Wow! How did that stairway ever pass inspection? In any event, this is a custom job. You'll have to call in a stair contractor and they will likely have to drill into the treads to mount balusters. Thinking some sort of curved iron railing with matching uprights is the way to go. Or possibly a curved stainless railing with cables between the balusters.

This won't be inexpensive, sadly.

Hi Sabrina... the previous owners built the stairs and lived there (or the son did) for 50 years. Now we are just trying to bring it to code, close and then figure out what we really want in the space, maybe a spiral staircase. Or, maybe we can make these work for us.

We are considering drilling into the treads and the curved railing, but wonder about loosing the space on the treads. We are thinking to use pipe fittings or the cable idea.

Appreciate you thoughts and other ideas you may have.

how were you able to buy the house and the previous owners not rectify that staircase? seems to me they should have had to foot the bill for it.

(unless you bought the house as is)

in any case, you'll need a qualified stair guy to custom build something for you, while abiding by your state codes.

it might be best if you consider redoing the treads w/something different and larger, since attached a railing is going to eat up some of that tread width.
replace the treads with the same color wood, and then you could do the cables

Cool stairs! To keep the treads from getting narrower, attach the balusters to the underside of the treads, not the top.

I came to suggest something like housson depicted -- if you use custom wrought iron, you should be able to do most of a curve with just a couple of supports, and they could probably be run to the floor or attached to the outside of the treads to preserve step width.

Thank you Sammy - I like this idea and it looks like the application that houssoan posted in the "log cabin" picture above.

see the short railing here?

Yes, we are looking at an application like this, acm, but the hand rail does need to be longer than your image and a continuous piece to be code. Thanks for keeping the ideas flowing!

I have seen balusters attached to under/outside edge of stair and loops in balusters at top edge then marine grade roping looped through for railing. Not sure this would meet code in this house but would work and not be super expensive. I will try to find picture. If you have to meet 4” separation of balusters you would drape rope accordingly.

The rope idea probably won’t work because you can apparently use for secondary side only. I found a few pictures for inspiration but this is not a easy,quick or cheap fix.

To pass code, any solution would require continuous railings on both sides with the top of the railing between 34”-38” above the nose, and balusters that don’t leave a separation of more than 4 inches. Even with those changes, it’s not clear that the treads heights are uniform enough to pass code or that the pitch of the stairs conforms to code. if it were me I’d try to close on the deal, and then immediately put in a permanent solution...ideally a whole new staircase rather than wasting time and money on a jerry-rigged fix. Are you really being prevented from closing because of the stairs?

HI Kudzu, thanks for the details. We are prevented from closing on financing the sale. We can cash buy it and fix later, but that comes with higher costs to access the cash. We have those same code details you provided and are interested in putting new stairs in later.

The inspector did not call out the treads or pitch, we just need the hand rail (s) to pass.

I had the same idea, @Flo Mangan—rope. I’ve always thought that it was a really nifty way to DIY a handrail/guardrail on the cheap.

Is removing the “steps” an option?...must you have access to the upper floor?...

Where you're getting the money from consider a bond that you are going to replace the entire staircase?

As is they use up too much floor space...steps or “ladder” attached along the wall seems more efficient...

The dang staircase is really a work of art. Wonder if you could get an exception of some kind with a date certain to remediate. Tricky for sure.

No quick. No easy. No cheap. That’s a major expensive alteration to even start to bring them to current code. That should have been part of the inspection, and on the sellers to pay for.

Is there any way to pass on buying the house? Or get 50K from the seller in escrow?

Thanks so much for the ideas... we are working all angles! @houssaon can you please let us know about the type of mounting brackets used on the log cabin image? We are having trouble locating those that mount under the tread and attach to the elbow joint.

The house is on 20 pristine acres and is a once in a lifetime purchase. There are other cash buyers barking up the seller's door. She wants to sell to us and we are in escrow; she has agreed to allow us to come and make repairs needed (the only other item is to repair an old deck - we are good here). We need to add the handrails for our financing to close. If we don't fix, we go to cash which is more costly for us (hard money for half) then we'll refinance.

Before you go to the expense of adding handrails, find out if the stairs themselves will meet code even with rails. If not, it's better to replace it all.

I thought you were the sellers. No way should you do anything to those stairs until you are the owners. Once you do the current owners could easily decide that you are not the buyers. Depending on where you are getting the cash would be to purchase. Rebuild the stairs then refinance.

I agree with joseph..only 2x6 or2x8’s...not 2x4...this will carry you thru however long you take to resolve the issue...if you remove the whole set of stairs in one piece it might be possible to use it in or outside for a decorative purpose(a plant stand?)..(steps to a tree house?)

Can you have heavy duty, thin wire attached from the ceil , varying lengths all the way to the floor, and attach a hand rail to that? Thick ship rope, thick log chain? Could look modern art installation-ish. After you pass then you figure something else out.

Remove it and put in a more standard staircase with a pretty banister. This staircase is already creating a problem for you, so remove it, find another use for it and get your house closed. The steps were probably built way before the current building codes and, depending on the local inspectors, you can get into a highly frustrating situation. Do what will get you into your new house, and in this case, it’s a standard staircase, with standard treads, so you get the go-ahead to close. Your bank holds the cards here.

There is far too much tear-it-out-do-it-over here on Houzz. Close and cruise please.

They are cool, but where do they lead to? Hard to tell if there is an actual livable space up there from the pic. Perhaps you could remove them and put in a ladder. It might pass inspection at a cheaper rate. Then take your time figuring out how to reinstall them in a code compliant manner.

You could remove what's there and something like this built in a day.

Check local building codes -- do you need a traditional railing or just a handrail? If the latter, can you hang a black metal pipe one from the ceiling?

You can buy shower rods that are sturdy enough for pull ups such as might be used in a nursing home or assisted living residence for handicapped people. You can buy curved shower rods, including double ones. You can buy curved pipe for bathroom hand rails as healthcare accessories. Yes, it would require some custom work, but a pipe hand rail hung from the ceiling might actually could be done.

https://www.google.com/search?q=handicap+strength+black+metal+pipe+curved+shower+rod+&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiVzMWk_JnsAhXVnnIEHbm1AIUQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=handicap+strength+black+metal+pipe+curved+shower+rod+&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQDDoCCAA6CAgAELEDEIMBOgUIABCxAzoECAAQQzoECAAQHjoGCAAQCBAeOgQIABAYULX8A1jM4gRg_cMFaABwAHgAgAGuAYgBhCKSAQQ1MS4ymAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWewAQDAAQE&sclient=img&ei=Jj55X5WhCNW9ytMPueuCqAg&bih=654&biw=1366&client=firefox-b-1-d#imgrc=m4JJEBegZT2hDM

suezbell I would like to point out the OP's comments above. it was mentioned "the hand rail does need to be longer than your image and a continuous piece to be code.". Most codes require the continuous even if there are decorative elements along it in most jurisdictions.

Seabornman has the answer.

I would construct from ceiling to floor the supports and horizontal ballisters, add rails. with the total plan of removing the structure immediately after move in!

JJ- True, as long as their are spindles or plywood sides added...

Since I'm scared to death of heights, there's no way I could ever use these stairs.

Elaine-

The house is for sale because the previous owners killed themselves falling down the stairs...;-)

Wow! I would have just changed the stairs - but that's me!!!

If this was my house first thing I do is take the stairs out and make a big bonfire and install code-compliant circular stairs.

IMO code compliant circular stairs are non existant where I live I love those stairs but I think to make them awesome is going to cost big bucks. I think maybe something like this might pass

Circular stairs are quite expensive and require careful attention to details for good installation. They do take up less space in terms of their footprint however at the top, special provisions are required and must be planned very carefully. Stairs are not simple. You also appear to have some built-ins beside this stair. Those need to be considered too.

Where do the stairs lead to?

The tear-em-outers here are overlooking the power of grandfathering. You may get some sympathy from inspection if these are kept. Once you tear them out, it may be very expensive, like floor-plan-change-add-an-addition expensive to get new up-to-code stairs installed.

I understand that OP needs it to be cheap until closing because this is a lender requirement (not unusual) and if it is fixed before closing, it becomes a fixture and stays with the property even if the buyer doesn't close.

CONSIDER: A solution to this would be a rehab type loan rather than the typical purchase loan. Benefit to the buyer is they don't need to resort to expensive hard money type loan as mentioned up thread. Also it gives the buyer the TIME to figure out a permanent solution. The buyer can close right away on a rehab loan. The disadvantage to a rehab loan is that the interest rate is slightly higher than your typical purchase mortgage. Something to explore.

Seabornman shows what I meant when I used the term "ladder." Something that could pass inspection and be a placeholder while you figure out how to get the cool stairs back in and under code.

Better be sure what inspector will approve. Also, look at any structural issues. The main support log appears to run way back on the structure.

It might be worth your time to get a local building inspector inside the house to ask what will get an ok. I am sure the sellers will cooperate for another visit. It’s in their best interest to get this done right.