The first step in organizing your deck railing ideas: getting familiar with the parts of a rail and the material choices.
Railings consist of newel posts, top and bottom rails, and balusters (spindles). Rails and posts come in a variety of materials, which can sometimes be mixed-and-matched: wood, aluminum (like Westbury), composite material (Trex or AZEK/TimberTech), iron (Fortress), or even glass. Wood or aluminum deck railings with cables (run vertically or horizontally) have gained in popularity (look at Feeney CableRail). Trex’s Signature line can be infilled with glass, rod rail, and more.
While decks that are low to the ground don’t require rails, sometimes homeowners want them for privacy. Other customers choose visually minimalist railings to best enjoy the view from their deck.
Usually, wood decks have matching wood railings, or wood railings with aluminum balusters (spindles). Composite decks often have composite rails, aluminum rails or cable rails in matching or complementary colors. Aluminum rails most often come in black, bronze and white color options. There are no set rules, though, and homeowners often mix-and-match styles to great effect.
Many customers choose to a “drink rail” or “cocktail rail”–a top rail that is wide enough to set a glass on. Another way to customize your rail: add lighting. Composite newel posts can have lights built into the rail cap. We can also attach lights to the sides of rail posts.
