Wood Posts For Railings Can Be Attached Many Different Ways

No matter how you design or build a deck, one of the most important parts of any wood railing is the post connection.

I am going to explain all the possible ways of building the most crucial part of all wood rail construction - the post to wood frame joist connection.

The illustrations and explanations below represent traditional building techniques. These are wood framed decks with the railing posts set and secured into the framing.

If you are building a railing this way, then commit to understanding these methods and the hardware required.

No building inspector will complain - that's for sure!  The focus here is on how all the different joist framing and rail post techniques are done.

Post Framing Techniques - Wood Railings

As you can imagine, this kind of rail post design means all the force is directed to the joist and rim joist connections.

So for each configuration I will show you all the post and joist framing details and the many different fasteners and hardware required as well as the typical costs for each.

Post alongside joist with blocking

Post between joists

Post at an end joist

90 degree outside corner

Set back at outside corner

Inside corner

Two posts at an inside corner

Outside 45 degree corner

Two posts at outside 45 degree corner

Two posts set back at outside 45 degree corner

Alongside joist without blocking

Post outside rim at end joist

Posts as outside 90 degree corner

Posts set back from outside corner

Inside 90 degree corner

Posts as inside 90 degree corner

Posts at outside 45 degree corner

Posts set back from outside 45 degree corner

If there is a method of attaching railing posts that I have missed be sure to contact us.

Of course the methods described above do require a fair amount of skill and a lot of hardware which translates into labor and materials.

But if you don't have the skill, time or money there are other ways of installing building code compliant residential guard rails.

Looking for less expensive and easy to apply solutions for installing building code compliant residential guard rails?

Then watch this video of a surface mount wood post anchor that has been tested for use with wood deck railings and costs about $20 with all the hardware you will ever need and it covers all the possible situations described above.

So there you have it.

A thorough explanation of building traditional wood deck railings and alternative post anchoring solutions for great looking deck railings.  You decide which solution is right for your specific project.

Find out more about this innovative post anchoring solution.