building a interior railing using dowels?

[rocking23nf]

Any thoughts on this idea.

Im building a "blocky" railing using 4x4 for the posts, 4x4 for the top and bottom rails, and 2x2 for the ballisters.

Im wondoring if I bolt the 4x4 posts, but connecting everything thing else using 1 inch or larger dowels, so all ballisters are not screwed.

[MikeT]

Building to code? 

If so, I believe your railing needs to be continuous, you have a variety of grip options (and much depends on what an inspector will approve), your balusters cannot permit a 4" sphere to pass through an opening (I think the IRC code may permit a slightly larger opening, but my county calls it an even 4", and the railing must withstand a 200 lb load ( I will check on my figures).

So as long as what you are building meets these requirements (and likely others), it should be fine.

mt

[MountainDon]

If you are building to code, definitely read section R311.5.6 of the IRC 2006. Many areas use this code, not all.

You can read it by going here...
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=6224.0

then scroll a little and click on the second link (under VA).

Open chapter 3 and scroll down to R311.5.6


Even if you are not building to code you might want to rethink using a 4x4 as a top rail, or perhaps add an actual handrail on the side where you walk. Code calls for it to be between 1.25 an 2 inches in diameter, OR if not round a sectional circumference between 4 and 6.25 inches. This is not just something thought up to harras builders; a rail built to those specs is most easily grasped by most human hands. Probably doesn't matter much to normal healthy active folks but might make a difference to the less sure footed.


As for dowels as connectors that should work as long as the baluster material is not thinned too much to reduce strength.

If/when PEG stops by I know he has photos of some nice railings. Plus tips.

[Don_P]

This is the best set of descriptions of stair codes I've seen. Inspectors refer to this one;
http://www.stairways.org/pdf/2006%20Stair%20IRC%20SCREEN.pdf

1" dowels is plenty, most turnings are less and the pin in the bottom is generally 3/4 on those. The 200 lb rule applies to any part of the top rail and in any direction it must be able to withstand 200 lbs of force. In a class at the lab where they did the testing I learned that they rigged a college football player in a fall arrest harness to a spring scale and had him pull forwards and backwards, changed surfaces under his feet, etc. He could register about 80 lbs. 200 lbs is one rigidly attached railing. We figured he was being overly conservative. The professor then showed us picture after picture of parties with folks lined up and leaning on railings. Generally where they would fall over backwards if it failed. He also showed us pics of failures, several of which had lead to deaths. We then went and broke some notched 2x4 and 4x4 posts in the test equipment. I can attest to the fact that you never want to notch either of those over a deck or balcony edge for a newell and expect it to hold up.

The infill, the ballusters, needs to be able to withstand 50 lbs per square foot. They cut a 1'x1' piece of ply, hook a spring scale to it, thread it through the pickets and pull, first inward and then outward. Not that you'll do any of that in the field but it gives some idea of what they are looking for.

[rocking23nf]

basically this is want to build for the loft railing


except, 6x6 cedar was very expensive, so we switched to 4x4 posts as well.

http://www.druckfamily.com/images/LogHome/LoftRailing2.JPG

[MikeT]

I know on my loft, I am planning on hanging the posts off the ledge and affixing them to the sides.  I decided to do this after comparing that set up on my deck with the setup on my porch where the posts are affixed on the bottom.  Even with appropriate hardware (featured elsewhere on an earlier post), I notice that the posts that are attached on the side of the loft support are much stronger.  Plus, I gain an extra few inches of space....

mt

[Don_P]

For a guardrail there is no limit as to the size of the top rail for graspability so you're fine there. The 4" sphere rule comes into play, so do keep the space between pickets 4" or less. This is to keep little ones from getting hung, their head is the biggest thing about them.

If you have access to the framing underneath attaching a hold down anchor to joists or blocking and then bolting to that gives a good connection. Simpson now markets their old hold down for this purpose, that was one of the things that came out of the research I talked about. Look at the pic on page 6 of this file at how they use the HD2AHDG holddown;
http://strongtie.com/ftp/fliers/F-DECKCODE07.pdf

These are a couple of mission style guards I built, mostly out of scrap. The newel posts are actually sleeves I slipped over 3x3 square tube I welded brackets on and attached to the frame. The top subrail and bottom rail are 3 plies, basically 1x3's on each side and blocks between the pickets, nailed, screwed and glued with fasteners hidden. The bottom rail is screwed to the floor as well which picks up some more strength. The top rail cap passes through the newels helping to tie it all together lengthwise and then the newel caps are glued and nailed on. The woodwork was pretty much done with just a tablesaw, router and sander.

[MountainDon]

Right, the graspability factor comes into play on the stairway only.


Nice looking railing and method.

[Don_P]

Thanks Don,
One other thought, cedar is quite soft and will crush pretty easily. Oversized washers or plates under the bolts will get more "meat" under the bolt head to help distribute the stress. Someone leaning on a 36" lever generates alot of force down at the bottom on the bolts. Spot welding the nuts on the backside onto the holddown or to a plate to prevent them from spinning would let you tighten them later if it does loosen. I collect scrap steel for custom brackets and such, it comes in pretty handy. A skilsaw with an abrasive blade or a jigsaw with a metal blade can usually do the necessary shaping.

[John Raabe]

I went into the search link at the top right of the links bar at the main CountryPlans.com home page.

I searched the CP site for the two words "dowel railing" - I knew this was somewhere on the site...

http://www.countryplans.com/Downloads/ladder.PDF

If you want more information on how to build this there is a downloadable plan sheet at our sister site PlanHelp.com