The Mahogany railings for the elevated rear deck are being constructed, and Bob meets with Kevin Parquette who is doing the final assembly work. The deck features ample room for entertaining and is surrounded by a a simple, easy-to-construct railing. The railing is assembled from readily-available materials, and features decorative rail caps for a finished look. Parquette is using 8-penny stainless steel nails to assemble the railings. The nails are pre-coated with glue. When driven into the wood, the heat generated by the friction of the nail passing through the wood activates the glue, creating a strong and secure fastening system. Layout for the railing is done on the surface of the deck. The vertical balusters are sandwiched between two horizontal rails along the bottom, with a store-bought top rail securing the assembly. Once assembled, the railing sections are simply secured between the four-by-four-inch posts.

Tim Berky is building the cedar deck railings, first by notching the edge board to receive the posts. Each post sits flush with the trim once it is fitted into the notch. Berky attaches the post to the facing board by driving deck screws into predrilled holes in the post to avoid splitting the wood. He then builds the railing sections using cedar rails and stiles. Once assembled, he attaches the entire section to the deck posts by driving screws through the top and bottom rails.

In this segment Bob watches the crew install the railing on the deck. The composite railing product comes pre-milled to accept all the railing components. As with wood decks, building codes calls for a post every six feet between the railings. The posts are pre-hollowed for wiring if the homeowner decides to light the deck with post-mounted lamps. The balustrades and railings are cut to length on site. Stainless steel screws are used to assemble the pieces. The use of stainless fasteners is an added cost, but longevity of the deck material means that uncoated fasteners would rust long before the deck might need replacing.

Ironworker Jimmy Canka secures the rooftop deck's safety railing to its footings. The individual sections of the simple picket-style iron railing are put in place on site, and then welded together. Canka uses an arc welder to fuse the sections together. Bob points out how the fence is secured to the roof employing three separate building trades, the roofers, ironworkers and masons. Behind the railing is a parapet wall, which is topped with bluestone to prevent moisture from seeping into the masonry work.

Bob visits with Ron at the Coach House. Ron is installing a railing and newel post on the second floor. He is using 3/8-inch stainless steel marine wire instead spindles to create a unique look. Bob then heads down to the ground floor to meet with Christine Smyth our decorator who demonstrates a rag painting technique.

House three of the Elmwood project. Bob Ryley helps install the new railing on the hot tub deck.

Bob meets Ryley outside the Victorian style house in Massachusetts to help him with the railing. Ryley starts with two by six vertical grain fir for the top railing and routes out a ridge for the balusters and applies standard moulding to the sides. Bob and Ryley head back to the workshop to create the balusters. Ryley traced the pattern from an antique baluster to create the design to create a form. They trace the pattern onto individual pieces of wood and cut out the pattern with a band saw and scroll saw. The meticulous hand cutting is what leads to the beautiful antique pattern. Back out at the site Ryley shows Bob a tip for dealing with the quirkiness of antique wood. He builds a template by scribing the angle on scrap wood then cuts the railing using this form. Bob uses sugar pine for the corner angles.

Ryley helps build a porch railing on the Roxbury project. Bob discusses the building codes that pertain to the rail and materials used.

House five of the Elmwood project. Bob Ryley helps install the new railing and new screen doors. An underground sprinkler system is installed.

Bob visits with carpenter Kenney to look at stair details. Kenney shows Bob how to add strength and rigidity to the railing through the use of a mortise joint. He uses a biscuit joiner to make easy work of the cutting.