Opinions on deck railings??

Looking for something non-wood, sturdy, and not crazy expensive.

Any recommendations?

Don’t know the cost but mine on a small deck seems sturdy and is white pvc. I know it came from Menards.

I’m building a deck this summer and will likely be going with an aluminum railing and screw a composite deck board to the top as a drink rail.

Just remember the railing is only as sturdy as the structure its fastening to. So you may need to add blocking to the underside of the deck.

B-man wrote:

Looking for something non-wood, sturdy, and not crazy expensive.

Any recommendations?

Good luck

Nothing real nice that isn’t crazy expensive

Aluminum is nice but is usually pretty expensive.

Westbury alum or composite

I’ve installed several of these.

Don’t cheap on railings do it right the first time and be done, aluminum best option in my opinion. No maintenance and will last forever.

Well…..I priced stuff out at Menard’s today.

For a 14×14 deck and stairs let’s just say I had sticker shock.

The “cheap steel stuff” would have been $2,500 for railings. The aluminum was $3,000+…..

Ended up buying aluminum spindles and going to use AC2 for the posts, hand rail and toe kick. Less than $1,000 going that route.

I wanted to go with all metal to avoid staining spindles, this will be a nice compromise.

Thanks for the input guys!

We got ours at Menards last year. I almost never purchase anything at Menards because of quality but this stuff turned out to be pretty decent stuff, and quality I am happy with. It is a Williams preassembled panel in aluminum. They were a pretty reasonable price as well. For an 8′ section they were ~$180. They have special stair sections, matching gates, and all the extra little do dads needed. I usually like to build things myself but for this cost it was just way too easy.

B-man wrote:

Ended up buying aluminum spindles and going to use AC2 for the posts, hand rail and toe kick. Less than $1,000 going that route.

Did that route once, never again. Masking all the spindles to stain was a NIGHTMARE!

munchy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>B-man wrote:</div>
Ended up buying aluminum spindles and going to use AC2 for the posts, hand rail and toe kick. Less than $1,000 going that route.

Did that route once, never again. Masking all the spindles to stain was a NIGHTMARE!

I’m only going to ever use a clear stain/sealer, not going to bother taping a damn thing

We just had the Westbury installed. They look great and super sturdy. For the big names the original quotes were at 100/ft installed. I thought about lining my deck with $50 dollar bills end to end and I almost puked.

We have glass panel railings installed for the full lenght of our house and property.
I’m thinking 150′. We purchase from menards 10 years ago and no issues.
Cleaning is easy. Very nice to never look through a spindle or railing.

I build a few decks a year, and I’d hate to use any treated product for finishing. If not aluminum, then PVC, or the classic cedar 2×4 top n bottom rail with a T for top, with black metal spindles. I know cost is big. Some of these “small” decks get over 30k in material pretty quick. But what it looks like in 3+ years is why you’d spend more.

Copper water pipe as the spindles.

mark-bruzek wrote:

Copper water pipe as the spindles.

Using galvanized EMT crossed my mind, the copper is a great idea too.

Yeah, I would use at least cedar, not just treated, aluminum spindles work well enough.

Yeah, I would use at least cedar, not just treated, aluminum spindles work well enough. Acq can be tough on aluminum.

I have a couple friends that used wire on their deck railings. I’m a big fan of them but am sure they are expensive also. But maintenance and not having an obstructed view would be nice.

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If International Building Code is enforced where you a building remember there is a 4″ sphere rule where no place can a 4″ ball pass through. That includes stairways so risers are a must and I find it easier to use a skirt board on the stair stringers.
I also do not like spindles going down to framing. That just traps leaves,snow, etc. from being swept off. I run a 2X spaced up 3 1/2″ from post to post to recieve the bottom of spindles. No need for it with glass or cable.
I have built my dream cabin / family retreat. Self preforming the GC and finish work meant that cost was not as much of an issue as being done “right”. After having done countless thousands of sq ft of decks as a carpenter and / or contractor I knew that I would frame with brown treated dimension lumber. I looked hard at composite. A professional painter talked me out of it. The fact that joist crown & warping (with composite you really see it) plus fading and heat on bare feet was what drove the decision. I was going to go with Cedar but was shown a brown treated 2×6 product from either GP or LP. Red Beard Lumber in Isle would know. Kerffed on the back side to fight cupping. Close to a full 1 1/2″ for stiffness. My experiance is that there is variation in width & thickness from length to length. IE The 12′ would not butt up to a 14′.
My painter buddy is going to glas bead blast my deck to open up the grain and the use what he says is the best stain / sealer on it. I know that the horizontal surfaces, especially the benchtops which really are the handrails since it just over ground height, will need to be recoated in a year and likely every 3 to 5 after that. Floor maybe the same but that is an easy job.
Just my thoughts. It is your $$$