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Porch railing volute failure

theslateman | Posted in Construction Techniques on March 27, 2008 11:58am

What are my options here for making this railing whole again?  Does anyone have experience remaking these? Would you be willing to duplicate them if I sent one off as a pattern?

What other advice can you give me? It’s a clients home that I do all her roof work. The metal porch roof this sits on needs attention too.

 

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  1. theslateman | Mar 27, 2008 12:02pm | #1

    A few more pictures of these.

     

     

     

    View Image

     

    View ImageView Image

    1. stevent1 | Mar 27, 2008 01:38pm | #2

      Walter,

      A millwork company that has CNC with a c-axis can make those. The volutes can also be made on a band saw and series of routers or a W.H. moulder.

       

      Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood

      1. theslateman | Mar 28, 2008 08:52pm | #10

        Chuck,

        One shop she checked into wanted to redo the complete she bang for the extreme long dollar.

        I think I'll take one apart and go to another shop locally.

        Thanks for your help.

        Walter

    2. Slateman | Mar 27, 2008 01:47pm | #3

      Are wood shop could do the work, here in Vermont, let us know.

      1. theslateman | Mar 28, 2008 08:53pm | #11

        Liam, Do you have a complete woodshop too ??

        Walter

        1. Slateman | Mar 28, 2008 10:02pm | #17

          Yes, my parter has a full wood molding and paint shop. CNC routers.  Did you want them fixed or replaced.  Is it one pcs of wood?  The shop is a little north of Burlington Vermont.  I have used the Abatron to before both filler and rot-stop filler, work good.   On porch rails and structural column.

          Edited 3/28/2008 3:15 pm ET by Slateman

  2. User avater
    Matt | Mar 27, 2008 02:02pm | #4

    If the easings look like that I can't see how some of the other rail elements wouldn't be at least in the first stages of rot too.   Personally - I'd be inclined to replace the entire top rail.  And I'd check other elements of the assemblies very closely.

    1. theslateman | Mar 28, 2008 08:54pm | #12

      Matt,

      The rest of the top rail is still solid with the exception of some softness where the joints are.

      Abatron will be used there.

      Walter

  3. mike_maines | Mar 27, 2008 02:10pm | #5

    That rot got started in the exposed end grain, where it usually starts.  The straight sections may or may not be ok.  It would be safer to replace the whole thing, but maybe not necessary.

    The guy whose shop is next to ours just did a whole fence with that detail for a site in Portland.  He laminated all the parts out of Honduran Mahogany, glued with Resourcinol and spray-painted before installation.  I can get you his info if you're interested.

    I'd be inclined to make it out of Azek.  Not the whole rail, it would have too much flex, but just that curved section.

     

    1. User avater
      Ted W. | Mar 27, 2008 03:09pm | #6

      Just thought I'd throw this in...

      Another option would be to rebuild them with epoxy. Dig out as much rotted material as you can, let it thoroughly dry, saturate it with MinWax wood hardener, drill and epoxy some steel rods  into it, then rebuild it with bondo. It would take some doing to get the shape just right, but you could do it on-site with locally available materials. --------------------------------------------------------

      Cheap Tools at MyToolbox.netSee some of my work at AWorkOfWood.com

      1. User avater
        Jeff_Clarke | Mar 28, 2008 08:44am | #9

        Its a perfect application for FlexTec epoxy where the wood isn't too far gone, and way cheaper than fabricating pieces.

        You can make a thin plastic 'template' of the railing profile to avoid 'freehanding'

        http://www.advancedrepair.com/architectural_epoxy/architectural_epoxy.htm

        Jeff

        Edited 3/28/2008 1:47 am ET by Jeff_Clarke

        1. theslateman | Mar 28, 2008 08:58pm | #16

          Jeff,

          I'm going to do some research on that.  Thanks.

          Walter

      2. theslateman | Mar 28, 2008 08:57pm | #14

        Ted,

        Abatron is my choice for epoxies, but I think some wooden parts must be fabricated.

        Walter

    2. theslateman | Mar 28, 2008 08:56pm | #13

      Mike,

      She won't want to use Azek  - believes what was used in 1914 should still work today.

      Walter

  4. mike_maines | Mar 27, 2008 03:41pm | #7

    I forgot, here's a guy we use for all our "unusual" woodworking stuff.  His name's Alex, he's in Woolwich--

    http://tidewatermillwork.com/

    1. theslateman | Mar 27, 2008 11:55pm | #8

      Mike and everyone,

      Just got back from a hard day laying stone roofing so I'll respond in a bit.

      Thank you all though for the help so far.

      Walter

    2. theslateman | Mar 28, 2008 08:57pm | #15

      Mike,

      Thanks again.

      Walter

    3. theslateman | Aug 20, 2008 12:39pm | #18

      Mike,

      Thanks again. I e mailed some pictures to the owner of the co. you linked me to.

      Once I get him a drawing he;ll give me a quote.

      Best regards,  Walter

      1. mike_maines | Aug 20, 2008 03:16pm | #19

        You're welcome!

         

         

        1. theslateman | Nov 19, 2008 12:54am | #20

          Mike,

          Went down to Tidewater this morning to pick up the pieces Alex made for me.

          I couldn't believe his shop set up !

          He did a remarkable job on the volutes and risers.

          I'll put pictures up tomorrow.

          Best regards , Walter

          1. mike_maines | Nov 19, 2008 02:16am | #21

            Yeah, not bad huh?

            I'll look forward to the pictures.

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