Deck Railing Designs Explained

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How to design great railings for your deck... The deck railing designs you choose can enhance or detract from your house.

Consider each railing component and how it can be used when you design your deck. The components of deck railing designs are posts, top and bottom rails, and vertical or horizontal balusters, sometimes called pickets.

The character of your railing design will come from the variations that you can find among these three components.

Believe it or not, there are many, many design permutations you can devise.

Different Deck Railing Designs

You can design your railing so that posts can be mounted on the exterior of the rim joist and rise above each section of top rail to draw attention.

Or posts can be set into the inside of the rim joist and the posts either protrude above the top rail at corners – to define the look of the deck’s periphery.

Wood deck railings with a continous top rail

Or a smooth uninterrupted look can be achieved by having a continuous top rail over the post tops.

Another simple deck railing design alteration you can use is to vary the size of each component.

Or use different materials such as a colored sheet metal cap over the top rail or paint the posts, balusters or top rails different colors to create emphasis.

Railing Design Concepts

Here are some basic concepts of railing designs to keep in mind when you are trying to create your perfect deck railings.

Posts that protrude above the top rail at each section draw the eye toward them. If that is intended, then detail the post or dress it up with a cap. Or make every second post larger or wider.

However, a continous top rail will tend to define the perimeter of a deck more noticeably.

Wide balusters or pickets tend to create a more closed in heavier feeling. This might just be great if you aren’t trying to take advantage of a view or the rest of your home’s architecture has heavier structure to it.

Or consider using thinner pickets creates the perception of openness and the view is accentuated. You could also design alternating groupings of narrower and wider balusters to create some visual contrast.