Your Leather Handrail questions answered …
Yes, leather is a highly durable and practical product for handrails and should last for many years. Leather has a natural toughness, and rather than wearing out improves with age as natural oils from your hands condition the leather over time, especially with aniline leathers. For handrails, we frequently use treated, or pigmented leathers. These are very easy to maintain and keep clean, even in very light colours. A light dusting and damp cloth will remove any dirt or residue.
Overall, leather provides a more tactile finish, and a warmer and softer hold on a handrail compared to steel or wood.
If you’re looking for a new handrail, the cost will be based on the overall length you are looking for. Our prices start at £285 + VAT per mtr. This includes the leather, selected from our stock colour range (usually 5 colours), and your choice of bracket finish (6 finishes in our heritage style, with other bespoke bracket options available).
An example:
“I’m looking for a length of ‘dark brown’ leather covered handrail. The length is 2.2mtrs, I would like a round profile and antique brass brackets. How much will it cost?”
Cost:
£285 + VAT x 2.2mtrs = £627 + VAT (+ delivery charge, for this length around £30)
Your handrail will arrive covered in your choice of leather (dark brown, a stock choice), with leather end-caps on each end, a hand-stitch finish to the underside seamline, and the correct number of fitted brackets ready for screwing up into your wall in pre-agreed positions along your handrail.
Measuring your handrail is actually very straightforward:
- The minimum length you will require is measured from the nosing of the bottom step to the nosing of the top step. The nosing is the projected front edge of the stair. You now have your nose-to-nosing measurement. You need to now add on a little extension for the top and bottom …
- Extend the top measurement by 150mm – 300mm past the edge of the top step so that you have a comfortable amount of handrail to hold on to at the top of the stair, and do the same extended measurement of 150-300mm past the front edge of the bottom step.
- By adding the minimum length with the combined extended lengths, you have the overall length of handrail you need.
- Positioning the handrail on the wall: Now that you have the length of handrail you need, you need to know how high to position it on the wall. In the UK, handrails must be installed between 900mm and 1000mm above the ‘pitch’ line. If you were to look at your stairs ‘side-on’ you would imagine a line running along the top of your stair treads. Your handrail would then run parallel with this at a height of between 900mm – 1000mm above this line. The easiest way is to mark on the wall the new line of the handrail by running a vertical line up from the pitch line at several points up the wall (using a spirit level or plumb line) and join the marks together to show the new line of the handrail.
image courtesy of Jackson Woodturners
Yes you can. You have a couple of options:
We can either cover your existing wooden handrail in leather by sending it to our workshop, or if it’s too long to send to us, or can’t be removed, we would arrange to come to your property and cover the handrail in leather on-site. This process would also apply to handrails that are continuous, possibly over more than one storey, and incorporates turns and angles. Where site visits are required, the price/mtr will be higher.
With so many different suitable styles and colours of leather now available, you can literally choose any colour you want. This will allow you to incorporate your handrail into the design scheme of your staircase. Pigmented leathers, which are very easy to maintain and clean, and very durable, come in a vast array of colours, so don’t be afraid to select lighter shades from a colour chart. Your choice is certainly not restricted to black or browns! In addition to a wide variety of colour options, there are many embossed leather styles offering patterned finishes for even more drama! From basket weave to shagreen or crocodile-print you can certainly make a statement with your new leather handrail.
Yes. Just tell us the stock leather colour(s) you are interested in, and we will send out the swatch for your approval. We can also send non-stock colour swatches if you are looking for something outwith our popular colour range. If ordering a leather handrail in a non-stock leather, this will add an additional £120 on to the total cost. Specified leathers may incur an additional charge. All leather samples are free.