Home DIY: Installing Porch Railings

When we moved into our house, one of the first things that we replaced was our porch railings. Our front porch has several steps up to the front door and all the previous owner had was a flimsy rod iron railing on the one side. The railing was not stable and definitely was not up-to-date. When shopping around for porch railings, we noticed that there were several different designs of railings you can choose from. There are ones made of wood, aluminum, and brass. We decided to go with a wood railing that was quite simple but traditional in style. The railing has two horizontal bars going across and a top cap rail to hold onto. There is a post at the top of the stairs and one at the bottom. It’s not a fancy railing like some of the ones that we found, but it does it’s purpose and it is stable and was a lot cheaper.

The first thing that you have to do is measure the area of the porch where you are going to put up the railing. Measure the area twice, just so you know that you are correct on the measurements.

We found our porch railing at a local home improvement store. It was basically in a kit and all my husband had to do was read the directions to put it together. It came all together with the needed supplies to install the railing.

Once you get your new railing, you have to take down the old railing. Make sure when you take the railing down you do not damage the porch.

If you purchase a pre-made porch railing like we did, all you have to do is follow the directions that came with the porch railing. The porch railing that we purchased was very easy to set up. It took a couple of nails and a couple of bolts into the porch and the railing was ready to go. If you choose to make your own railing, this is when it becomes more difficult. You will need to cut the wood yourself and make sure that the railing in level and that everything is secure on the porch.

After you have installed your porch railing, make sure that it is secure and stable and you do not see any broken or splintered wood. You should not be able to move the railing even when lot of pressure is applied to it.

Even though, the railing that we purchased was pre-made and was already treated, we decided to stain the wood to match the color of brick on our house. We stained the wood with just a basic wood stain for exterior wood. Make sure that you do this on a day were you know it is not going to rain, because the stain will take several hours to dry and if it rains it will run off the wood. Once the stain is dry, your new porch railing is ready to go.