Railing for front step

[Amethyst]

Does anyone have a railing for one front step? (If so, pics please)

We have a front stoop with one step down to the front walkway. Things have settled and now the step down is too steep. We are getting estimates to re-do it. We have some relatives that have bad knees that visit occasionally. I’d like to add a railing but dh thinks it won’t look right with just one step. The stoop is wider than the walkway, so I’m picturing starting at the sides of the stoop, then indent towards the walkway, then down one step. But maybe dh is right because I can’t find any pics of this online. 
 

Does anyone have this situation and willing to share pics? 

[Katy]

DH’s grandmother has a railing for one step.  I think they had it installed 30 years ago when his grandfather had a stroke. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture. I can’t think of a house we’ve had with 3 steps or less that had a rail.

[Bambam]

I do not have any experience nor pictures, but I stayed with my older sister last year who had a knee replaced. She has four ways into the house - only two are convenient to the driveway/garage. She needed a walker in the beginning and then moved to a cane. All those entrances have 2 or 3 steps, and in a lot of ways a railing would look sorta silly. BUT it would have made getting into and out of the house so much easier and safer for her! I have arthritic knees too, and I think safety and ease is more important than looks.  She has been trying for over a year to get someone to put railings in at all entrances to the house. She finally found someone who will come out in August. Hopefully. 

[Carrie12345]

I can’t give any design recommendations, but I’m pro-railings, lol.  My porch doesn’t “need” railings, but I resent not having them in bad weather and/or when my knees are acting up (as they’ve done all my life, not just middle aged, lol.)

[Amethyst]

Yes, I agree safety first. It’s not like we have a ton of visitors but most of my and my husband’s relatives are all older than us. Dh and I are in good shape now, but some day, God willing, we’ll be older, and maybe we’ll be the ones needing the railing. It just seems like if we’re re-doing the front step and walkway, now is the time to install a railing. 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Amethyst

[happi duck]

I'm another vote for railings!

When you have it fixed can the step go the length of the stoop?  Would that improve the look of railings?

[PeterPan]

If it’s only one step you just have someone there to lend an arm. If they widen the stoop then maybe. Isn’t necessary unless code requires it. You just lend an arm. Safe and makes a memory.

[Jaybee]

I don't have any examples, but I am very pro-railing. I have always been rather clumsy, and railings, even in places that are not ordinarily railed, give me added security, especially as I age. However, if family or guests would normally enter through a different door with an easier entrance, I probably wouldn't worry about it. (I.e., it was rare to never in our home growing up that anyone but salesmen came to the front door.)

[marbel]

Would something like this work?  Sorry I can't embed the photo:   https://www.etsy.com/listing/708492016/fucina-handrail-1-to-2-step-single-post

I also am pro-railing. We have a few steps going down a very wide walkway and I hate that there are no rails. 

[Scarlett]

7 minutes ago, marbel said:

Would something like this work?  Sorry I can't embed the photo:   https://www.etsy.com/listing/708492016/fucina-handrail-1-to-2-step-single-post

I also am pro-railing. We have a few steps going down a very wide walkway and I hate that there are no rails. 

That is so cute!

 

[Anne]

2 hours ago, PeterPan said:

If it’s only one step you just have someone there to lend an arm. If they widen the stoop then maybe. Isn’t necessary unless code requires it. You just lend an arm. Safe and makes a memory.

But that only works if there’s someone around to lend the arm!  If you’re doing this to stay in the house for the long term, I say safety over looks, and independence trumps everything!  

[Spryte]

12 minutes ago, Anne said:

But that only works if there’s someone around to lend the arm!  If you’re doing this to stay in the house for the long term, I say safety over looks, and independence trumps everything!  

Yes, independence!  
 

We have one step out the back door onto the deck.  We are installing a railing for my elderly mom so she can go out on her own to sit on the deck. Theoretically, someone is always here to lend an arm, but we want her to be as independent as possible. Every bit counts.  It’s not always convenient to pause what we are doing, too, and her physical therapist was discouraging it also.  Better to teach her to fish, I guess.  

[Drama Llama]

I am very pro railing.  We used to have a railing for one step inside the house, but now it's ramped (with a railing on the ramp), so I can't show you a picture.  

[athena1277]

I don’t have any railing suggestions, but have you considered fixing the sinking stoop so it’s not such a big step?  There are several companies near us that advertise ways they can fix that by adding something (I’m not sure what it is) under it to raise it back to the proper height.  That would probably be a good idea if visitors have trouble stepping up very high.

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, Anne said:

But that only works if there’s someone around to lend the arm!  If you’re doing this to stay in the house for the long term, I say safety over looks, and independence trumps everything!  

 

4 hours ago, Amethyst said:

We have some relatives that have bad knees that visit occasionally.

She originally said it was for visitors. Did that change?

[Jean in Newcastle]

2 hours ago, marbel said:

Would something like this work?  Sorry I can't embed the photo:   https://www.etsy.com/listing/708492016/fucina-handrail-1-to-2-step-single-post

I also am pro-railing. We have a few steps going down a very wide walkway and I hate that there are no rails. 

I went to Pinterest and searched for "railing for one step" and got a lot of similar type hand rails. 

[Amy in NH]

https://images.app.goo.gl/UP6NZ5k3HnuYzMsx8

[Drama Llama]

32 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

 

She originally said it was for visitors. Did that change?

If I'm visiting someone, I still like to be able to go in and out of their house independently.

[Amethyst]

5 hours ago, athena1277 said:

I don’t have any railing suggestions, but have you considered fixing the sinking stoop so it’s not such a big step?  There are several companies near us that advertise ways they can fix that by adding something (I’m not sure what it is) under it to raise it back to the proper height.  That would probably be a good idea if visitors have trouble stepping up very high.

Yes, we had someone out today to give us an estimate on fixing the problems with the front step and the walkway. He will be raising up the walkway so that the step is not so high. Hopefully that will solve all the problems. Dh is not really interested in a railing and from the pics I’ve seen, I don’t think they would enhance the look of the house at all. So, I’ll just lend a hand if needed. Thanks for the ideas, everyone!
 

 

[Wildcat]

I'm popping late to add that when we had a home inspection done pre-listing, the inspector about freaked that we didn't have a rail. He said if anyone tripped/fell, even solicitors that we didn't invite to the house, that we could be sued. It was something about a 'safety defect'.

That was ages and ages ago and now things are worse, where it's the insurance companies doing the suing/wanting your HO Ins to pay and not necessarily the individual. I will never have another front door without a railing on at least one side.

 

 

[Ali in OR]

We don't have a railing or a step; we do have a kid in a wheelchair. This may be prohibitively expensive, but if I had to redo a step anyway and was worried about ease of use for those with physical limitations, I would think about putting in a ramp. And when I say ramp, I mean just a cement path that goes from sidewalk level to front entry level. Our builder replaced the planned steps for our house with a nice sloping walkway for us--nice and wide, no steps at all, no need for a rail (and no extra charge at all for us).