How to fix balustrading problem?

[Theremin]

The good people who did some renovations our house before we bought it put the external balustrading on the wrong way - see attached pics. This is a safety issue because if our 18 month old drives her tricycle into it hard enough the batons will push off and she'll go through it and have nasty fall. We knew about this problem from the building inspection and got the sale price reduced to allow for rectification costs. But, now I actually need to find a way to rectify it.

So far I've come up with 2 options:

1. Take all the balustrading off and rotate it 180 degrees. My worry is that is going to be harder than it sounds! Also there are a couple of places where one end of the balustrading has been shaped (eg. to attach to a weatherboard) and so can't easily be reversed.

2. Another option would be to run some timber on the outside of the lower rail to lock in the batons. This would probably work, although is a bit tricky because of the angles and I'd also need to make sure water doesn't get trapped in.

All up, there's 20-30 metres of balustrade to be fixed.

Which if these options do you think is the best? Or any other ideas??

[OBBob]

I think it would be much easier to fit a strip to the outside. You can get filler profiles that are designed to go in the gaps between the verticles, which would resolve you concern about trapper water.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

It's not a problem with the top rail as well? Shouldn't be, but just thought I'd check. :wink:

Solution 1 would give the best results overall but, assuming each rail end is hand-fitted and not pre-machined, not only mean a lot of work but also likely to need replacement of some rails.

Solution 2 probably wouldn't pass inspection, unless you used coach bolts for fixing. As you said, it'd still leave little "wells" between each banister that'd trap water'n'debris and be prone to rot.

A 3rd way, would be similar to #2 but to fix the timber onto the top of the lower rail, scribing it around the banisters. I'd leave it overhanging the lower rail a bit to form a shadow line, not so much for cosmetic effect but to beef up the cross-section that's actually holding the ends in. It looks to be a bit tight there otherwise. :wink: This'd also take a lot of time but it should be straightforward to mark out and cut... if a little awkward at times. (And if you have a tilting table saw, it may be worthwhile to rip each piece of timber to have a tapered cross-section, so water will run off when it's all fixed in.)

[bugsy]

instead of having the one strip along the inside
change it to the outside.
So if a paling gets pushed it wont move out

[pawnhead]

I'd just put two galv pocket screws in the bottom of each baluster, skewed down into the rail on a 45.

[mic-d]

Now, you raise an interesting point here. Some builders prefer to do it this way for aesthetic reasons. Personally I agree, the other way around is likely to be more failsafe, however I've been working with a builder recently who likes to do it the way you have it, but we HANDNAIL hardwood balustrading with hot dipped gall nails and so is veryy sound.

Notwithstanding, if you want to rectify a potential problem I would not nail anything to the outside even if you are filling the gaps between balusters, you are only going to create a large amount of work for yourself and create wet spots for rot. I would be turning them around. Relatively simple for the post-to-post bays. For the ones scribed to the weatherboard, take them out, install a half, or full width post at the wall then cut off the scribed ends so it now fits into the new narrower width bay-if necessary take out a few balustrers at the ends and respace them to acheive a reasonable gap.

Cheers
Michael

[joe greiner]

Like John (pawnhead) says, toe-nailed screws would likely be the simplest fix. Probably need three screws: one each outboard of the nails (somewhat close to the edge), and one between. With a power driver and Phillips or square drive, it'd take less time, cost, and effort than most of the other options.

Joe

[les88]

You said the price was reduced so you could remedy this problem. Then I would either turn the bottom rail around, but it would be quicker to cut the bottom rail out in pieces to remove the picket nails. Make and install a new rail.
les

[Theremin]

toe-nailed screws would likely be the simplest fix.

Joe

What's a "toe-nailed screw"?

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

What's a "toe-nailed screw"?

skew-nailed.

[joe greiner]

Thank ye fer the language lesson, Skew. Still so much to learn about Austranglish. Sigh.

Joe

[echnidna]

Just drill 1/4" holes right through the slats and rail and fit some (mushroom head) 1/4" roofing screws and nuts. They'd be so unobtrusive they would be virtually invisible if painted to match the timber.