What kinds of railings are appropriate for various situations?
Basically, there are 3 distinctive railing types: • The first, guard rail or level guard rail, is simply a railing system designed to prevent a person from falling off of or over the side of a level surface. • The second, stair rail, is installed on a section of stairs and serves the same purpose as a guard or level rail. • The third, handrail, is most common in commercial applications and multi-family dwellings. According to code, handrail is also required on single-family dwellings. The configuration of handrail is somewhat complicated and detailed in the code. The purpose of handrail is to provide an uninterrupted graspable surface while climbing stairs or accessing handicap ramps.
