Where to Buy Wood Porch Railing??

[LeftyTom]

Jerry, will there be a test on Monday?

[Gofor]

Tom: I apologize for the acronyms. Any treated lumber you get from the Borg now will be treated with the ACQ (Ammonia Quaternary Compound) type treatment. It is considered safer than the old copper arsenic which actually really protected the wood for many years. Everything now is going biodegradable, which means mother nature will have her way much quicker.
Its really all a conspiracy between our elected representatives and the building contractors to ensure they both have plenty of our income in future years. It all started when they outlawed chlordane for termite treatment. Of course, that was a conspiracy, too, 'cause old motor oil works just as well if you don't have water flowing under the foundation. Not to worry, tho. The Aztecs determined all human life on earth would be wiped out in 2012 by a big meteor, so that is when they ended their calendar, so you really only need to worry about that porch rail lasting about 6 more years.

Go

(wonder what response this post will bring)

[Mark Anderson]

if the aztec calader last untill 2012 we need to find out what they treated it with, and use that.

[LeftyTom]

Gofor, no ned for apologies. I found the ACQ mentioned on a few Web pages. After my trip to BORG, I was searching the reaches of the info hwy. I was curious about the difference between KDHT and KDAT, but didn't find a clue.

[GregSmith]

I made a 10' railing for my front porch a couple of years ago. I used treated deck parts from the borg. I dressed it up a bit with some router bits so it wouldn't look like 2x4's nailed together (like the original that I replaced). I used deck screws to hold it together. I cut a dado on the bottom of the top rail to keep the pickets from twisting. Painted with some latex and it's done OK so far (didn't realize how dirty it was underneath until I took this photo ).

[LeftyTom]

Greg, you may have saved me from a big mistake. I was thinking of putting a chamfer on the upper side of the bottom rail, so most rain will run off the rail. I'd leave a flat in the middle of the bottom rail, wide enough so I'd run a screw thru the bottom of the lower rail into the balusters. I thought of doing the "flip-side" for the top rail, and rounding the top edges.

So I think it better run the dado in the top rail, dado the bottom rail, and add filler wood in the bottom dado once I have got things together. I may add filler in the top rail dado as well, depending on how well work flows.

I got plenty of scrap 2x4, so I can adjust my design and setup.

[Travis Porter]

I did see railing assemblies at the Lowes in Wake Forest that were 8 or 10 foot long today.