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Stairs Calc

Newel post

The sturdy anchor post at the end or turn of a railing.

A newel post is the heavy vertical post that anchors a handrail and guardrail at the bottom, top, and any turn of a staircase. It carries the lateral load when someone leans or pulls on the rail, so it must be fastened securely into the framing — a wobbly newel makes the whole rail feel unsafe. The balusters run between newels. Example: an L-shaped stair typically has a starting newel, a turn newel at the landing, and a landing newel at the top. Code does not give a newel spacing table, but the assembled guard must resist a 200 lb (0.89 kN) concentrated load at the top rail, which is what good newel anchoring provides.

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. Guardrail (guard) The barrier protecting an open edge; minimum 36 in high (IRC residential). Landing A flat platform that breaks a flight or changes its direction. Balustrade The complete railing assembly: handrail, balusters, and newel posts together. Bullnose step A rounded starting step, wider than the flight, that wraps past the newel.

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.