A Cost-Conscious "See Through" Deck Railing

Last week I showed off a new deck which I recently built near Asheville, but there's one aspect which deserves its own post: the "see through" deck railing made from livestock fence panels.

The problem with building new porch and deck railings is that Asheville's building code restricts openings in the railing to a 4-inch maximum for safety reasons. Traditional pickets get in the way of the view when they're spaced so close together.

Some people use glass railings, but they can be expensive and hard to keep clean. You can also choose steel cable railings, but they can be expensive, too, and in this case they were a little too modern for this rustic home.

Fortunately, we found a solution that fits the bill: livestock panels.

I got the wire panels at Tractor Supply, where they said that livestock fence panels are very popular for deck railings. There are several kinds, made with different-sized openings between the wire, in order to keep in different kinds of animals. "Goat Panels" have the right-size openings to meet building code standards.

The materials for this railing cost about the same as a traditional railing, but the installation was much faster than it would have been if I were installing pickets.

Zooming in closer, you can see how it was all put together. The posts have holes drilled into them to accept the wire ends of the panels. The tops and bottoms of the panels are held in place by wooden batten strips.

Once it's all screwed together, it's very firm and sturdy. You can sit in the deck chairs and look right down into the yard, which is really nice for keeping an eye on kids or pets.

The panels wrap around the corner and follow the railing down the stairs.

As you can see, they're totally unobtrusive.

We don't just do deck railing installation... we also repair railings, porches, decks and stairs in the Asheville area. If your deck or porch needs a little TLC, give us a call. We'll be glad to help!

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