I need to replace a railing that sits on top of a stone wall. The wall has an 8″-10″ deep cement cap on it, approximately 20″ wide and 10′ long, with two vertical iron pipes set into the cement with a matching horizontal pipe tying them together. The wall is more than 50 years old, but has been repointed a few times and is in relatively good shape. The railing, however, is bent and rusting and not asthetically pleasing or safe. I am considering cutting the pipe flush with the cap, and attaching new vertical supports with a plate and anchor bolts drilled into the cap. Am I compromising the cap by doing this? Since the bolts will be vertically oriented, how can I seal the plate to the cap prevent water intrusion?
Lastly, any recommendations on where to find the railing supports and hardware – I’d ultimately like to use some type of cable for some of the horizontal cross pieces.
Replies
I don't know the answer to your question, but will bump this up so someone with a clue could chime in.
Bump
Adam
For commercial grade architectural railing components, try http://www.JuliusBlum.com.
How about using the existing posts and sleeving them with new pipe rail?
It sounds like the existing concrete cap has enough mass to take the load of new supports bolted (epoxy anchors) to the concrete cap. Some factors to consider, though. What does the railing have to resist? A car? pedestrians only (which means any member of the railing has to resist a minimum 200 lbs horizontal load)? What is the wall made of, and is the cap connected to it?
If you want it to last longer, use solid wrought iron. The hollow tube traps moisture and will rust from the inside out.
Installing something into the cement cap might split it, whether by rust expansion or expanding anchors.
If replacing the pipe railing with a new pipe railing is a viable alternative, then go find a welder. He/she can cut out the horizontal members, and also cut out the vertical members ( but should leave some stub height on the verticals). Have the welder fabricate a new railing and weld this back in place.
If the old railing lasted nearly 50 years and did the job it was designed for, then dontcha think the new retro grade would accomplish the same thing?
If you want a different look altogether, then unless the verticals are totally shot (rusted out) at the base cap, I would leave some of it stubbed out and attach new posts to these stubs in some manner. If you plan on drilling new holes into base cap for anchoring new posts, then use a 2 part expoxy adhesive to anchor said bolts. Don't use anchor sleeves.. because,as was mentioned earlier..anchor sleeves could possibly facilitate cracking.
Davo