I’m happy with how the front porch came out after we added stringers and pressure-washed. There is no railing on the side, however, and we have octogenarian friends, family, and neighbors whom I worry about navigating the stairs. We now have the portable ramp for those with mobility devices, but if you prefer to walk but are just a bit unsteady — perhaps using a cane or walker — it can seem a somewhat at-the-edge.
So I added the handrail, above. This is it’s rough form. It’s getting sanded down to where it’s smooth and continuous.
Since a handrail that’s weak is probably worse than useless, I wanted it tightly attached to the structure wall. I thought about using a metal joist hanger, but that seemed too crude. I ended up mortising it into the wall.
The joint isn’t as sloppy as it looks. The plunge-cut saw I used had some dark material in it that stained the wood around the cut. The joint is actually tight and clean. I added the 3” toenail screws just for added security. If I had it to do over, though, I would just do the entire mortise with my wood chisel. Trying to speed things up using the power saw just made everything messier.
The job wasn’t without some challenges. I had ordered the lumber from the local home improvement store and picked it up in town. I went inside to buy the hardware — their online hardware picker is pretty fanciful, as it priced the 4” machine bolts at $49 each. They didn’t have the bolts in ½”, however, so I bought ⅜” bolts and nuts. That’s okay: the design aesthetic benefits from larger hardware. I had plenty of fender washers at home… except I didn’t. They had 5/16” holes and wouldn’t fit the ⅜” bolts even with coercion. So a trip to the hardware store in the village was in order, where I discovered they had tiny ⅜” washers where I wanted fender washers. I ended up getting ⅜” tiny washers and ½” fender washers. The combination actually looks pretty good and saved the 1½ hour trip to and from town. I think it will look fine when I’ve finished sanding and painting it. “File to fit, paint to hide.”
—2p