Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Scared to tell husband I changed my mind

I'm scared to tell husband I changed my mind on the railing I want for our deck. I thought I wanted to go with wrought iron so he cut off the 4x4 posts and decked over them. Well, I just met with a welder and was shocked at how expensive the iron railing is.

Am I stuck? Can he still build/attach wooden posts and railings even though there's no 4x4s? It's not a large area....it's an upper deck about 5x11 that steps down to a lower, larger deck. The only railing we have to have is on the upper portion (kinda like a balcony), equates to 11 ft of railing and a portion along the 3 steps down to the lower balcony.

Any ideas/tips will be greatly appreciated! I want to get as much info as possible before I go to him with my goof.

Thanks so much!

Lori:eek:

There are plenty of ways to attach railings without 4x4's; the house we used to own in NC didn't have protruding 4x4's and had bench seating incorporated in the design.

Husbands expect wives to change their minds unless they're newlyweds.

Surfed and found this:

Deck 10: Installing the Deck Railing Tutorial (http://www.easy2diy.com/cm/easy/diy_ht_3d_index.asp?page_id=35780129)

Just Googled "deck railing designs".

There are some less expensive wrought iron options besides having someone fab it from scratch. You might want to look at Fortress Iron railings...

My wife is a walking, talking Dodge Truck commercial.....you know...."the rules have changed"! You can still install 4x4's as newel posts, it is just that they now must overlap the outer part of the deck and be bolted into the outer rim, or holes must be cut and the 4x4's inserted and bolted to the rim joist.

Either way I think it is great that you are here looking for options before breaking the news to your hubby! Kudos to you!