I have a customer looking for a horizontal cable handrail system.
What have you used in the past and liked/not liked about them.
I have a call into the building department, I can’t find anything in our local code in regard to them so it may all end with them, but if not I need some options
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I have used CableRail, and the job turned out well. They are easy to work with.
thanks Gene I'll look into it
Maybe you can help, I called their 800 line and the lady I talked to didn't seem to want to be bothered by my questions.... Which in and of itself has me wanting to look at other options, but I digress.
Anyway, the situation is I will have a deck with 6x6 cedar posts at the corners and mid-span. I don't have time at the moement to attach a picture, but I have only one corner to go around. Do these somehow bolt in at the end of the run or do they run through the post, and if they run through the post how do you handle a corner and keep the cables at the same level?
Edited 11/8/2006 4:53 pm ET by CAGIV
Go to the Cable Rail website, and drill down into it to find most everything you need to know. They have specs and suggestions for all kinds of handrail frames, including wood. Installation instructions are there, also.
When doing a wood post arrangement, as you will see, a corner is done with two posts, and the cables go straight through each, then do a short diag on the backs to make the loop.
On the corner we did, we used a single post and offset the cables by 1/4" or so vertically. I like the look of the two-corner posts, though.
If you run into the "can't do it, forms a ladder" arguement, sometimes that can be overcome with a handrail that extends towards the person standing at the rail.
That inward curve makes it harder for a child to climb "up and over"
Adventures in Home Building
An online journal covering the preparation and construction of our new home.
I think I am imagining it correctly but do you have a picture?
try this
Oops, let me try again
http://jhausch.blogspot.comAdventures in Home BuildingAn online journal covering the preparation and construction of our new home.
Edited 11/8/2006 6:13 pm by jhausch
Here is another try on the picture
http://jhausch.blogspot.comAdventures in Home BuildingAn online journal covering the preparation and construction of our new home.
I've also used cable rail and found it easy to work with. The trick is getting the right connections for the ends. It's probably worth a call to their support staff to figure out exactly what you need.
I'm going to be using it for my next job too. I asked the inspector about the ladder rule, and he said the city uses IRC2003 and it doesn't have any rules about horizontal rails so it was fine with him.
One note--run the rails at 3" spacing, not 4" or more like you might with balusters. It's what the company recommends because even at full tension you can deflect the rails, so the 3" spacing keeps you close to 4" when stressed.
They aren't cheap though. Somewhere around $1500 for about 30 feet of rail, not counting wood or labor. Looks great though!
I just finished a horizontal railing system for a client. It looks fantastic, the client, a diplomat from Europe, is very happy.
A couple of things, we looked at the cable rail system. It is top notch, but at a material priced of ~$75 per linear foot plus $25-$35 per LF installation, the client could not afford the cable rail system and her other renovations.
We came up with a very attractive and less expensive alternative using 2" long - 1/4 " eye bolts, 9/16" bolts and 1/2" steel inserts from Lee valley tools for the hardware and 1/8" aircraft cable and 1/8 inch aluminum crimp end for the cable.
The steel inserts had a 1 1/2" lag portion and 1/2" tapped hole that fit the 1/4" eye bolt nicely.
We removed the oak spindles from the railing, filled in the shoe and reused the square posts. We then made a drilling template keeping the distance between the horizontal wires at ~ 3".
We drilled pilot holes in the oak posts, sunk the steel inserts using a 1/4" x 1/2" bolt and 3- 6mm washers ( a little smaller than the 1/4 washers) and a 9/16" driver bit in a drill. We rubbed the lags and the washers with a bar of soap, as we found that the fittings would heat up due to friction when we started to sink the lags.
Once the inserts were set, we looped the aircraft cable around each of the eyebolts and crimped both ends. We then tightened each eye bolt from the centre out to keep a uniform tension. Once we were happy, we tightened the 9/16" bolt on the eyebolt to the steel insert to maintain the tension and orientation of the eyebolt.
In the end, we painted the original oak posts and original hand rail using a Devoe professional white paint, used in hospitals and schools; as it had high washability and low yellowing.
All told, the material cost was less than $300 or approx $7/ linear foot . The only thing we had to rent was the crimping tool.
If I was to work from scratch, and knowing the posts were to be painted white, I would use Poplar( whitewood) or maple for the posts and the hand rail. I think if we used pine, the wood would be too soft and the rail and posts would eventually yellow.
One last thing, you should use extra large post hardware as you don't have the spindles providing any vertical support.
this might not work for your customer but it's something i'm doing alot of and it's what i consider very cost effective and gives much of the same look as cable...
i use 1/2 cold rolled steel run thru punched holes horizonal... with a small weld at each hole... I have also just used some very hard 3/8 steel rod the same way... @ less than $5 for 20ft sticks... it's pretty cost effective for me... spray'n the primer and paint isn't alot of fun but... yeah they have to be painted unless you are going for the rustic rust look...
I did check into cable at the local cable/crain rigging place... and they have every fitting you would need and seems it was maybe 25% of what the online cable rail type guys wanted...
good luck
p
Thanks pony, I'll look into it. Those cable places are sure as hell proud of their stuff..
Looks sharp though.