How to Replace the Wood Porch Stair Rail

If your house is blessed with a covered porch, you are fortunate indeed. You have a place to escape the hubbub of modern media and a place to watch the seasons turn. If your porch is in the front of the house, your porch stairs no doubt frame your front door. As wood stairs and rails age, they are exposed to more weathering than other porch decks and railings and must be carefully maintained and periodically replaced. Use your old railings as models upon which to base new stair railings.

Jig saw
Hand saw
Deck or other weather-resistant screws
Screwdrivers
Hammer
4-penny and 6-penny galvanized finish nails
Countersink tool
8-inch carriage bolts
Adjustable wrenches
Drill, bits and pocket jig
2-by-6-inch piece of scrap for pitch block
2 posts, 40- to 50-inch 4 by 4 inches with caps or turned newel posts with mounting cleats
Rail cap or 1-by-4-inch hardwood cap
2-by-2-inch lumber or turned balusters

Instructions

- 1
  Remove the old handrail by sawing through the bottom, also called the toe or shoe rail, and the top rail at both ends, taking care to avoid any screws or nails that might damage the blade. Salvage a segment of railing with cap, handrail, balusters and toe, or shoe, rail intact, if possible to use as a pitch sample . Pull or unscrew nails and bolts to pull away stubs of rails and pull out the newel post if it needs replacement.
- 2
  
  Railings must follow the pitch of the stairs.
  
  Cut a “pitch block,” based on the angle of the old railing. Cut a piece of lumber, at least 8 inches across at a right angle in one end. Lay the perpendicular side against a baluster and mark the pitch, using the top cap or toe rail as a guide. If you can’t get a true angle because the railing fell apart or the railing dropped at a different angle than the stairs, line the perpendicular edge against a step riser and record the pitch from the tip of the edge of one tread to the tip of the next tread below it.
- 3
  
  Stock turned newel posts and balusters are available at home stores.
  
  Set the new newel post on the bottom step using a cleat and galvanized screws. Alternately, cut a notch on the bottom end of the post and attach it through the stringer on the side of the bottom step with carriage bolts.
- 4
  
  This railing has toe rail, balusters, top and cap rails.
  
  Cut new balusters for the railing. Compute their length by subtracting the thickness of the top cap rail and the thickness of the toe rail and its distance off the stair tread. Use the pitch guide to mark the top and bottom if your stairs will have a toe rail.
- 5
  Add the 2-by-2-inch rails to the balusters by nailing through the rails into the balusters with galvanized nails. Countersink the nails slightly on one rail so they don’t create space between the rail and the cap. Attach the ends of the rails to the newel post and porch column with galvanized screws or angle brackets.
- 6
  Top the railing with a decorative cap or 1-by-4-inch hardwood board and attach it with finish nails. Sand all corners and surfaces before painting or finishing with oil stain or marine varnish.

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