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Stairs Calc

Balustrade

The complete railing assembly: handrail, balusters, and newel posts together.

A balustrade is the whole guarding assembly along the open side of a stair or landing — the handrail on top, the balusters or other infill below it, and the newel posts that anchor the ends and turns. Do not confuse the balustrade (the entire system) with a single baluster (one upright). Example: a staircase balustrade might combine a turned newel, twelve square balusters per flight, and a profiled oak handrail into one continuous run. As an assembly it must do the guardrail job: reject a 4 in (102 mm) sphere through the infill and resist a 200 lb (0.89 kN) load at the rail. The term is interchangeable with "railing system"; "balustrade" is just the more traditional, architectural word.

Try the calculator Baluster Spacing Calculator

Related terms

Baluster (spindle) The vertical infill posts of a railing; gaps must reject a 4 in sphere. Handrail The graspable rail along a stair; code height 34–38 in above the nosing line. Newel post The sturdy anchor post at the end or turn of a railing. Guardrail (guard) The barrier protecting an open edge; minimum 36 in high (IRC residential).

Stair calculators

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Baluster Spacing Calculator Enter your railing length and spindle width to get the number of balusters, the exact even gap and center‑to‑center spacing — checked against your code’s 4‑inch sphere rule.
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Written by the Stairs Calc editorial team. Methodology and code references: see our methodology.

Built and maintained by builders, drafters and engineers who plan stairs for a living — every code limit is transcribed from the published standard and cited to its exact section.

Last reviewed 2026-06-20 against IRC 2021/2024

Stairs Calc gives accurate geometry and checks it against published building-code limits, but results are estimates for planning. Codes are adopted and amended locally and change over time. Always confirm dimensions against your local adopted code and a licensed professional before you build.