedo level to draw vertical lines. Hold the torpedo level so the bottom edge intersects the first set of lines you drew, and then draw horizontal lines along the level’s edge.

Hold the end of a tape measure on the stair treads and measure the distance to the intersecting lines you drew on the wall. Measure the same distances from the treads for any wall studs the rail was not anchored to before drawing intersecting lines with the torpedo level.

Drill pilot holes into the wall where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect. Hold the stair rail’s mounting brackets against the wall, lining up the anchor holes in the brackets with the pilot holes you drilled in the wall. Drive screws into the guide holes in the wall, tightening them until the mounting brackets sit securely on the wall.

Lay the new rail so it points down the stairs, allowing the end to rest against the floor at the foot of the stairs. Mark where the rail meets the top of the first step. Clamp the stair rail to sawhorses and then cut the rail along the mark you made, using a circular saw.

Sand the end of the stair rail you cut. Hold the new rail against the top of the mounting brackets, lining up the top of the rail with the top of the first stair step. Have an assistant hold the rail in place as you drill pilot holes where the mounting bracket’s mounting holes sit, and then drive screws through the brackets and into the rail.