Rotten wood
How do I repair a rotting hand railing?
by Teri O'Neil
+3
My deck is at least 18 years old. When we bought the house 8 years ago I stained the deck and repainted the hand railings with good products. This year I find on of my hand railings at the bottom of the steps has Disintegrated order the paint. So I used a screw drive to evacuate all the rot to see how bad it was. It is bad! ive never tackled anything like this and don’t know where to start!
You can’t see because of the planter but that post goes in between the deck boards down below.
6 answers
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![Map33629325]()
Map33629325
on Jun 21, 2018
It will be a lot of work to ensure all rotten wood is removed before filling. My advice, replace wood hand railing and repaint. -
![Susan]()
Susan
on Jun 21, 2018
By the time you try to repair rotting wood rails it would make more sense financially and far less of your prescious time to just replace the rails with treated lumber. If you still have the paint lest that you used you can just paint them and not have to worry about those for many years to come. -
![Landsharkinnc]()
Landsharkinnc
on Jun 21, 2018
replace, not a repair job ... you may be able to purchase a ready made metal railing .... check with a good home improvement center -- and they frequently have people who install/do small jobs ... hope the steps are not compromised! IF you go with wood, use a ground contact product. -
![Dianacirce70]()
Dianacirce70
on Jun 21, 2018
Is it just the handrail? If so you should be able to just pull that piece of wood off, replace with treated lumber and repaint. -
![Kelly-n-Tony]()
Kelly-n-Tony
on Jul 08, 2018
If the rest of the pieces are ok just replace the hand rail . -
![Kelly-n-Tony]()
Kelly-n-Tony
on Jul 08, 2018
You'll need to knock the rail apart from the rest hopefully without damaging the good parts. Measure the rail and replace it with another premade handrail. You might need to have it cut shorter.
Map33629325
on Jun 21, 2018
Susan
on Jun 21, 2018
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