Railings part 2

Last week we looked at Deckorators balusters and accessories, we forgot to review Deckorators new aluminum kit railing product Aluminum Railing System  This kit rail system has a maximum span of 6' and comes pre-drilled for all the different Deckorators balusters. It also has a snap on top cap rail with no exposed fasteners. There is also post sleeves to cover 4x4 rail support posts. The top and bottom rails are basically a aluminum 2x4. The Aluminum rail system comes in black and white colors.

It will be interested in seeing what the price is of this system. If it is more affordable or about the same as the basic vinyl railings on the market it will be a good option on wood decks, the railings are the biggest labor in staining a deck.  Judging by the pictures they show it with (composite decks) it will be about the same cost as a composite kit rail system.

So back to this weeks reveiw of different deck railing ideas, we are going to do a basic overview of the main deck and porch railings we see here in Michigan. Treated pine is still the main choice for decks and railing in the metro detroit area deck and porch market.

Wood deck and porch rails

We generally build all of our treated wood deck railings with a 2x4 top and bottom rail and the metal balusters, Sometimes we add a deck board as a top cap which gives the top of the rail a continous look.

 Or we will run the rail post above the top rail and add a post cap to the rail posts as you see here in the picture on the right which is a cedar deck. Notice the rail pocket hole attachment method we use on all the cedar decks we build here in Michigan.

Here is the same basic treated pine railing with a deck board top cap, but with  2x2 wood balusters. This is on a handicap ramp we built in Macomb County Michigan.  On angle of the railings on the ramp,  it is harder to use the metal balusters,  so we went with the standard wood 2x2s.  In one variation or another this is the most common wood railing

The Pictures below are from the web

Here is a interesting railing,  I believe from Deckorators with stained glass inserts and mix of vertical and horizontal balusters. Also tiffany post caps

Here is a wood rail posts and a top cap rail used with cable rails

                                           Here is some baluster patterns.

                                                          Chipendale 

Sunburst

                                                                               New England style

                           Glass balusters

Thank You for reading our blog, next week we will again be looking at different railing ideas