Deck Railing ( Wood)

Leeboy20 · Apr 17, 2010

We are going to build a 12x12 basic deck off our house with pressure treated wood, and i mean basic. Does anyone have an idea of a easy wood railing? Just plain and simple, and not blocking any view/light through spindles? Were amatures around our place.... :headscrat

1984GMC · Apr 17, 2010

Most places have a code on spacing for the spindles.

Salem747 · Apr 17, 2010

Spacing for residential spindles in BC is 4", the top rail has to be 40" high and the bottom one has to be within 4" of the floor. It is supposed to be able to take either 450 or 900# force, I forget which.

I did mine out of 4x4 posts and mortised holes out of the sides to accept 2x4s then screwed 2x2 pickets between the 2x4s on 4" spacing. The mortising was a pain but it looked nice because I just PL Premuimed the 2x4s in. If we had stayed there I would have put another 2x4 along the top to make it stiffer and a place to rest a drink.

Another thing I would recommend to anyone who has a deck or is going to build one is Ducan Dekmaster. It will cost you a bit but you will have a 100% waterproof deck, easy to clean the snow off in the winter, cool to the touch in that Kamloops sun and looks great. http://www.ducan.com/dm.php

The deck I built/rebuilt in Kamloops had Ducan on top and I was able to build a small shop underneath it.

larry_g · Apr 17, 2010

I don't know if it shows in the picture but I used 1"x2" mesh 3' tall wire. I hate pickets and the maintenance. This wire was spec'ed in the plans and met our code. Here we are only required to have rail if the deck is over 3' off the ground. There has been a lot of changes in the requirements for decks in the last few years so make sure that you are up on the local codes.

I realize you asked for wood but this is an alternative that is cheaper than wood and you can see through it

lg
no neat sig line

larry_g · Apr 17, 2010

Salem747 said:
Spacing for residential spindles in BC is 4", the top rail has to be 40" high and the bottom one has to be within 4" of the floor. It is supposed to be able to take either 450 or 900# force, I forget which.

.

Damn that is a high rating. Here it is only 36" high and 200# rating. How does a 2x2 get even close to holding those numbers?

lg
no neat sig line

regguy1 · Apr 17, 2010

Leeboy20 said:
We are going to build a 12x12 basic deck off our house with pressure treated wood, and i mean basic. Does anyone have an idea of a easy wood railing? Just plain and simple, and not blocking any view/light through spindles? Were amatures around our place....

Here's one I built in 2006, the accent panel is plasma cut steel with powder coat, I bought it online.

The top rail is just made from the deck boards, I didn't want a fat horizontal board on top.

Here's where I bought the accent panel:
http://www.jdubs.com/

This guy makes some beautiful stuff, check out the photos:
http://www.jdubs.com/balcony-panel-gallery.html

babzog · Apr 17, 2010

Here's some of a deck I built last year. A 4" ball cannot pass between the balusters and a 6" ball cannot pass through the triangle formed by the stair rise and run and the lower railing.

Justanoldguy · Apr 17, 2010

larry_g said:
I don't know if it shows in the picture but I used 1"x2" mesh 3' tall wire. I hate pickets and the maintenance. This wire was spec'ed in the plans and met our code. Here we are only required to have rail if the deck is over 3' off the ground. There has been a lot of changes in the requirements for decks in the last few years so make sure that you are up on the local codes.

I realize you asked for wood but this is an alternative that is cheaper than wood and you can see through it

lg
no neat sig line

That mesh wouldn't pass any code here.
The idea of vertical ballustrades is so kids can't climb them and fall over the top.
No gap bigger than 4 inch and horizontal lower rail must be no more than 4 inch of the ground. 1 metre (40 inch) top rail height as well. Safety is the reason.

MN BIANCHI · Apr 17, 2010

This is what I used:

THe spindles are 3/4" prefinished alluminum tubes that are made for this purpose.
Quick and easy.

PhantomEB · Apr 17, 2010

Now thats damn nice!

R6 Racer · Apr 17, 2010

They sell that stuff at Home Depot here too, in a kit no less. The 2x4's come with the holes for the spindles pre drilled.
Used it a couple of times ... I like the way it goes up & looks.
Good luck

Steve

Kevin54 · Apr 18, 2010

Along the lines of MN Bianchis railing (super nice BTW. :thumbup:

), I have seen some made from 2x6 treated and rebar spindles. I thought it look unique.

paramedic · Apr 18, 2010

if the deck is below 24 inches tall you dont need a railing at all here, if it is it has to be a minimum of 38 inches tall, hold 200 lbs of force in any direction and have no gap that a 4inch sphere can fit through.

NUTTSGT · Apr 18, 2010

When I built our porch, I had about 50' of railing to build. I cut a bunch of spacers out of 2x4 and OSB, screwed them to a 4x8 sheet of OSB to make a jig.

Leeboy20 · Apr 18, 2010

Hmmmm, do i need to get a permit build a 12x12 deck? Thems railings you guys are showing are pretty slick....

Salem747 · Apr 18, 2010

larry_g said:
Damn that is a high rating. Here it is only 36" high and 200# rating. How does a 2x2 get even close to holding those numbers?

lg
no neat sig line

That's cuz Canadians are Tall & Strong and drink too much!

paramedic · Apr 18, 2010

when you build a railing you always have to assume that some drunk fat person will sit, lean, walk on it.

larry_g · Apr 18, 2010

Leeboy20 said:
Hmmmm, do i need to get a permit build a 12x12 deck? Thems railings you guys are showing are pretty slick....

I would have to say only you can answer that. Each jurisdiction is different. Here if the deck is over 36" off the ground then yes we do. NO way for us good people spread about the world to know your design plans or local laws. Here I searched with the terms deck, my state and my county and found the regulations on line as well as standard building plans. If we follow the standard plans as to structure, material size, bolting, and other minium standards then all is good. I permitted and spec'ed the wire in the plan and had no problems. YMMV

lg
no neat sig line

Justanoldguy · Apr 18, 2010

Larry, you may have spec'ed the wire but common sense tells me that if a child can climb it easily then it's shouldn't be used. eg netting.

SteveU · Apr 18, 2010

I cut a couple spacers 3-1/2" & placed between each of my uprights as I was building it since I believe it is 4" code here also. Used 5/4 x 6" wide treated for the top & bottom and the verticals are premade 2x2's

larry_g · Apr 18, 2010

Justanoldguy said:
Larry, you may have spec'ed the wire but common sense tells me that if a child can climb it easily then it's shouldn't be used. eg netting.

I agree with you completely. This stuff will not be easily climbed.

lg
no neat sig line

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