Stair and Porch Railings in Lebanon, TN

Five Local Historic Districts

Lebanon adopted a historic preservation ordinance in 2013, became a Certified Local Government in 2017, and now has five local historic districts. The Square became a local district in 2019; the Cumberland University and Greenlawn districts are covered in detail in the city's design guidelines, which also name West Main Street and East Spring Street. Inside a district, or on a local landmark, a property owner needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission for any alteration, and the guidelines say a COA can be required even when the work needs no building permit. That is the key Lebanon difference: a like-for-like porch railing repair that would need no paperwork in most towns may still need the Commission here. It meets monthly.

Match the Railing to the House

The guidelines ask owners to match the design of porch railings and stair railings, build porch stairs and floors from the same material, and not to replace historic wood features with modern pressure-treated dimensional lumber. What a match means depends on the district. Greenlawn is bungalows, Colonial, Tudor and Spanish Revival houses and Ranch homes of the 1920s through the 1950s. The Cumberland University district is older: Neoclassical, Queen Anne, Folk Victorian and vernacular houses from before 1900 into the early 20th century. A simple rail suited to a 1950s Ranch stoop is wrong on a Queen Anne porch, so a porch railing here starts with a close look at what the house had.

Code and Licensing

Title 12 of Lebanon's municipal code adopts the 2018 International Residential Code and its appendices, with local exceptions for sprinklers and air leakage that do not touch guards or handrails. The document is undated, so we confirm the current edition with Building and Codes. Wilson County is not a Home Improvement license county. Around Cedar City, from the Square out along US-70 and US-231, we also handle baluster swaps, interior railings, handrails and deck stairs.

Lebanon Railing Questions