First time to the forum - Hello!
I am in the process of making a new steel staircase to replace an old outdated old one. The stairs will eventually take thick oak treads with a custom steel/ wire railing and will be set against a white/grey natural stone splitface tiled wall. Quick photo attached to show the current state of the project - very much a work in progress (happy to discuss if anyone is interested).
I've opted to come back to the treads/ railing once the messy work is done (tiling, painting ect).
Having never done DIY like this before, what I'd like to ask is how would you recommend I attach a new handrail to the what will be a natural stone splitface tiled wall? I plan to fix plasterboard/ tile backer boards to the plaster skimmed block wall prior to mounting the tiles.
I'll need to mount to the wall itself though the tiles and backer board for strength but I am yet to see an example of where this has been done before. I'm sure this can't be that uncommon.
Finally on a side note, I am unsure whether to use hardibacker board or standard plasterboard as a tile backer. Both will take the estimated 25-30kg per m2 tile but hardibacker boards are significantly more expensive than plasterboard.
Any thoughts on the handrail would be very much appreciated.
Thanks Dan!