Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Around The House). This thread is read-only.
I have a deck on the back of the house which I’ll be putting a railing on next week. One side of the deck is 9′.
From what I’ve been reading is that the spacing between posts should be about 6′. But that would leave me with a railing of 3′ wide. Which I think would look odd.
Should I split the difference and have a post every 4.5′ or just run a single length of 9′ between posts?
Split it and make everything symmetrical. 6′ would be a minimum span for your railing. Not a requirement, more of a suggestion.
Also, always check any local building codes.
RickyMcGrath wrote:
1 hour ago, RickyMcGrath said:Split it and make everything symmetrical. 6′ would be a minimum span for your railing. Not a requirement, more of a suggestion.
Also, always check any local building codes.
On the deck I just built, we just split the difference. Any span under 6′ will be fine. It will look better as a 4.5′ span and will be rock solid.
I agree with the above,split the difference. Not only will it be stronger but it will look nicer and if it were me aesthetics are important.
Sounds good.
I’ll split it and post the pictures next week.
we use a 2×4 as a spacer with 1.5×1.5 spindle looks nice and always have a chunk layin around lol
o ya 6 ft gap lol forgot that part
Day One
Spent Saturday ripping up some of the rotten deck boards and a couple of others where the posts would be placed. Once that was all done, Took a trip to HD to pick up the supplies.
HD only had 8′ posts. I know Lowes had 6′ posts, but I didn’t feel like driving over there with a loaded truck and spend another 45 minutes in the store to get them. So needless to say, they were a little long.
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Managed to get all the posts set and the decking down along with all the trim rings installed before the day ended.
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Nothing like a Sam Adams to reward yourself for a nice days work. Deck looks good brother, nice work.
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Day Two
My wife really wanted the black balusters and after looking at all of the different options and individual pieces. I decided to pick up the pre-assembled kits to mainly save time. This wasn’t really the case in the end.
At the end of the project, it came out ok. But the kit has a tendency to rack very easily since the balusters are very loosely fitting in the dowel holes. Since the kit is already pre-made there is no real room for error.
The installation process is that you first need to center the assembly between your posts and then determine an equal distance between the balusters and then cut the top rail.
You then need to fit the top rail, level it off and then make sure the lower rail is not racked. You then need to mark the lower rail and then cut it. It wasn’t a 5 minute process, I wasted a lot of time with the assembly between the posts only to do a lot of fine tuning with it.
I think if I ended up using traditional lumber for the head and foot rail and then just bought the pieces that had mountable bases it would have gone a lot quicker.
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Looks good!
That turned out nice man. So what’s up next? A little stain?
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Yes, I need to head over to my Dad’s and get his gas powered pressure washer. My GreenWorks would do it, but the gas one would do it a lot quicker.
99_XC600 wrote:
Yes, I need to head over to my Dad’s and get his gas powered pressure washer. My GreenWorks would do it, but the gas one would do it a lot quicker.
That is something I need to invest in. The gas pressure washer we have at the farm is entirely too much for using around the house. I need something a little more manageable. Looking forward to seeing the end product!
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99 u got skills my friend!
That looks awesome bro. Good choice on the sam adams there,I like their summer selections this year.
No doubt. I love Sam Adams, they keep it interesting pretty much all year.
kruton wrote:
18 hours ago, kruton said:That is something I need to invest in. The gas pressure washer we have at the farm is entirely too much for using around the house. I need something a little more manageable. Looking forward to seeing the end product!
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I like the Greenworks due to the simplicity and the low price point. It’s good on Masonry and Concrete, but with decking, it will get the job done. It’s just going to take you longer.
I’ve seen that the electric versions are getting and better and better each year though.
Good progress. That turned out good looking, despite the tedious process. Also when you need to replace the other boards, there wont be the posts in the way, are those getting replaced as well sometime down the line?
And then there are cordless pressure washers, very handy, low use alternative.