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Vinyl deck railings

wooderson | Posted in General Discussion on May 28, 2005 05:02am

First of all, this is my first post on this site so I want to say thanks to Taunton and Fine Homebuilding for this site, and thanks to all who may reply with info for me.

I am building a deck for my parents, who are recently retired, and they want white railings.  They don’t want to have to paint them every couple of years, so we are leaning towards vinyl.

What are your opinions on vinyl rainlings in general and what specific brand is a good choice?  We have looked at FiberRail which looked pretty good.  The decking is going to be Trex Accents in Madeira color to match their maroon shutters and roof.

Thanks again. 

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  1. mike4244 | May 28, 2005 11:39pm | #1

    I like them myself. The rails I installed have galvanized steel inside of the top and bottom rail.They do not need paint, just wash them if they get dirty.Easy to install and maintain.

    mike

  2. User avater
    Sphere | May 29, 2005 12:44am | #2

    I installed some a couple of yrs back. They had alum. cores in the rails and posts.

    Looks fine still.

    Caution: cutting the alum. requires care, it needs a SLOW feed or the vinyl WILL crack.

    Also, the einstien helping me thought to install the blade backwards was a good idea...NOT...stripped the teeth and sent them flying carbide missles.

    Use a fine tooth carbide chopsaw blade and go easy on the chop. I think a wrap of tape on the cut line could help too.

      Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

    The Morphine    s eems  to do no good at all..I'd run all the way if I would not fall...

     

    1. User avater
      MarkH | May 29, 2005 03:30am | #4

      Where did the idea of putting the blade in backwards to cut aluminum come from? It cuts by friction melting the aluminum which flings molten hot aluminum all over the place, and usually makes a heck of a noise. I guess that's OK if you dont have the right blade, but I won't do it.

      1. User avater
        Sphere | May 29, 2005 05:06pm | #5

        I think it harkens back to alum.siding and vinyl ...I used a plywood blade ( not carbide) for a lot of that stuff...I guess somehow it got introduced and accepted.  Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

        The Morphine    s eems  to do no good at all..I'd run all the way if I would not fall...

         

  3. Bear | May 29, 2005 12:51am | #3

    I've installed alot of vinyl and PVC rails. They are great for outside use. No maintance and they seem to last. The big difference is in the core material. Some are galvanized steel, alum, or cedar. They can get pricey so check around for something to fit your budget.

    Bear

  4. Notchman | May 29, 2005 06:02pm | #6

    I've never dealt with the vinyl or PVC rail systems.

    But I'm finishing a new home at present with two fairly large observation decks that overlook a valley from the building site ridge top.

    The owners wanted glass panels rather than ballisters so as not to impair the view, so we went with a rail system by Crystalite, which is all powder-coated aluminum.

    I'm pretty insistent about a solid rail system and, from what I'd seen of some aluminum, composite and plastic systems, I was dubious.

    But the Crystalite system is very solid, clean, easy to install and looks great.  It comes in a choice of colors, including white.

    Cost for just over 100 lineal feet of rail components and the tempered glass panels was $3500.  Install of the posts and rails by me, took one day.  Two of us put in the glass panels in about 2 hours.

    I cut the aluminum rail components with an abrasive blade in my 12" chop saw....not sure how that would work with vinyl in the mix,  but the cuts do need to be nice and true on any of these systems.

  5. Piffin | May 29, 2005 06:21pm | #7

    I don't know that brand.

    There are good ones and cheap ones. The cheap will sag when the summer heat warms it or chip and fractrue when the winter cold stresses it. I have used Weatherbest which is a composite layed over with white PVC and reinforced in critical places with metal.

    You could also look at Fypon, but that is getting up in price.

     

     

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