Hi,

I have just built a small landing out the front of the house we are
renovating. I want to put timber railings between the posts.

See the picture, http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...chmentid=42342
I want to put railings between 1 - 2 and 3 - 4 (four is the wall).
Between 2 and 3 is where the stairs will be.

I want to put the railings between the posts (not on top). My question
is how do you attach them to the posts? I need a solution where you
dont have to go from the opposite side of the post (cause I have to
put it in to the wall).

Thank you for your help!

On 19 Mar 2007 22:22:17 -0700, "Feldaspar"
wrote:

Hi,

I have just built a small landing out the front of the house we are
renovating. I want to put timber railings between the posts.

See the picture, http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...chmentid=42342
I want to put railings between 1 - 2 and 3 - 4 (four is the wall).
Between 2 and 3 is where the stairs will be.

I want to put the railings between the posts (not on top). My question
is how do you attach them to the posts? I need a solution where you
dont have to go from the opposite side of the post (cause I have to
put it in to the wall).

YOu're only talking agout 4 right?

You could use toe-nails, nails put in at an angle, from the side
usually, first through the rail and then the post.

You could use a right-angle bracket, but do that nicely. A neighbor
had a deck made and the jerk used wide galvanized brackets all over
the place, and maybe one wouldn't see them but it's a deck and half
the time people more than a foot down and looking up at the top rail.
It looks terrible. But one bracket painted brown with the nail heads
brown or painted brown wouldn't look too bad. Oh, yeah, he didn't
get the nails in straight either, so the heads didn't lay evenly on
the bracket. I asked him his prices when he was just starting, but
made a point to see the deck after it was done. Terrible. I don't
think the owners even notice what's wrong.

And my favorite, for originality, if nothing else, you could in the
front half horizontally of the timber and the post, drill a hole and
put in a double screw-ended wood screw, use a wrench or vice-grips to
get it started in the post, make sure it's going into both, then twist
the timber to tighten it and lock it in place with a toe-nail in the
back side. I haven't done this and don't know how hard it would be to
get it to come out just right. The big advantage would be no sign of
a toe-nail from the front.

I'll bet there are other ideas.

If you haven't done toe-nails before, and gotten good at them, I'd
suggest drilling the holes in both pieces, somewhat narrower than the
nails. It will prevent splitting, but more importantly, it will keep
the nails from going off course. Use a nail set to seat the nails so
there are no hammer marks. Oh yeah, the guys who did that deck left
a lot of those, too. (Guys, will those swell and disappear? It's been
a couple years. I should go check.) I can imagine my neighbors
recommending these guys, and my being disgusted, depressed and angry
after they did my job. There is no substitute for looking at the work
a contractor has done, at least wrt to mistakes that can be seen.

Maybe you could use long thin screws instead of toe-nails.

I've never done this stuff to the standards I have now, but plan to
build a deck this summer.

Yours looks good.

Thank you for your help!

BTW, if you want the stairs to land on the sidewalk, since the
sidewalk bends, I think you'll have to make a little triangular
platform between the two posts. Not so hard.

Feldaspar wrote:
Hi,

I have just built a small landing out the front of the house we are
renovating. I want to put timber railings between the posts.

See the picture, http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...chmentid=42342
I want to put railings between 1 - 2 and 3 - 4 (four is the wall).
Between 2 and 3 is where the stairs will be.

I want to put the railings between the posts (not on top). My question
is how do you attach them to the posts? I need a solution where you
dont have to go from the opposite side of the post (cause I have to
put it in to the wall).

Thank you for your help!



I used 3" deck screws "toe-nailed" into the posts from the bottom of the
rails. I drilled pilot holes to make life easier.

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:06:40 -0400, willshak
wrote:

Feldaspar wrote:
Hi,

I have just built a small landing out the front of the house we are
renovating. I want to put timber railings between the posts.

See the picture, http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...chmentid=42342
I want to put railings between 1 - 2 and 3 - 4 (four is the wall).
Between 2 and 3 is where the stairs will be.

I want to put the railings between the posts (not on top). My question
is how do you attach them to the posts? I need a solution where you
dont have to go from the opposite side of the post (cause I have to
put it in to the wall).

Thank you for your help!



I used 3" deck screws "toe-nailed" into the posts from the bottom of the
rails. I drilled pilot holes to make life easier.


Mortises. Cut a 2" deep hole exactly the shape of the rail
in the posts against the wall. Cut an identical hole
all the way through the posts flanking the stairs.
Slide the railing through and put a screw down from
the top of the posts, and cover it with a post-cap.

What the hell is with post 4?

--Goedjn
the post at each end.

Goedjn wrote:
On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:06:40 -0400, willshak
wrote:

Feldaspar wrote:
Hi,

I have just built a small landing out the front of the house we are
renovating. I want to put timber railings between the posts.

See the picture, http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...chmentid=42342
I want to put railings between 1 - 2 and 3 - 4 (four is the wall).
Between 2 and 3 is where the stairs will be.

I want to put the railings between the posts (not on top). My question
is how do you attach them to the posts? I need a solution where you
dont have to go from the opposite side of the post (cause I have to
put it in to the wall).

Thank you for your help!


I used 3" deck screws "toe-nailed" into the posts from the bottom of the
rails. I drilled pilot holes to make life easier.


Mortises. Cut a 2" deep hole exactly the shape of the rail
in the posts against the wall. Cut an identical hole
all the way through the posts flanking the stairs.
Slide the railing through and put a screw down from
the top of the posts, and cover it with a post-cap.

What the hell is with post 4?

--Goedjn
the post at each end.


Are you telling me that I should undo what I have done and do it your way?


--
Bill
I am a peripheral visionary.
I can see the future, but it is off to the side.
Steven Wright

Goedjn wrote:

Mortises. Cut a 2" deep hole exactly the shape of the rail
in the posts against the wall. Cut an identical hole
all the way through the posts flanking the stairs.
Slide the railing through and put a screw down from
the top of the posts, and cover it with a post-cap.

Cutting a through mortise where the exposed end is facing the stairs?

What the hell is with post 4?

It's not installed yet. He leaned it up against the house so you'd
get the idea.

To the OP: There are many ways to do it, some more attractive or
easier to do than others. In your situation I'd probably use some
railing brackets on the lower rail (since you don't have the clearance
from below and toe-screws from above don't look that great), and toe-
screw from underneath the upper rail. You local lumber yard or a big
box store will have rail brackets for vinyl or composite railings and
you can use those.

R

On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:01:24 -0400, willshak
wrote:

Goedjn wrote:
On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:06:40 -0400, willshak
wrote:

Feldaspar wrote:
Hi,

I have just built a small landing out the front of the house we are
renovating. I want to put timber railings between the posts.

See the picture, http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...chmentid=42342
I want to put railings between 1 - 2 and 3 - 4 (four is the wall).
Between 2 and 3 is where the stairs will be.

I want to put the railings between the posts (not on top). My question
is how do you attach them to the posts? I need a solution where you
dont have to go from the opposite side of the post (cause I have to
put it in to the wall).

Thank you for your help!


I used 3" deck screws "toe-nailed" into the posts from the bottom of the
rails. I drilled pilot holes to make life easier.


Mortises. Cut a 2" deep hole exactly the shape of the rail
in the posts against the wall. Cut an identical hole
all the way through the posts flanking the stairs.
Slide the railing through and put a screw down from
the top of the posts, and cover it with a post-cap.

What the hell is with post 4?

--Goedjn
the post at each end.


Are you telling me that I should undo what I have done and do it your way?

I thought he was talking to the OP, who hasn't done anything yet. It
may take getting used to but a lot of people are addressing the OP,
even if they don't address him by name.

Sometimes they snip the text of the person they hang their reply on
and sometimes they don't, especially if they want to keep the stuff
before his stuff.