Stairs and Railings in Mississauga

These are the questions that come up in nearly every initial conversation. Working through them first will tell you whether you are looking at a railing upgrade, a staircase replacement, or something in between.

Do I need a new staircase or just a new railing?

In most cases, just the railing. The staircase structure only needs replacing if the rise and run are inconsistent, the stringer has failed, or you are changing the layout of the opening. Everything else, including how the stairs look, is usually solved at the guard and handrail.

Will a glass railing make the space feel bigger?

It makes it feel more open, which is not quite the same thing. Glass removes the visual barrier between levels, so it has the strongest effect in homes where the stairs sit in the middle of an open plan main floor. In a closed stairwell against two walls, the difference is smaller.

How much of the existing structure can I keep?

More than most people expect. Treads, risers, and stringers usually stay. Newel posts sometimes stay and sometimes get replaced depending on the new system, and this is confirmed during the site measurement rather than guessed at.

Does my current railing meet code?

If your home was built in the last twenty years, almost certainly. If it is older, the two things most likely to fail are the spacing between pickets and any horizontal element a child could climb.

What order should this happen in relative to flooring?

Flooring first where possible, since the finished floor height determines the final handrail measurement. If flooring is going in later, we need the exact build up height before fabrication.