I was 21 years old when I started my
stair-building company, and in the 10
years I was in business, we installed
over 7,500 flights of stairs. The majority
of these stairs had an "over the post,"
or continuous, railing that was assembled
from stock rail parts. Using stock
parts, a continuous rail can be assembled
to fit just about any stair configuration
imaginable.
The key to a successful handrail
installation lies in accurately determining
the height of the newel posts. Early
in my career as a stair builder, I tried a
number of mathematical approaches.
Eventually, however, I realized that the
easiest and most foolproof method
involved making a full-scale section
drawing of a portion of the