Swedge Lock Hand Rail Installation Notes

We consider ourselves a custom design and installation company and are very aware of the building code requirements for railings.
All of our railings conform to the 2006 IRC and IBC. These are the International Residential Code and International Building Code respectively. Virtually all building departments follow these codes. However it is possible that a local jurisdiction may write a more restrictive code for their area. Knowing and meeting any local codes are not the responsibility of Swedge Lock. It is the responsibility of the customer to inform us of anything outside of the two codes noted above.
Here are some of the most basic code requirements for residential railing.
Any walking surface greater than 30" off the ground requires a guardrail
The rail height must be a minimum of 36" from the deck surface
There should be no opening that can pass a 4" sphere through the railing
Stairs with more than 3 risers must have a handrail
The codes are quite extensive and often confusing and your local inspector may not be well versed in the areas of the code that apply to railing or is working to the 1997 UBC or the 2003 IRC instead of the most recent 2006 IRC. Or perhaps he's applying the IBC code to your home vs. the IRC. Swedge Lock is well versed in the most recent codes and can help you work through any issues with the building inspector.
When we quote your project, it will always be for a code compliant installation. If you want something outside of the code we'll require a signed waiver for our protection.
Post Attachments
All our rail styles can be attached either to the surface or the fascia of the deck. There are some details that you need to be aware of to insure a safe and attractive installation.
Surface Mount - This is the most common and least expensive attachment. It is usually the choice for level wood or composite decks. We require that you provide 3" of solid structural blocking to screw into. In the case of composites this must be 3" under the composite board.
Waterproof Decks - If you have a waterproof deck, our first recommendation is that you consider fascia mounting. However, if this is not possible we have several options for you to consider to protect the integrity of the waterproofing. Please open this Tech Bulletin for more details.
Mounting on Tile - We can mount to a tile surface but we do not recommend the practice. We require a signed waiver regarding any damage to the tile during installation or any time later. There is always the possibility that tile can crack.
There are a couple of ways to avoid mounting through the tile. First would be to install the railing first and tile up to the base plates. Another way would be to install a raised footing for the post to mount on.
Fascia Mount - This is most commonly used when there is a waterproof deck surface involved that you do not want to penetrate. We can mount to the fascia as long as certain conditions exist. These are:
There is 6" of flat surface under the flashing;
There is 3" of solid structural blocking at the attachment points;
There are no other obstructions in the way, most commonly gutters.
Also please note that we cannot fascia mount any of our newel posts with the exception of the 2 1/2" post.
Rail Termination
When the rail comes to the end usually at the house, you have to decide how you want to terminate the railing.
Wall Termination - The most common and least expensive way to terminate your railing is to attach the top and bottom rail to the house. Most of the time there is a trim board at the house to attach the rail with a wall mount. While it is not required for the strength or safety of the railing, attaching the top rail will take any flex out of the system. If it's possible we recommend it.
Post Termination - There may be a reason that you cannot or choose not to terminate the railing to the house. In this case we will terminate the railing with a post. This post must be within 4" of the house to keep your railing in code. This will add a bit more cost to the railing as the posts are one of the more expensive elements of the railing.
Fasteners
All the fasteners used by Swedge Lock are high grade stainless steel. This combined with the aluminum railing will provide you with a complete system that cannot rust. While others may use coated or painted screws to cut cost we don't as we have seen these rust over the years. Rust will never happen with a Swedge Lock installed rail.
All of our fasteners come in mill finish. While some colored stainless screws exist, Swedge Lock does not offer these. It is our experience that the paint chips when driving the screws and we think it is unsightly to have the chipped inconsistent looking screws vs. a uniform look to all the screws.

Some of the standard screws we use are listed below.
Pan head square drive screws
#14 x 3"
Used for mounting surface posts to the deck into blocking
#14 x 2"
Used for attaching top rail wall mounts to the house
#12 x 1 1/2"
Used for attaching the top rail to the post, also for attaching the bottom rail wall mount to the post or house
#12 tek
Self-driving screw for attaching bottom rail to wall mount, also for attaching the post mount to the post
Hex head lag bolt
1/4" x 4"
Used for mounting fascia post into blocking, also for surface mounting through composite decking into blocking
Glass Details
Tempered Glass - All glass for our railing systems is fully tempered. This is crucial for the strength and safety of the railing. There is no alternative glass type appropriate for this application. Tempered glass is the same type of glass that you'll find in your shower door, patio door or side car window. It has tremendous strength against impact. As testament, tempered glass is used in hockey rinks. If it does break it literally explodes into tiny shards that may cause small cuts but won't create a huge blade to cut off an arm.
Thickness - The standard glass for full frame rail is 1/4" thick. We use 3/8" thick glass for our topless glass rail.
Edgework - Swedge Lock provides all its glass with the exposed edges in a high polish. While others will cut corners with a rough seam or less expensive ground edge, Swedge Lock only provides the best. On 1/4" glass we provide a pencil polish and on the 3/8" glass it's a beautiful furniture grade flat polish.
Colors - All glass comes standard as clear. There are numerous tinted glasses that can be used. The most common are Bronze and Gray tints. Also available are Green, Blue and reflective glass but these are not common.
Privacy Glass - We also have a glass called Matelux which is often used in privacy applications. This glass is translucent, that is it allows light through but not vision. It looks very similar to sandblasted glass but is quite different. See the explanation below in the Glass Rail Warnings section.
Glass Rail Warnings
This section provides some things to watch out for in glass rail applications.
Plastics Infills - Plastic is not a usable alternative as it has too much flex and can be pushed out of the opening. From a practical side all plastics will scratch more easily than glass and are actually quite a bit more expensive.
Sandblasted Glass - Sandblasted glass is actually porous as you've created a rough surface that can adsorb debris, i.e. bird droppings. This will permanently stain the glass.
Spandral Glass - This is glass with an applied glass frit baked on the glass surface. This has the same problems as sandblasted glass. In addition it is very difficult to get an even surface coating with this product.
Laminated Glass - This is an improper application as the edge of laminated glass should not be exposed to the elements as delaminating could occur. Also laminated glass is very susceptible to cracks running, i.e. your car windshield is laminated glass.