Deck Railing

Max & pony showing off the "before" shot

To date, the house project I am the most proud of is fixing the deck rails. Not only does it look better - but it's safer.

Our deck has multiple levels. You walk out on to a raised platform that then leads down to the deck proper.. The entire deck has horizontal planks as rails - except for the platform. That had vertical spindles (that had obviously been chewed on by the previous owner's dog) capped by a horizontal plank. Not horribly consistent with the look of the rest of the deck, and apparently not very safe.

I noticed early this spring that the upper railing was wobbly, so I stuck a few screws in it as a band aid and put it on my to-do list for the summer. One sunny, Saturday afternoon in September (during nap time) I decided to start the demo. It was way too easy. I didn't even need tools - I just kicked it down and hauled it away. That was more than a bit scary, thinking about just how rickity it was. Whoever installed it didn't use exterior grade wood or screws (and in fact used interior grade 1.5" finishing nails), so everything was rotted and/or rusted. (Just to reassure you, I checked the rest of the deck promptly after finishing this project, and everything else is fine!)

it's demo time (can't touch this)

To give a little credit, the posts were sturdy, it was just the rails that had issues. So I kept the posts, reinforced them with a couple of L brackets, and called it a day.

L brackets make it all better

... to be continued.