Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Railing ideas for composite deck

I'd appreciate views from The Experienced Ones on choosing railings for a deck that will most likely be Weatherbest. It seems that not everyone automatically goes for the composite railings (sleeves or solid, whichever applies), I presume because of 1) cost and 2) structural integrity. (Re: #2 it seems following installation recommendations about support can reduce problems)

If I mix materials though, how do I
1) reduce maintenance needed for the railing and
2) ensure a pleasing match b/t the deck and rail material?

Appreciate the help.

barndog,
I'm in the process of having a screen porch built. Will start in May. I chose Weatherbest for my decking, but going with cedar railing with black aluminum balusters.
I plan to paint the cedar railings and porch to match trim color of my house, which is gray. I figure the gray/black railing will play nicely with my house. I haven't decided on the best color for my Weatherbest decking, still waiting for color samples to arrive.

In Summary/rational:
1) Painted cedar railings and porch reduce maintenance and ties-in with house.
2) Aluminum balusters reduce maintenance and has visual appeal (black
contrasts well with gray house/porch and matches black roof and light fixture).
3) Weatherbest decking color TBD, but open for suggestions?

Hope this helps.

jasper

Take a look at the bench pics I sent last night. My railing is composite (ChoiceDeck) and I used the gray even with the redwood color decking. You can get it in other colors, but it's a special order at Lowes and cost's more. My decision was to use the neutral color. In fact, if you look at the weatherbest website you will see something very similar in one of their pictures.

The only real drawback to using a composite railing is it's cost. The last Weatherbest deck I built (850 sq. ft.) cost the customer a bit over $18K for the deck. The 140' of WB railing added another $5800. (That's slightly over $41/ft.) Structural integrity is fine, as long as you get the 4X4 posts installed and anchored properly before you start installing the post sleeves, rails, cap and the pickets.

i'm assuming you are looking at the solid color weatherbest and not the crystal white (more on that later). solid railings are basically assembled like wood, using 2x6, 2x2 and 5/4 for the top rail. all of this is one of the solid weatherbest colors. oh and the sleeve and cap are the same material. one option i have seen is to use one of several brand aluminum powdercoated balusters. they generally cost about $2. each give or take a few dollars.

a cost associated issue raised by the other poster was a figure of $41 a foot. that is possible if you have a lot of waste. better planning, spacing of posts to avoid waste is a good idea. ask your dealer the sizes he carries in the 2x4s. another thing is the sleeve. it comes in either 54" or 108. if you cut the sleeve into 3 pieces, each are 36" and will do three posts. this only works if you have a rail with a flat top. otherwise, the post has to stick up past the rail which shoould be at 36". another way is to use some scraps to build a little skirt around the botom of the posts, thereby "cheating" the post sleeves up. if you are careful the cost of solid railing should be closer to $32 a foot. that is using 2x2 solid wb balusters. i'm not sure what it would come to if you used the aluminum ballusters.

getting back to cost: is the dealer you are buying from a "stocking" dealer? or is he special ordering the product. this can make a big difference. also, ask the dealer about the deck party deal. you get a few hundred dollars rebate by having a party so that wb people can button hole your friends and point out how nice the deck looks. they also pay for the food, beer, whatever and give you a couple hundred to buy something for a door prize which goes to one of the invitees.

i mentioned crystal white above. if you want a white railing, there is no better product than the crystal white. no vinyl can hold a candle to it. the proof is simply to put your hand on it. the feel is completely different than vinyl and it doesn't squeek. if, however you want a different color than white you are out of luck with weatherbest. monarch does make a very similar looking railing which comes in an earthtone. there was a deal early on with monarch to manufacture the rail for wb, but there was a falling out. the rails look so similar, the lawyers are involved. if you go with the crystal white, your cost possibly could be lower than the solid colors. again, this is subject to whether it has to be special ordered. if you want to shoot me message, I will tell you if you are getting a good deal.

you are probably no where near me and i'm not looking to sell you the product, but i happen to work for a stocking dealer and can tell you if you are getting a good deal or not. i don't want to put prices on this forum.

Thanks for the input.

Total rail length would be about 12' (two 4' sections, corner, then another 4' section) and totally decorative as the deck will be low. The cedar/painting option sounds good but I think I'll be doing something either matching or attractively contrasting the deck, as it'll be freestanding away from the house. It will also be below (unattached to) an existing tall deck made of basic PT wood, so will probably choose gray for the WB.

BTW, had already seen the metal ballusters and decided to use them, mixing the basic rod and a more decorative version for interest.

I haven't priced the railing. The 12' decking ran $28.25 per pc, for what that's worth. I'm in NC. I hadn't appreciated that a 108" pc would get me three posts' worth of sleeve. My current design has four posts but maybe I could cut that back by one--what length could I reasonably stretch to between two posts, assuming I use the WB railing material?

I think I need to calculate exactly how much material I need and cost it out. Tht may make my decision for me...

Thanks again

You can space the posts at 6', but with WB, or any composite, you want to add center support under the railing. That can easily be done by extending every 3rd or 4th picket all the way to the deck, or by adding a block of 2X4 under the bottom rail midway between the posts. If you choose that way, install the bottom rail no more than 4" above the deck. (Spacing it 3-1/2" above the deck with a 2X4 as the spacer at each end works well.)

jay_myself, $41/ft. for a composite railing is just what it works out to for a contractor in this area to install it. I'm in CA, where worker's comp. rates are the highest in the country. If I were in the Bay area, or So. CA, it would cost even more, because labor rates are a lot higher there.

wow, glad i live in the midwest where we work for $.75 an hour. (ha!) keep in mind the 2x4 pcs of solid WB only come in 12" sections. For effeciency, that translates into 6 ft sections. if you have 8' sections, you end up throwing away 4' pcs (or trying to make something decorative out of them)

An interesting combination was just pointed out to me by a commercial client. He is replacing a pressure treated deck with WeatherBest but was looking for something contemporary in railing. He liked the Crystal White railing, but felt it looked too "colonial". He's obviously right cause it is meant to look like old fashioned colonial painted rail. He didn't like the idea of the solid WB with 2x2 balusters cause it looked too ordinary. I had suggested using aluminum colored balusters, but that didn't do it for him either. He was looking more for something sleek like stainless steel posts and cable wire until he saw the price of it.

Then, he happened to look in the WB brochure. There, right on the inside cover was a picture of a deck located somewhere out west. It used the solid rail with cable wires. It's exactly what he wanted and I had never noticed the picture. It's not going to be cheap, but far less than the stainless steel stuff.

on a more practical note, I tell clients to put the money in the decking. if you can't afford higher end railing, go with cedar or even pressure treated. decking of pressure treated doesn't hold up but in a railing application it will not have as many problems as if it were a deck. Cedar, especially painted will last a good long time too. If, at a later date, you want to upgrade the rail, plan the spacing as if you were going to use a sleeved product like the crystal white or the solid WB. When that time comes, knock down the rail and put up the higher end products, using the existing posts inside.