# Installing Chair Rail up staircase?



## tomrash (Nov 25, 2008)

Hello

Firsttime poster, longtime lurker. I have been putting up alot of moulding around my house. Now I have finally run into a problem I hope someone could help me with. The pictures are listed below. I am using the same chair rail that you can see in the other pictures. It consists of a Chair rail backer and chair rail. 

Does the chair rail look alright where I have it in the picture? 

Also how should i make the wall frames. I was thinking I should make the ones on the banister side not as tall as the ones on the opposite side. I have been using 3 inches between the boxes, chair rail and baseboard. If i make the wall frames the same height on both sides then the top of the frame will be underneath the banister. I taped off the frames where I think they should go which is about 6 inches below the chair rail. 

Also one last question. Please look to picture 4. If i bring the chair rail to the top of the stairs and wrap it around the corner it comes up way to low on the the upstairs hall. Should I just stop the chair rail at the top of the stair way hall? Or is there a way to get it up to the correct level with the rest of the chair rail at the top of the stairs. Thanks for all the help.


----------



## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Personally I think the chair rail and library paneling will look like a mess on the stairs, especially with the handrail. I'd suggest stopping the chair rail in the landing area at the top and/or bottom of the stairs. Although it looks nice, true chair rail serves a function, and putting it where it does not belong makes your home into architectural gumbo. You can cut the end at 45* and do a tiny return to the wall for a very clean finished look, as opposed to just cutting it off at 90* and stopping it.

Proper library paneling uses raised panels fitted into hardwood stiles and rails. Doing that in a parallelogram shape that you'd have to make to meet the slope of the staircase would be a challenge for the most experienced of woodworkers. 

Library panels are often faked with pieces of stair cap (or similar moulding) like this. 


Even better, you can use something like this overlapping a plywood or sheetrock "panel" to give depth to the detail. Looks a lot cooler but is easier than raising panels and doing cope and stick joints.


----------



## Tuff (Nov 19, 2008)

I agree with the other post the chair rail and molding is overkill and does not belong on a stair case.But if your set on doing so i would cut a 45o angle and put in a piece like in the other post.hope this helps


----------



## bleis (Jul 9, 2011)

*chair railing and moulding*

i found your inquiry when searching for such info, myself, regarding how far to take a chair rail. as for the plans you have illustrated for your stairway, even before reading other people's responses, i could see that to add as you have shown, would be overkill (even that term, i had in mind before reading responses, in addition to others), to put it nicely. as one writer says, it would be a mess (because of making the area too busy). since you are engulfing yourself in home woodwork projects, i would suggest instead of your adding paneling and/or a chair rail to your stairway, you remove the hand rail you presently have for the lower stairs, in addition to the hand rail on the stairway wall, and just replace the lower hand rail with a proper banister. if you are elderly, then by all means, keep the hand rail on your upper wall for safety. but otherwise, i believe both hand rails look tacky.


----------



## loneframer (Mar 27, 2009)

bleis said:


> i found your inquiry when searching for such info, myself, regarding how far to take a chair rail. as for the plans you have illustrated for your stairway, even before reading other people's responses, i could see that to add as you have shown, would be overkill (even that term, i had in mind before reading responses, in addition to others), to put it nicely. as one writer says, it would be a mess (because of making the area too busy). since you are engulfing yourself in home woodwork projects, i would suggest instead of your adding paneling and/or a chair rail to your stairway, *you remove the hand rail you presently have for the lower stairs, in addition to the hand rail on the stairway wall, and just replace the lower hand rail with a proper banister. if you are elderly, then by all means, keep the hand rail on your upper wall for safety. but otherwise, i believe both hand rails look tacky.*


First off, any stair of 3 rises or more must have handrail by code. You also must have a continuous handrail from top to bottom of the staircase.

Now, for the question of chair-rail on a staircase, it's very common, along with the wall frames.

You asked about making a transition in height at the top of the stairs. It's an involved process, but can be done. You need to make several different cuts to make the trim profile work. Here's an example of the transition in a similar situation, as well as a few pics of chair-rail and panel frames on a staircase.


----------



## loneframer (Mar 27, 2009)

Sorry, didn't see how old this thread was, but the code needed to be mentioned after the previous post.

Removing a safety device in the name of appearances is never a good idea.


----------



## capecodder (Jun 5, 2011)

I gotta say, that looks pretty difficult to do. Looks amazing when its done though.


----------



## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

capecodder said:


> I gotta say, that looks pretty difficult to do. Looks amazing when its done though.


There are some tricky cuts but you can do it if you really want to. The main thing is getting your layout right, from there it is just a matter of cutting the trim to fit your layout and a thousand trips up and down the stairs. Well, it may be a little harder than that but, you can do it.

That is some beautiful workmanship LF.


----------

