Loose wrought iron handrail and granite steps

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Seamus

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When we bought our house here in New Hampshire(1998), we had a mason remove the crumbling concrete front steps and put in granite ones, and we had a wrought iron handrail installed. 17 New England winters later, I noticed that the handrail is loose-there's a fair amount of movement from side to side, but it appears to be anchored into the granite, since I'm unable to pull it out. Any suggestions for reanchoring the rail? the mason drilled holes into the granite, and anchored the rail somehow. There's no 'skirt' at the base of the uprights.

Thanks,
Jim B

Stair1.jpg

Stair2.jpg

Stair3.jpg
 
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Neal,

I've attached them to the original message.

Jim
 
It's hard to say how he anchored them but you likely have rust. One fix might be to cut them off and have feet welded on so you could anchor bolt them down. Others may have better ideas.
 
Neal,

Thanks for the input-I was hoping that cleaning out the holes and pouring some sort of epoxy/cement might work, but I think it's time to punt and call somebody who knows something.

Jim B
 
looking at the steps.. you need laterial bracing.

in the picture i drew in a brace that should connect to the rise of the steps this will stop the sideways movement of the rail.

by stopping the movement,you stop the leverage from being aserted on the anchors.

the leverage will pull the anchors out over time

the other marks i drew are feet...with bolts/anchors to the run/ top of step

Stair1.jpg
 
You really need to figure out why it's moving. Is it rotted and weakened at the base or is it still solid but just loose in the holes?
If it's rusted out you may want to just cut it off and get shoes for the posts, which will need to be anchored to the steps.
If they're just loose in the holes, you want to clean out as much material from the holes and pack in Rockite Expansion Cement.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VBRB00/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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If there is side to side movement and the rods are put in thru holes in the steps you know there is nothing larger than the rod down in the steps. I think you could pull them out with a little help. Chances are they were set with something like the Rocktite and over the years water has got in there and the freeze / thaw has deteriorated the product. You will find some rust as well and if you used salt on the steps you would have speed up the freeze / thaw cycle.
When you try pulling up on them do you get a little movement? All three rods have to be worked up together. I have taken a C clamp and attached to something like that and then used a car jack to pull up against the clamp. You would want to go slow and just give each one a nudge and then move on to the next one. If you can get it out then you can clean up the iron work and also the holes and reset them. Use something like the Rocktite or pour some lead in the holes to hold them.
 
OP,
There is an anchoring adhesive you apply with a standard caulking gun. HD has it. It's not as durable as pouring lead into the holes, but more convenient for most people.
 
the original guy probably used a cementitious product (like rocktite) to anchor them & but didn't leave it crowned then sealed to encourage water to run off,,, leaving the 'whatever' low level encourages rust,,, doubtful the posts were properly coated before installation either - just a factory coat of paint,,, there's a 2-part sika product avail in apron/vest stores that will resolve this issue til rust finally wins out.

we just did 1 of these for a condo HOA Board

1 other thing - don't ***** about the product cost - if you want it done like a pro, use pro materials
 
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