Terrace Railings

[f1steveuk]

We have just re "creped" the front of our house, and found that the railings for the terrace (which is above the entrance to the garage), weren't in very good condition. So, we are looking into what to replace them with, but have decided that without them, there's a lot more light getting in, which we like.

We realise that wood is the easy option, and metal would cover the light aspect, and a cable type would also work.

What I need to know before I put pencil to paper, and design our new railings, and baring in mind without railings there is a 8 foot drop, are there regualtions I need to meet (other than obvious common sense and logic).

The "other side", there's a dwarf wall  (about 2 feet high ) and pillars, so it's a case of preventing the "clumsey" from walking into the wall, and falling over the little wall and down!!  As you see from the span, done in wood, I fail to see how the original railingings would not have just given way, the top rail being in two pieces. If I go for wood, a robust single top rail wood work better, but need a good fixing system. Even a metal tube top rail, would only be as good as the fixings.  So, are there reg's and what are they?

[URL=http://s161.photobucket.com/user/f1steveuk/media/IMG_0218_zpsuer5spjb.jpg.html][IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/f1steveuk/IMG_0218_zpsuer5spjb.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Mrs Trellis]

A friend has transparent fencing on the edge of her pool area - there is a steep drop the other side. Not sure how expensive and whether it's toughened glass or some sort of acrylic, but it would certainly let the light through.

[f1steveuk]

Thanks, I have many ideas on how I can maintain the light aspect, it's the safety aspect, and I'd prefer to know if tere is a standard I am supposed to meet. before somene leans on it, and goes straight through. Must be having worked with UK health and safety!!

[Théière]

Steve there is the standard spacing between uprights, 100mm springs to mind and a height so you can't topple over them.

[Gardengirl]

I don't know about actual regulations, which someone may be able to guide you towards, but we are in a 7 year old apartment block, so not very old, and our wall is 34cm tall. But we imagine that there was a change in the regulations between design and execution, as we have a small metal rail on top of the wall, making the height 42cm in total.

The reason we all think it was added at a late stage is that although it matches the railing that some of the apartments have, the fixing to the wall seems rather ugly, whereas a lot of care was taken with the design and the 'show' parts of the building.

EDIT at 20.26.

I've just realised that I gave the height in inches! What a mad thing to do, especially as I rarely use them apart from someone's height perhaps, knowing what 6 foot looks like!

My only excuse is that I had no specs on!

The real height of our balcony wall is 87cm, and with the added rail it's 107 cm.

[ventodue]

Hi Steve,

You're right to be cautious - there will be normes for balustrades, and for good reasons.  Too many people have had accidents due to badly designed or executed balustrading.

For example, and as Théière has said, the UK Building Regs used to (and may still) require balusters to be close enuf together so that a 100mm ball cannot pass between them.  Why?  'cos 100mm is about the size of a baby's head (and where a baby's head can go, the rest can follow).  As to height, the top rail for an external balustrade must be at least 1100mm above datum.  'Datum' here means what you'd normally be standing on to look over.  Why?  'cos 1100 is above the hip height of most adults, and it's from your hip that you pivot if you ever topple over a handrail.

In addition ...

Balustrades have to be able to resist a certain level of sideways pressure.  This is to prevent it giving way if someone falls or gets pushed against it.  So, for example:

"For external balconies, and in light office areas not susceptible to overcrowding, the handrail must be able to withstand a pressure of 0.74 kN/m. This can be compared to having an averagely weighing person of 75kg applying the full force of their body on every metre of the balcony."

So more research needed, I feel.

HTH

Craig

[ventodue]

[quote user="ventodue"] <snip>  So more research needed, I feel. [/quote]

Me again, Steve [:)].

Have a look here, for example:

http://balustrade.comprendrechoisir.com/comprendre/normes-hauteur-garde-corps

I found this by searching 'normes+ garde corps'.

[Araucaria]

We have a balcony with a view we didn't want to obstruct, and we went for a stainless steel frame with laminated glass panels. The glass wasn't as expensive as I'd feared: and a local chap made up the stainless steel surrounds.

That was five or six years ago and it's all still there and nothing has broken (despite the grandchildren's efforts).

[f1steveuk]

I suspected there had to be some rules, just having a swimming pool and common sense told me that. It is France after all. Common sense, and having built in the UK also suggested that there had to be rules.

Lots to look at.

The odd thing is, the railings we removed even if brand new and in good nick would have stopped very little (I'd post a picture but the railing are at home, and I'm not) but for a span of about 8 feet (see the colour picture above), the rails were fitted to the brick pillars by three inch wood screws vertically, and the horizontal span was two four feet lengths going to a "floating" upright in the middle. So a good shove in the middle would have you through. And these were fitted from new, and I suspect, not up to much.

Most of the secret will be having strong enough mountings me thinks!!

[Gardengirl]

[quote user="gardengirl "]I don't know about actual regulations, which someone may be able to guide you towards, but we are in a 7 year old apartment block, so not very old, and our wall is 34cm tall. But we imagine that there was a change in the regulations between design and execution, as we have a small metal rail on top of the wall, making the height 42cm in total.

The reason we all think it was added at a late stage is that although it matches the railing that some of the apartments have, the fixing to the wall seems rather ugly, whereas a lot of care was taken with the design and the 'show' parts of the building.

EDIT at 20.26.

I've just realised that I gave the height in inches! What a mad thing to do, especially as I rarely use them apart from someone's height perhaps, knowing what 6 foot looks like!

My only excuse is that I had no specs on!

The real height of our balcony wall is 87cm, and with the added rail it's 107 cm.[/quote]

I've quoted my earlier post, as I found I'd made a big boob!