Close a gap in the otherwise-solid stair railing?

[pconroy]

I could use some suggestions for how to close these gaps in the stair railing. The house is almost 25 years old.  These gaps seem huge for moisture related shrinkage, and in the wrong direction.

These are the only two gaps in the railing. The large one's about 1/4" , the small one about 1/8".

The railing is still solid. Pulling on it, it doesn't move much! Maybe 1/32 or less.

I'm thinking that I could possibly rig up a way to close them with a clamp, but with the railing still solidly attached to the walls and stairs, I'm not sure how much other damage I might do pulling them 3/8"!

My only other thought would be to fashion a gap filler out of similar maple, stain and slide it in there.

Does anyone else have a suggestion?
Thanks!

[jteneyck]

I think those gaps are the result of the walls shrinking/moving/whatever.  No way the railing shrank in length that much.  Whoever installed the railing didn't use any connectors in the joint I can see into, and that made it easy for it to open up.  I would remove the screws holding the railing to the wall brackets and reinstall the railing with connectors in the corners.  There are several options.  Where it's not visible, you can use glue and screws with plugs.  Where it's too obvious to go that route, you can use dowels and glue.  There are special railing connectors, too, that you could consider, like this.   However you do it, get the joints tight first and then reattach the railing to the wall brackets.  

John

[lincmercguy]

I agree with jteneyck's approach. Any kind of gap filler is going to look out of place. His method will have a cleaner result.

The right angle rise seems like kind of a crazy design to me, but I can understand not wanting to redesign it to fix that issue.

[jteneyck]

I agree with jteneyck's approach. Any kind of gap filler is going to look out of place. His method will have a cleaner result.

The right angle rise seems like kind of a crazy design to me, but I can understand not wanting to redesign it to fix that issue.

That right angle rise might have been driven by code.  You have to have a continuous handrail w/o interruption, except where it meets a newell post.  And the handrail has to be a constant height between 34 and 38" IIRC above the nose of the treads.  So the only way to meet both requirements on those stairs appears to be the one they used.  Sure looks goofy though.  

John

[pconroy]

You are correct - its code here. I'll try your approach. Thank you!

[lincmercguy]

A 45 degree incline would make more sense if it needs to be continuous, but I know code and making sense don't always align...