# Handrail anchoring to stone-faced piers



## Willin (Aug 20, 2012)

Take a look at the photo here. The porch railings die right into the stone-faced piers and are somehow fixed in place.

How does one best do this detail? The piers have CMU cores and are faced with 4" stone. Do we do a steel embedment fixture when building the piers, or do we drill after and do something?


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## Willin (Aug 20, 2012)

There's this on YouTube, but it seems wrong with the embedded PT wood blocks.


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## Willin (Aug 20, 2012)

A porch will be build with stone-faced piers just about like shown in the photo, attached. Note how the handrail top and bottom members resolve into the stone facing and are somehow anchored there.

I dreamed up two approaches for doing this, one with a pressure-treated wood embedment, the other a steel angle. In my images, the 4" stone facing is in see-through so you can see what's happening. Pier cores are to be solid-fill CMU.

For the wood option, a 2x is ripped to 4" and cut to a 5.5" length, then anchored to the core with a pair of 6" long 3/8" concrete screws. Railing ends pocket-screw (sort of) into the wood embedment, and the c'sunk holes get plugged. This detail requires precise cutting of the railing so the joints are tight.

The steel option shown has lagscrews going up into railings from beneath, and we gap the railings maybe 1/4" off the stone facing surface. Easy install.

What would you do? What would your AHJ want you to do? What other options can you offer?


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## Mordekyle (May 20, 2014)

I like the angle iron. I’m afraid a small piece of wood would split.

You could even counter sink the rail to conceal it.


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## Patrickstew (Aug 19, 2016)

Mordekyle said:


> I like the angle iron. I’m afraid a small piece of wood would split.
> 
> You could even counter sink the rail to conceal it.
> 
> ...


Was thinking same thing. Lags and 2-part epoxy or Hilti anchors. 


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## AustinDB (Sep 11, 2006)

what about blocks of LVL of DF for the blocking. predrilling would be essential so as not to split solid blocking.


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