Rod Railings Northampton MA

With steel rods and stock rails, you can build a safe and profitable balustrade

by Kim and Linda Katwijk



Cable railing has a wonderful, inconspicuous look, but it also has a few drawbacks. For one, horizontal cables form a ladder that is dangerous for children to climb. And although vertical cables are safer, installation is more challenging: It's labor intensive, there are more cables to tighten, and it can be difficult to build rails that are stout enough to resist the tension.

After I installed vertical cable railing on two decks, I knew there had to be another option. My creative juices began to flow, resulting in the vertical-rod railing system described here.

Steel Rods
For the balusters, which are about the thickness of a pencil, I use 1/4-inch-diameter rods made either of stainless steel or of plain steel that I have powder-coated locally. The standard powder-coat color is black; the rods can be custom colored, too, but the advantage to black rods is that they virtually disappear when you view a landscape through them. For water views, stainless steel rods have a similar effect, as their silver color blends with the silvery appearance of the water.

Obtaining the rods will take a little initial legwork — you can't just go to any lumberyard and pick them up off the shelf. You'll need to find yourself a good metal-fabricating shop or a steel supplier.

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