Broken Handrail

Momoko found a piece of metal on the stairs leading to our basement. Turns out it was a broken bracket that was holding the top of the handrail. This has happened before. So I knew they had replacements at Lowes. When I visited Lowes, the employees could not tell me exactly where to look. They had me checking wrong aisles. Finally I tracked it down myself. I bought two brackets for good measure.

At home I grabbed some 4x4 posts from my shed. I propped the loose handrail up to get access to the wall behind it. Then I completely removed the base of the broken bracket from the wall. Then I installed a new bracket in its place. I used my own screws with wall anchors. I tried as best I could to use an electric screwdriver. It was still painful. And the clasp that ties the bracket to the bottom of the handrail would not stay flush.

I decided we needed a second bracket at the top of the stairs. I installed this one at an angle, so the clasp would be oriented properly to attach flush to the bottom of the handrail. It was hard to install the second one with the first one already holding the handrail in place. I put the bracket as high as I could. It was still a bit under the handrail. So I folder a piece of paper to act as a shim to make a good contact. Don't know whether these 2 brackets will survive the heavy weight people put on the handrail. However 2 is better than 1.