i am making a railing 26″ high. the design calls for crisscrosses, straight, diagonals and others. the dimensions of each piece are 11/2″ x2″ by length. i could cut the pieces out of clear 2×8 cedar which is the widest i can get without too much waste. first i rip them on the tablesaw and then through the planer. all the edges have to be square. the railing will be painted white. is clear cedar the right choice? there will be a 2×4 bottom rail and 2×6 toprail. thanks for any help.
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First thing to check is with your local building inspector about that height on the rail.
Like mathewson says, the height is no doubt going to be against code. That said...
I have to assume this is an exterior application? In that case cedar is a decent choice. If interior, you could use clear pine.
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the railing sits on top of a concrete wall , so height and spacing is noy an issue. my concern is the choice of wood for outside. btw i like your website. i need a lot of 11/2" x 2" pieces. i will use gorilla glue and stainless steel screws to put this thing together. thanks again for any help
is this a retaining wall?
no, just a decorative fence that spans 17' between columns.
I think you're okay with your plan. Just make sure about the spacing. The previous comment about a 4" cylinder fitting through applies in my area as well. Gorilla glue is a good choice. I personally prefer exterior grade wood glue but I'm not sure there more benefit either way, especially since you're painting it.--------------------------------------------------------
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one other thing, around here NY, you have to have pickets spaced at no more than 4" on center
Correct me if I'm wrong but I always thought it was that a 4" cylinder could not pass through them so theoretically they could be 5" on center with 1" wide spindles, by the way I cant think of a time I ever went that big but I thought that was the rule, also never had anyone question me on it either.
Also no one is gonna approve a 26" high rail, theres reasons why they made 32" min the lowest I ever heard of.View Image
The interpretation of the rules. Lowest allowed around here is 36". The 4" on center is what they use around here.
Love the celtic symbol!
That's interesting cause your in Utica and I'm in watertown area, less than an hour apart or so, and the rules are that a rail can be 32"-36" unless you get into second story type heights it changes to 36" only. I checked for sure and 4" cylinder is the case here for sure. I only speak from a residential point of view I'm sure commercial or public access rules are a little tighter.
I'm still pumped from game 6 how they kept pouring it on, and the crowd was awesome, they wanted blood. I loved it because if it was LA winning it all in a home situation the crowd would just sit there looking all cool, hoping the camera would catch them for a second. Celts fans on the other hand like to get rowdy View Image
What is funny is how the laws are enforced from one juristriction to another! The part that really confuses me is that towns try to enforce laws saying that the state mandates, only to find out later that the towns are the ones making the rules. ie. read in the Post Standard about a town that required wc and liability ins. before a building permit. Reporter looked into it, found no state laws requiring, just the towns. They were doing an article about Penn. Dutch that couldn't get permits because their religion does not allow.
It's funny that Celtic fans upstate have to deal with those idiot Knick fans!
Funny you mention that, the Amish are pretty well populated around here Ogdensburg walmart has horse and carriage parking, and their building practices have been an issue lately. They actually changed a few of the rules in at least one town,to get a C.O. because of them. Now you don't need a working toilet just a private.designated area for going to the bathroom, you don't need to have working lights, just no open ended wires,- they rip them out and scrap them anyways so thats not an issue.
I heard up way north in Morristown they town has been giving citations over no building permits and all that. They say their religion is against them and also going to court over the issue of building permits is wrong to, I thought they were talking heavy fines possiblly leading to jail time.
It seems like quite a predicament for everyone involved. As far as the ones closer to me they pretty much get left alone, Its a riot to see one going down a busy street and they come to Watertown everyday.
From what I understand they are getting pushed out from Pennsylvania because of the same type of issues also, expansion and running out of land. I'm not sure how I feel about them, mostly I feel we should just leave them alone, let em be, that's all they want, but one could argue If I need to have inspections, pay for permits, ect.. so should everyone. They have to and do pay property and school taxes, and It must be tough to come up with money for that, I sometimes see a woman and two kids set up all day with a little stand selling bake goods, and I know the men do some block work for about 2 dollars a block, also hand dig foundations. Its a tough call and I think locally its gonna come to a head soon.
WOW I sure rambled on for a while
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But it was a pretty interesting ramble Danno. I'd be curious to hear more about the whole situation. Perhaps it's worth a thread of it's own.View Image
I believe they buy permits, the problem is that some towns require insurance which they don't have. So if no ins., no permits!
The town that had the problem near Syracuse, did away with the requirement for ins., problem solved. Did create another problem though, it gave them an advantage, over contractors with ins..
The work I have seen them do, is nothing special, in fact leaves much to be desired.
Ive seen block work that was better than most and carpentry that was pretty sad, who knows what youll get really, they have a whole different thought process than usView Image
Do they really frame for like $2.50 a foot? And the 'regular' framers have to compete against that? And carry insurance while the Amish don't? That'd make me nuts in no time. Who am I kidding? I've got to compete against the illegal Brazilian crews here myself.
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Edited 6/28/2008 10:04 pm ET by dieselpig
I havent really heard about the framing I know they charge 2 dollar a block for foundations and the one I saw was really pretty good
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages/?msg=106398.1View Image
Cedar is an excellent choice if you have the budget for it. I think I recently paid about $50 for a clear cedar 2x6.