Inspection · guardrails
Checking a railing: 10 points
Before repainting or repairing a guardrail, take ten minutes. These ten checks need no laboratory equipment and often save a full replacement.
6 min · Updated 5 November 2026
A guardrail can be checked in ten minutes with a tape measure and a lamp. These ten points do not replace a laboratory load test, but they catch the defects behind almost every domestic accident: insufficient height, bars too far apart, a tired fixing. Unfold each point, walk around the rail, and note what fails before calling anyone.
When to check
Five occasions justify this check. On buying or selling a home, because the buyer inherits the defect. After ten years, when anchorings and paint start to tire. After an impact (vehicle, ladder, falling heavy object), because invisible deformation can precede a break. Before repainting, because paint hides cracks and repair should come first. And in a rental, as soon as there is any doubt about the safety of a window or a balcony.
The ten-point checklist
Each point says what to look at and the expected threshold. A single failing point makes the rail non-compliant: note them all before deciding.
Height measured at the finished floor
Measure from finished floor to the top of the handrail, at the opening. The minimum is 1.00 m (1.05 m outdoors or on a wind-exposed rail). Watch out for thick rugs and tiles laid after the rail: the real dimension always starts at the finished surface.
Compliant if ≥ 1.00 m · redo below thatLargest gap between elements
Find the largest opening, wherever it is: between two bars, between a bar and the wall, between the bottom of the rail and the floor. No opening may let an 11 cm sphere through. A tape measure is enough — measure three different places.
Compliant if ≤ 11 cm everywhereNo climbable element between 45 and 90 cm
Look at the zone between 45 cm and 90 cm above the floor. No horizontal rail or flat bar may serve as a step. An old rail with crossbars every 25 cm is a ladder: that is a design fault, not a matter of taste.
Compliant if clear or verticalRigidity and play
Lean firmly on the handrail at 1.00 m, then shake it sideways. The rail must take the load without visible movement at the base. A few millimetres of play at the top usually means a tired anchoring below.
Compliant if no perceptible playFixings and base plates
Inspect every base plate: rust, blistered paint, rust runs on the substrate, cracks in concrete or stone around the anchor. Check tightness with a screwdriver or spanner, without forcing.
Redo at the first tired plateAnchorings in tuffeau or stone
In old buildings, check whether the rail is fixed with expansion plugs: that is the number one cause of tuffeau spalling. Correct anchoring shows sound lime mortar around the hole and no star-shaped crack radiating from it.
Check first in old buildingsWelds and joints
Run your hand along the welds and look at grazing light: a crack shows as a shadow. Check feet, corners and handrail joints first, where loads concentrate.
Redo if a crack has startedCorrosion and paint condition
Look for blisters, chips and rust runs, starting at the bottom. On a galvanised rail, surface white powder cleans off; brown rust that pits the metal is more serious.
Touch up at the first chipHandrail and grip
The handrail must be continuous, at constant height and graspable: an adult hand should wrap around it or grip it firmly. A 40 mm flat is acceptable; a 100 mm wide profile is not.
Compliant if continuous and graspableFloor opening and landing
If the rail borders a stair opening or a landing, check that it runs continuously to the wall and leaves no open passage at the end. This is the detail most often missed on an otherwise correct rail.
Complete if discontinuousTaking your measurements
For a quote we need five dimensions and three photos. Dimensions: height at finished floor, total length, bar spacing, profile diameter or section, and the spacing of existing fixings. Photos: the full rail, one foot with its fixing, and a close-up of the bars with the tape visible. Add two facts that change everything: the substrate (concrete, brick, tuffeau, plasterboard) and any waterproofing or sill wall. A hand sketch with dimensions is more useful than a blurry photo.
Common defects
Six defects keep coming back on rails we inspect around Saumur. Rusty base plates, because water sits there and paint went on over rust. Spalled anchorings in tuffeau, from expansion plugs. Bars at 13 or 15 cm centres, inherited from the 1970s. Horizontal crossbars between 45 and 90 cm that turn the rail into a ladder. No guardrail at all on a low window nobody thought needed one. And rails fixed into lightweight partitions that hold because nobody ever leans on them — until someone does.
Repair or replace
Three cases. If the structure is sound and only fixings or paint are tired, repair: re-anchor, replace base plates, touch up. If the bars are non-compliant but the structure is good, partially rework: cut off the bars, weld new ones at 10.5 cm centres, refinish. If the section is too light, the metal is rusted through or the anchorings have spalled the substrate, replace: a new rail often costs less than three successive repairs.
| Item | Lead time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| On-site inspection visit | 1 h, 30 km included | €60 |
| Fixings and base plates rework | 2 to 3 h | €120 – €280 |
| Welding bars or handrail | 1 to 2 h | €90 – €250 |
| Paint refurbishment | Per linear metre | €45 – €70 |
| New guardrail, installed | From 1 m | €190 |
Indicative prices including 20% tax. The inspection fee is deducted from the rework quote when the work is entrusted to us.
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