How to build a glass deck railing

How to build a glass deck railing

by A Person | Published on June 13th, 2009, 8:37 pm | Advice

The problem - the old deck railing was rotting

and the design was ugly and blocked the view

I wanted a railing with glass panels so that we could see the view. There are prefab aluminum ones but I like the look of wood. I needed a source of the 6mm tempered glass panels - custom sized ones were prohibitively expensive and then I hit on the idea of using glass shelves. These I got from Ikea.

The railing must be 42" above ground by code so I cut the posts to 42", with the top bard that brings it up to 43"

I notched the posts to take the 2 x 4 top rails. I made a jig for the router

The bottom rails are fastened with brackets. I cut grooves 25mm deep and 10mm wide in the rails to hold the glass. At this stage I also drilled holes through the bottom rails to let any water that gets past the caulking to drain out

The glass rests in the bottom rail and the top one holds it in place

The space between sheets and posts must be less than 4" by code, so I had to add some vertical posts on the 6' sections

The glass is held in place with caulking top and bottom and I also filled the bottom groove with caulking.

The top rail is covered by a 1.5" x 6" board and then I sanded and coated the wood with boiled linseed oil

The finished job:

I like linseed oil for weatherproofing cedar. That table is over 6 years old and with a fresh coat of linseed oil each summer it is as good as new

Wow that looks great.... Would break in about a day at my house... but I envy the possibility....

Doesn't putting up a glass railing kinda defeat the function of having a railing. I'll also bet you'll get tired of cleaning that sap and other things getting on that railing pretty quick. Other than those two things it is an interesting idea.

The purpose of the railing it to stop people falling off. 6mm tempered glass meets building codes for that purpose and there are many commercial glass products. The interlocking wooden rails are actually stronger than the aluminum systems, and it worked out to be about 60% of the cost too.

Yeah, I'll have to clean the glass.

Seriously cool....

Now are you going to replace the floor of the deck with glass too? Now that would be something.

If I wanted a nice view of the joists and junk under the deck I might.

It's not the grand Canyon skywalk

But I do plan on refinishing the deck floor in a sand colour.

Ever since I viewed the House of Sand and Fog I've wanted to build one of those viewing decks like they have out at the beach.... a two, or three story deck that let's you peer out over everything.... Of course I don't trust my engineering skills.

Cool idea, but the wider panes of glass it seems would restrict a lot of airflow.. and to me cleaning it would seem like a beeeatch. Otherwise, great job!

Nice job on the deck railings. I have been looking at doing a similar project on my deck. I have a couple questions, how did you attach the post to the decking? and since you bilt the railings is there anything you would have done differently?

I used these cast brackets, they came with 8 large stainless steel screws to secure the post to the bracket and four stainless lag bolts to secure the bracket to the deck.

I could have bolted the posts to the outside as the old railings were, but this did a neater job.
There's not much I would change. Instead of rebating the top rails into the posts I could have used brackets like the ones I used on the bottom rails but it wouldn't have been as strong. For a lower deck it wouldn't matter.

What State are you in. I believe Parma (Cleve, OH.) only requires 36" above the deck with less than 4" spacing (as you mentioned). I need to confirm this so I pass inspection. Your rails look great!

dsmith77 wrote:What State are you in. I believe Parma (Cleve, OH.) only requires 36" above the deck with less than 4" spacing (as you mentioned). I need to confirm this so I pass inspection. Your rails look great!

He's in Oh Canada!

The code for things like deck/stair railings are pretty similar anywhere that has building codes. They may specify 4" minimum spacing between railings or 100mm, but for practical purposes it's the same.

The height of the top of the railing for a raised deck (in my case over 5' from the ground) must be at least 42" in most jurisdictions. 36" does not sound safe to me for anything other than a low deck, although it does seem to be within Ohio code. Remember the code specifies the minimum, you can always make it safer. People frequently die from deck failures.

Ohio Code

SECTION 312 GUARDS

312.1 Guards required.

Porches, balconies or raised floor surfaces located more than 30 inches (762 mm) above the floor or grade below shall have guards not less than 36 inches (914 mm) in height. Open sides of stairs with a total rise of more than 30 inches (762 mm) above the floor or grade below shall have guards not less than 34 inches (864 mm) in height measured vertically from the nosing of the treads.

Exception: Guards are not required where a protective bar is installed 34 inches to 38 inches (864 mm to 965 mm) above the porch or deck on the side of the screening having access thereto. The bar shall be capable of resisting a horizontal load of 50 pounds per lineal foot (730 N/m) without contacting the screen and be a minimum of 1½ inches (38 mm) in height.

Porches and decks which are enclosed with insect screening shall be provided with guards where the walking surface is located more than 30 inches (762 mm) above the floor or grade below.

312.2 Guard opening limitations.

Required guards on open sides of stairways, raised floor areas, balconies and porches shall have intermediate rails or ornamental closures which do not allow passage of a sphere 4 inches (102 mm) or more in diameter.

Exceptions:
1. The triangular openings formed by the riser, tread and bottom rail of a guard at the open side of a stairway are permitted to be of such a size that a sphere 6 inches (152 mm) cannot pass through.
2. Openings for required guards on the sides of stair treads shall not allow a sphere 4 3/8 inches (107 mm) to pass through.

People frequently die from deck failures.

Next time I'm leaning on a railing, 30 stories up... I'll add that to my fear of heights...

Deck railings do fail

however decks are often not properly secured to the house and simply pull away.

This is more dangerous.

Source With nails, the deck may fall without any warning signs. Yet, bolts aren't without their own challenges. In fact, lag bolts had been used on an elevated porch on a Chicago apartment building. When that porch collapsed on June 29, 2003, 13 people were killed and more than 40 were injured. Inspections showed the lag bolts were actually bent. "If you don't get it exactly right, they (lag bolts) are worthless," said David J. Kupets, a partner with Kupets & DeCaro, the Chicago law firm representing several victims of the collapse. "There's a lot of detail about attachments, but building codes and construction documents still don't give an appropriate use of ledger board with masonry structures." He likens the lag bolt failure to an improperly installed expansion hanger for a large piece of art. The hole in the wall gets bigger and the hanger cannot expand enough to establish a rigid position.

I googled for a Mike Holmes facepalm... but no go....

Since its been a while since you installed these rails, I'm wondering if you had any issues with birds crashing into them? When are considering glass rails for our deck but I've heard birds can be a major problem by crashing into the glass and cracking it. Have you noticed that to be an issue?

No. We do live in trees and birds have flown into our windows on several occasions, never fast enough to break the windows - and not usually fast enough to kill the bird. I was rather annoyed when just after I had cleaned the upstairs window a bird flew into it and crapped all over it. We have stuck cut outs of raptors on the glass- it helps but it doesn't completely prevent it.

The glass I used for the deck is 6mm toughened glass which will withstand an impact with any bird flying under its own power. Chicken guns are another matter

We have a raised deck (10') with a 30` glass panels facing green space. Even though we put planters in front of the glass we get about 15 - 20 dead birds a year.

I have just installed the glass railing similar to the original post. I bought SMOKED glass at Ikea for most of the deck (approx 20"wide), and then clear glass (10") wide that overlooks the pond and pool. Hopefully the birds wont be flying that low. No hits yet fortunately, and I have a bird that likes to build a nest in my bar that sits on the deck. I will post pictures shortly as I am still finishing the top rail.