Additional Stairway Railing?

[corvairhead]

Greetings -

New member, new owner, first post...

My wife has some mobility challenges and I'd like to help her out by installing a second hand rail for the inside stairs. I'd like to install another railing on the opposite wall like the one that's on the left side if possible. Two questions; Is the wood grab rail shown in the picture below available directly from Heartland or another source? Has anyone already done this and are there points in the wall to which I could adequately secure the railing?

Many more questions coming I'm sure...

Thanks in advance,
Reid, Marina & Buddy M.
2008 Heartland Landmark Augusta

 

[jimtoo]

Hi Reid,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and hopefully to the family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge if needed.

If the wall you want to attach the handrail to is an exterior wall, you should have no problems in locating the frame work with a stud finder. If you need to install it on an interior wall you can still find the studs with the stud finder, but being wooden and small I think I would call Heartland customer service and ask their opinion. Have the VIN handy so they will know exactly which unit your inquiring about.

I'm sure some of our other family members will jump in soon with more opinions and maybe someone has already done this.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

 

[JohnDar]

If you locate the railing you want, but can't match up pre-drilled mounting holes with the wall studs (the exterior ones are aluminum, by the way), you can mount a stained piece of lumber (oak) to the wall to bridge the studs and attach the railing to that. I seem to recall someone else asking about doing this a while back, but I don't recall their final result.

 

[TravelTiger]

Heartland can supply the rail. When I mentioned we didn't have one in our coach but saw they were added in the 2011s, they sent me one for free. Did not have screws, but had the screw caps. I removed a screw from the wood grab handle by the door and got similar ones at Home Depot.

E

 

[corvairhead]

Got an email response from Heartland today:

We do not install backers in the wall that would support a second handrail. You could contact Heartland at the # below and order a handrail that matches the one that is in your unit but before you mount it you would have to add backers in the wall.

I can't imagine how I would get in the wall to install a "backer", so JohnDar's suggestion of mounting a board on the outside of the wall makes sense except that it's not quite as "factory" looking as I was hoping for. What about using moly-screws to attach a railing directly to the aluminum studs through the wallboard? Any experience out there with attaching items directly to the exterior walls?

Reid, Marina & Buddy
2008 Landmark Augusta

 

[JohnDar]

The reason I suggested adding the mounting board was in the probable event that the predrilled screw holes in the railing won't line up with the aluminum studs. If they do, then toggle bolts would be my suggestion, with short "wings" since the studs are not all that big.

 

[corvairhead]

Just saw a picture of what appear to be wrought iron railings on another manufacturer's 5th wheel. I like the look of these.



If I'm going to have to come up with my own mounting points, I may look into having something like these made for my wife. Wonder how heavy these are...

Reid, Marina & Buddy
2008 Landmark Augusta

 

[Sandie]

Maybe something like those wrought iron ones can be mounted into the stairs?

 

[TXBobcat]

I found the same thing with some of the trailers at Gillette. As my DW and I walked through all of the trailers I found that with my bad knees I had a problem going up the steps in some of the trailers because they did not have a hand rail. My thought was if I were to buy one of these trailers how would I put a rail or hand hold on the stair way.

I don't know why Heartland does not put one on all stairs. I had to put one on my 2008 Bighorn when I bought it.

BC

 

[TravelTiger]

BC, our 2010 ElkRidge didn't come with one, but I noticed one in a 2011 model at the RV show. I took a reference pic and called HL customer service, told them I had bad knees and would like to order one like they installed in the 2011s. They sent me the handrail for free! Only hard part was determining the mounting location, and buying the right screws.

E

 

[donr827]

My BH 3055RL does not come with any hand rail. When I ordered mine I called the factory they agreed to put one on during the build process. I believe that they put additional backing in the area because it is solid.
Don