Incoming project

Good Morning Bloggers!  

We love it when we have repeat customers! It is an honor for us when an old customer comes to us for a new project. In one of our last posts we shared a 1225 Church St. balcony job. It consisted of building pergolas, balconies and stairs to a luxury apartment complex in uptown Charlotte. Now we are starting to work again onto Phase 2 of this project. This customer is building a second luxury apartment complex, here in uptown charlotte and we are doing their: balconies, stairs and pergolas for that project too.

Check out this live view of the project in it's beginnings:

http://oxblue.com/pro/open/adolfsonpeterson/1225schurch

In these tough economy times we are happy to know that there still is a lot of progress in our country. Apartment complexes seem to be having a lot of progress and we love it! We also work with a builder in Pennsylvania that rebuilds and remodels buildings for living, and we see alot of economic growth in that area of construction too. 

We would love to hear about your project, and if there's any way we can help with your building/remodeling needs, please let us know. You can contact us at 1877-803-2282 or email us at deciron@bellsouth.net. Also, check out our website www.deciron.com we give special builder pricing for larger projects. 

Introducing a NEW design! Plain Picket Half Moon

Introducing a NEw design for our production. Our Plain picket balcony and railing had been very popular with our customers. It's simple modern design and great price made the plain picket on of our best sellers. Now we have changed the design just a bit and made it curve.

The new Plain Picket Half moon balcony is all the way curved, available with and without platform. We can paint it in all the colors of RAL. This design will be added to our website soon, because it's gaining popularity. If you would like to order this now, give us a call or shoot us an email and we can get this started.

 

Another design that we have made into a Half Moon, is the iron dove queen. The iron dove queen has also been very popular with our customers. Taking this further step to make it completely curved, is an innovative step with these balconies. We are starting a Half moon line soon, and these two balconies are our first ones. I believe it gives it a more elegant modern look.

We would apresiate your feedback on this new look and design. It is just starting, and we would love to know what the reviews are. You can send us an email to deciron1@bellsouth.net, or you can go to our website at www.deciron.com and fill out a contact us. Also, you can just leave a message on this thread.

Thank you so much! and I hope you liked these new designs.

Deciron Family

WROUGHT IRON DESINGS NATIONALITY

Many of the components utilized nowadays in ornamental iron work are common on every country. However, certain characteristics of the ornamentations are claimed to have originated from Spain, Italy and France as the major contributors to the ornamental iron art, but also and not least to Britain and the United States. Spain Italy and France are the most romantic and traditionally artistic cultures, and its landscape and climate has prompted its architecture to make use of open decks, balconies, front stairs and porches.

In consequence its architecture has included a lot of wrought iron elements, and has made possible that architects and artisans, at unison, create beautiful iron designs, that are enjoyed in every country of the world. Many claims of country of authorship of certain designs, however, are only mere suppositions and appreciations of travelers and historians that have identified a certain characteristic of the iron designs used in a country, and for the most part should not be considered historical facts.

Of course there are schools of iron in most every country in the world. Particularly in the United States one can identify French and British architectural iron in cities like New Orleans, Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Miami has also a strong iron culture that came with many immigrants from the Caribbean and South America. Central and South American Iron designs are Spanish for the most part. One can see in  Miami and other Florida cities, a lot of iron fencing with spears and scrolls, as well as decorative window bars and “portones” or entrance gates, not to speak gorgeous railings in upscale residences. California is another state with a long wrought iron tradition, and has been influenced by Mexican artistry. Mexican blacksmiths and fabricators pretty much dominate the wrought iron ornamental industry in California.

In the city of New York, of course there is a strong Italian influence and as in California one finds a strong Spanish motive, perhaps more than in any other part of the world. However it is worth mentioning the “cast iron” and “cast bronze” culture of the city, which brings old memories of the NY Company, J.L. Mott Iron Works and the magnificent centennial of Philadelphia.

Yes, it is worth mentioning the iron work one finds in the city of Philadelphia, especially in the South walk area where one can admire beautiful iron-works of Merricks, Morris & Tasker, Savery and others, which is a strong representation of the British - French schools with heavy duty iron and majestic scrollwork.

You can find wrought iron railings and balconies with an European or American characteristics at www.deciron.com. If you go on a trip, lets say to Venice, and you see a building with a special wrought iron railing design or characteristic you can order it custom made and shipped to your home at Decorative Iron - www.deciron.com.

How to Install your Wrought Iron Railings

Hello Bloggers,

Here at Deciron we ship to other states, the customer installs their own railings. We ship them ready made, no welding necessary products so they can just install them themselves or get a handyman to do it. In this blog I've put our detailed instructions to install the railings. If you have ordered from us, or thinking about it, this article can help. We will also post it as PDF later on as a link to our site, for better use. 

HOW TO INSTALL YOUR RAILINGS

Thank you for buying your railings from us. We made sure they were welded properly and powdered properly, so that they would last you for life, now we want to make sure you know how to mount them. We are in a life saving business, but we are not saving anyone if your railings are not safely installed. Once you have received your railings from us it is important to follow the right installation procedures, to ensure that your railing is safe.

LOAD REQUIREMENTS

The International building code requires that a guardrail withstands a minimum of 200 lb, applied tangentially to the top rail. This means that a person or a few persons leaning against the rail could eventually apply a tangential force equal to 200 lb and the railing should be able to resist. There are several factors involved on this. However, the only factor that virtually does not count is the type of railing, because, for the most parts railings are build following common practices, and they are usually just ok. The main factor for code compliance is the quality of the installation. If one does not attach the railing properly, even if the railing is made of thick solid steel, it will not pass the 200 lb test. It does not make sense to build an iron railing that will probably need a force equal to 1000 lb  just to slightly bend it and then leave it lose against the wall! But this is what happens most of the cases when a railing has failed.

TYPE OF WALLS AND THE PROPER ANCHORS FOR EACH OF THEM

There are several type of “walls” where railings are usually attached to.

EXTERIOR BRICK WALL

Normally this type of wall has regular wood framing behind, and the brick is just attached against it. If you want to be over cautious, you may drill through the brick with a masonry bit, up until  you reach the wood behind, and then predrilled the wood to drive a long  enough 3/8 inch lag bolt into it. However by experience it is possible to use expansion bolts, 3/8 by 1 7/8 and install them into the brick and still have a strong enough grip. If the brick is lose or cracked, you may have problems. Also if you open the hole too much, the expansion might be lose or loosen up with time. Another possibility is to use concrete tap cons, which is a blue screw that is very strong. I would prefer the expansion sleeve anchors over tap cons. However, properly installed, tap cons are just fine on brick. Just be careful not to overdo while driving in the tap con, just go easy. If the brick is not dense enough, tap cons might not work. So just make sure you have a healthy solid brick to work with. If not you will en up going back to plan A. Do not use any type of anchors that would require impact, for it might break the brick, causing a greater problem.

WOOD FRAMING

Outside wood framing always has a 1/2 inch OSB plywood behind the siding. However you do not want to attach your railings to the plywood only, but to the real wood framing behind. You might get away installing the rails to the plywood only, but for sure, if the railings are high traffic, they will fail. If the building inspector catches that, you will fail inspection.

But not all the time, sometimes you could leave, in good conscience, the rail with a weak joint (not lose) on the top, if you there is a post near to the wall and its four floor anchors are well attached. Actually a good post attachment would waive the necessity of an upper anchor, your railing could be left free standing, and still pass the load test.

As an installer you have the right to request that the proper wood backing is installed on the walls. Inside framing, on the other hand, is covered with drywall.  A drywall anchor will not take the load, even less than the OSB. So, don’t install your railings on drywall.

However there is two exceptions to this rule: the first is the one we already mentioned, and the second is that if the railing is a wall mounted railing only, and let say you have 4 brackets, and one is on drywall, it is going to be probably ok if the bracket is not at one of the ends.

Concrete walls and floors

The recommended anchor for this cases is always a sleeve anchor, 3/8 x 1 7/8. Some times it may require a 3/8 x 1 ½, or even more it is a long standalone railing. Tap cons are also ok in short runs. When there is greater danger and appearance is secondary, the best way to go is to core drill the concrete and then embed the legs with hydraulic cement. Of course if you could have the railings ready before you cast the concrete and cast them along, that would be the ideal situation.

Railings joinery

Sometimes the railings need to be split and then joined at installation. The best joint is the welded one. You bring your welder, grind the spot, welded up and then touch up paint. However, if you paid for an expensive powder coating finish, you don’t really want to weld on it, unless it is completely necessary. Bolting is a second option, which requires a nut on the other side. It is good but too conspicuous. Specially if one does not grind off the excess tread and leaves the bolts un painted. If this is your case make sure the nut is tight enough and then seal it around with clear silicone to avoid moisture penetration. Self tapping screws with a neoprene washer is the best option. Screws are not so visible and provide a very strong joint, which is also waterproof. Way to go! 

When installing the self tapping screws go slow with the drill, making sure it is NOT in hammer mode. If you go too fast it might kick you back and cause an injury. So be careful. Remember that at slow speed the drill has more torque, so you are not doing much more by speeding up too much. One thing to remember is that it is better if you clamp the two pieces together before drilling, and that this is the last step. Make sure everything is lined up and attached, and then install the joint screws.

INSTALLING ON CERAMIC TILE OR SLATE

Here the problem is that ceramic tile or slate break easily, especially if there is a hollow spot. First of all, make sure you tell the owner of the house or your wife that this might happen, it will keep you out of trouble. Then, always try with a thin ¼ inch bit and then go with the 3/8 or ½ inch one, and make sure you use long enough screws to reach the wood or the concrete underneath.

GLUEING DOWN YOUR RAILING

Sometimes there are worries about damaging the waterproofing of the deck, if that is the case and face mounting is not possible, for short spans, when there is a solid attachment of the top railing, it is possible to glue down the intermediate legs and even the posts. Use 1099 glue by 3M, which is much better than regular contact cement.

FACE MOUNTING YOUR RAILINGS

If for any reason you decide to face mount your railings, just remember that there is a lot of momentum on this type of mount, therefore the minimum spacing between bolts vertically should be 3 inches. Both screws need to be strongly attached, with a minimum of 2 ½ inches of real wood penetration, therefore there should be 2 boards on the mounting face. Therefore use 3/8 by 3 wood lags. If you don’t have 2 boards, you need to have 4 screws per leg. The best way and safer way, would be pass through bolts with washers, if you have access to the back of the face. Use 3/8 of an inch bolts.

If you are face mounting on concrete you need a 3 bolts with a separation of 3 inches in between, and you need to use 3/8 x 3 sleeve anchors. If the slab is not thick enough, then don’t face mount, unless you are allowed to have kickers every 6 ft minimum. I think I have covered all the possible scenarios; so, the only thing left is to say: Happy railings installation!

Pedro L Sanchez - (owner)
Decorative Iron of NC INc.
www.deciron.com
www.decironstore.com

Example of a light Iron dove installed on Brick

Cubist Balcony installed at our warehouse.