Deck Railing
 

I am in the process of replacing my old weather beaten pressure treated pine deck boards with tigerwood. As part of the makeover, I am replacing the pressure treated railing posts with camaru and tigerwood railings, with aluminum balusters. I was originally going to attach the railing to the outside of the rim joists, but once I received the material, I am having second thoughts due to the weight...the posts alone weigh about 20 pounds a piece. Mounted to the outside means I would have 8 posts. Any thoughts as to if this is too much weight or if a bracket that allows the post to mount directly on the deck boards will be solid, like these: https://store.decksgo.com/collections/post-anchoring-solutions/products/titan-wood-post-anchor-kit?variant=6995559612462.

Hoping never to do this again, I want to get this as right as possible.

Thanks as always.

Mike

Id either run the post thru the deck and bolt to the joist. Or down the depth of the stout facia and bolt them there.

Lag bolts thru the deck, humbug.

Cheers Richard

I am just wrapping up my deck right now and I went with Tigerwood too. I hope you have better results than me. Great looking wood but it has now warped and shrunk and twisted so much the deck looks years old and I just laid it down. The gaps, which were 1/8" when put down, are approaching 1" in some places. Very disappointed in the results to say the least, especially with the cost.

It will be durable but I would just spring for Azek if I had to do it over.

As for railing, I went with fascia mounted cable railing. I can see how cumuru/Tigerwood would test the limits based on weight. I actually put in bracing for the Titan post anchors you link as there were my second/backup choice if the cable railing didn't work.
Good luck and post some pics when you get a chance.

What size deck boards did you go with? How are you mounting the deck boards? What spacing joists?

Surry to hear, Surfer. They sold you wet or none kiln dried material? Normally shrinkage should not be that much. For some of the materials, it needs to acclimate for a week before install with air space between them. Back priming or oiling helps (little)

I think you will be fine with those metal connectors, but I would bolt through the decking so the metal isn't seen and block off at bottom for stability instead of just a few screws

I think that tiger wood and cumuru are better suited for interior applications.
We used cumuru for interior flooring and Ipe for exterior decks installed a couple of years before doing the interior. The Ipe is doing very well even in rainy Kauai.
The floor in the kitchen got briefly soaked when the line going to the ice maker in the fridge broke, it cupped quite a bit.

Cheers Richard

1/2" shrinking in a 5.5' (assuming) wide board is unheard of.

Too right Look171!
It does sound like it was green/undried to start with.

Really disappointing to spend the big bucks on material that then disapoints like that.

I feel for ya Surfer, bummer.

The Tigerwood I bought was kiln dried (apparently) and aclimated for about 6 weeks before I put it down. I used the Camo hidden deck screws and while I don't think they were the cause, they didn't help. Should have used the longer screw option or face screwed with stainless steel screws.

Sucks, but it's much better than the death trap that was built before I bought the house. Painted over 2x4 commons for the deck boards that we're crumbling before my eyes...my buddy stepping straight through one was the breaking point.

On the plus side, the redwood stairs I just finished look pretty damn good!

[QUOTE=tevake;10140378]I think
The floor in the kitchen got briefly soaked when the line going to the ice maker in the fridge broke, it cupped quite a bit

It’s always the ice maker... now I use cube trays

Believe it or not, this is a deck:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1530066788.jpg

[QUOTE=Bugsinrugs;10140435] You don't hear much ice makers ling leaking in the old days, at least I didn't. Its the plastic line, that gets over tighten. Its happened to my mom's house. Now, there's an old fashion cooper line there. if you use the commercial available SS line, make sure its hand tight and another 1/4 with a wrench. I found most people, including professional installers tighten the hell out of the thing crushing the 0-ring. Its just time that the thing let go. Same with supply lines under the sink.

Thanks for the responses. I went with 5/4" X 6" all 16' foot lengths. As the deck is not that big (26 boards in total) I am about 1/2 way done getting the boards down. Today's festivities were called on account of rain (been happening a lot here lately in the mid-atlantic). Other than face screwing the first board, I used Ipe clips, using a 5/32" gap. The wood was on-site for 5 days before installation. Before that, it was in a warehouse local to me for about 5 days before it was finally delivered.

I am wondering if I should face screw and plug every other joist (the deck was built 12" on center). To this point, every joist has a clip. Pictures of the work in progress are attached. Not sure why the pictures are sideways.

Thanks again for all comments.

Mike

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1534120108.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1534120108.JPG

We all like to be craftsmen use blind nailing, no nails but wood joints or hidden fasteners. I always think about accessibility when something rots or fails in the future. I face screw together my own deck as well as many we built over the years. That's my stupid opinion, of course

I actually thought about how a board would be replaced if damaged. My possibly ham-fisted way would be to rip the board down the middle and pull it up. The replacement board would be face screwed. This stuff is never going to need to be replaced, right????

Mike

That's one of the reasons I went with the Camo system, mostly hidden screws but screws are accessible if a board needs to be replaced ( or possibly all of them in the future🤔)

For the posts On my last Brazilian redwood deck I cut a notch up the post so part of it sat on the deck and then I used lag bolts through the rim joist on the outside. It is my exes house and still very sturdy.

My cureent Azek deck we framed the posts in before laying the decking then laid it around the posts and put a sleeve on it to finish it off.

Bill

I finally got all of the deck boards down and the blocking for the posts installed. There is no way I could have drilled the holes for the post anchors without a drill press...cumaru is incredibly hard.
Hoping to get the railing in this weekend.

Mikehttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535453110.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535453110.jpg

The deck has been down for about a month and I have to say it looks really good; glad I went with Tigerwood and not a composite material. So far the gaps haven't changed from when the boards were installed...hopefully they will stay that way.

Mikehttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537918890.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537918890.JPG

The deck and the railing look great, nice work!

Cheers Richard