Deck Railings Installation
Deck Railings Installation
One of the visible features of your deck is the railing as it can be seen from every angle. The railing plays both a practical purpose and an aesthetic one. It adds beauty to the deck while it protects you and your family. There are plenty of materials and designs to choose from. You can choose from a simple design to a rustic or even a contemporary one but it should also fulfill its safety purpose and match your style of the house.
Deck Railing Design
The first things you have to think about when choosing the design of your deck railing is the style and the shape of your home. You can add contemporary hardware or use highly polished top rail in a contrasting wood in order to create a more modern look for the purpose of updating the look of the house. You can use contrasts and stains to add style and dimension in combination with the rustic style of your house. You can achieve a Cape Cod feeling by adding a shabby chich whitewash finish or you can add geometric designs to suffuse your basic deck with personality. By incorporating unusual materials like wrought iron or Plexiglas, intricacy and style are added to your design.
Safety Concerns and Measurements
A railing is a must for decks raised above ground level. The railing should have a recommended height of 36” to 42” inches and, according to building codes, no more than 4” inches should be between the balusters. This is to prevent children from slipping their heads between the balusters. A great deal of precision is required in measuring for baluster placement. First, the distance between posts must be measured and then written down. Then, the width of one baluster (you need to know this) must be added to the wanted spacing between balusters (usually 4”). In the case of 2” wide balusters, the total measurement for each baluster adds up to 6”. Now, you need to determine how many balusters are needed between posts by dividing the distance between the posts by the baluster measurements.
In order for the railings to be straight, the installation spots must be marked by clamping the top and bottom rails together.
Installing the Railings
Each post must be set against the joist and secured accordingly with the hardware of your choice. Carriage bolts are the most basic and quite secure and are the best for a simple railing.
The next step is a matter of design. You can choose to put together the sections of railing before anchoring to the posts only if the balusters fit between the top and bottom rails. This method can also be used when installing and outside rail. A different method is to join the top and bottom rails to the posts and then join the balusters.