Railings
1) Introduction
I wanted to share some important concepts on SS railings. This
could be applied to MS railings, Parapet wall and a few others as
well. But first, you need to understand what it is.
Something many of them ignore or don't even think in that direction.
Because of such things, many accidents happen. Possibly, you
might have heard of or seen such accidents somewhere.
What I'm talking about?
See this video (safe to watch)
[Link]
eNewsMinute
Don't worry. This guy is lucky. He got saved without getting hurt.
Not all are lucky like this guy.
There are countless cases of deaths because of the low height of
balcony/parapet wall railings in their houses.
In 2023, one of my relatives lost her life due to the same low-height
railings.
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Early in the morning, she came outside the house to clean the door,
and somehow, she lost her balance and fell on the house's front
railing.
Due to the low height of the railings, her body easily went outside
the grill and fell on the ground floor from the first floor.
She died on the spot.
You could imagine what could have happened.
My goal is to educate by sharing relevant true stories so you can
understand the consequences of not implementing and fixing such
mistakes in your house.
In this guide, I will address the topic of low-height railing.
There could be many reasons why houses don't fix this problem.
This could be due to
1) They don't know about the problem that's caused by low-height
railings
2) They know the problem, but they realised late at that time they
could make changes
3) They could be busy and forget to pay attention to this small stuff
But not you.
In this guide, I'm especially talking about Stainless Steel railings. If
you have a different setup, then you need to do your research
based on your understanding of this concept and implement it.
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If your house has low-height railings or parapet walls or whatever
setup you do - it's Dangerous.
I highly recommend you have railings up to your chest level so that
the chances of falling from the grills will be avoided.
You feel secure while staying near such high-height grills.
If the grills are low in height, then you constantly need to be aware
of being careful.
There is one drawback you may feel if you have high-height
railings. That is, you won't feel comfortable if you need to rest both
of your hands on it.
It's not that much uncomfortable…
You may feel slight discomfort compared to low-height grills. I feel
it's worth having such slight discomfort regarding safety concerns.
If you are okay with this point, you can implement this high-height
railing in your home.
2) Our Relatives Take on Our High-Rise Balcony
Railings:
During our housewarming function, many of our relatives came to
our house. Everyone standing on the first floor liked the high-rise
grills we did in our new building.
Everyone talked about how good it was to have such height grills.
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All liked the concept and appreciated me for implementing it in our
building.
3) To Implement High-Rise Railings in Your
Building:
If you are going to install SS railings that require SS Railing Pillars,
then you need to be aware of one thing.
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The standard length of SS railing pillars is 3 feet.
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See the image below.
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If you need to increase the height of the railings, you must prepare
them during construction, or else you cannot get the required height
during installation time.
Wherever the house front side/balcony railings come, lay one 4 or
6-inch brick. On top of that brick, put 3-inch concrete.
We used 4-inch bricks to save space.
See the below image. Zoom the image to see clearly.
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You can notice the brick on the 1st and 2nd floors. Plastering work
is already done on the 3rd floor and terrace, so you don't notice in
this image.
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If you implement the above instructions, your finished railing will
come around 49 inches.
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Which is right height for safety purpose.
Below is how the finished railing will look.
You must adjust the bricklaying time if you need a height less than
49 inches (4.08 feet).
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4) General Tips:
1) Don't think this tip applies only to SS railings.
2) My height is 5 feet 9 inches. And 49 inches railing height seems
like a good safety height.
3) Don't only consider your height. You should keep 6 feet person
height in mind if safety is required for all other users
4) Don't pay any advance amount for SS work until they bring
materials near your building. Not even ₹500 if you don't know their
shop
5) Start SS railing work only after the granite acid wash. If Acid
touches SS metal, it will get damaged.
6) The lower the gauge, the better the quality. Don't get confused
with Bigger numbers == Good Quality. Nope. 16 gauge is better
than 18 gauge.
7) 304 grade is the best quality SS material
8) Recommended SS railings specification
304 SS, 16 gauge.
Steps Railings:
2" Top
3/4" 4 line
1 1/2" Pillar
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Balcony Railings (house front railings):
2" Top
1" 5 Line
2" Pillar
1" Glass Bracket
9) Make sure to properly mention all these technical things on a
paper and keep one copy yourself
10) Inform the SS contractor I will make payment only after seeing
the material when you bring it here. Inform them I will check all the
rods for quality. Some contractors put a few 18 gauge in the 16
gauge bundle. Also, some 302-grade rods instead of 304. If you
don't check each rod
11) Put glass brackets in the railings and collects it's screws. If you
plan to put glass later, you can make use of that
12) Read
[Link]
cks/
13) Inform SS contractors to turn the top 2" pipe on every corner. If
possible, ¾" pipes as well (not that much required).
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14) If painting work is ongoing, properly cover the railings with a
tarpal. If the painter tells us we will clean later, don't listen to them.
No one will clean later. If they clean it, it will also get scratches. If
they use NC thinner to remove paint, SS polishing/shining will go.
15) After the SS fabrication work, check all pillar bottoms by lifting
the SS Pillar end cap to see if they are properly filled with cement.
Labours skip filling properly. If they are not filled properly, then the
railing will shake. Tightness won't come.
17) Check whether all pipes have end caps or not. If not, don't
make full payment.
18) If you are building a brick wall, build the finished level to chest
level
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Resources:
Higher Resolution Images:
[Link]
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