Need help with installing outdoor handrail

[grinder]

I need to install about 10' of railing on one side of a backyard patio (concrete) which is about 2' above grade. Where can I buy the materials (mainly the railing system itself) necessary for the job? I've browsed through Home Depot and a McMaster-Carr catalog to no avail. Thanks for any help provided.

 

[ths71]

Several companies are making composite railing systems. Weyerhauser makes a system that most Lowe's carry.

Bufftech systems are carried at a lot of Texas retailers and they have a specific concrete mounting system.

Check your building codes. There are some specific requirements if the railing is at or above a certain height.

Bufftech

 

[horn4life]

I have installed stair railing into cemnt after the fact a couple of times. I think that my father-in-law bought his at some place in Cedar Park, I will try to remember to ask him where. PM me if I forget to respond back.

Here are a couple of secrets first and foremost you need a variable speed drill. It seems as if drillinging into the cement was actually more effective at slaower speeds.
-DOUBLE CHECK to amke sure you have the correct size cermaic drill bit for the size anchors you are going to use. Also use bolts that you can torque down with a ratchet. Test the drill bit to anchor on a piece of wood before starting on the cement.
- use a smaller bit to drill a small "starter hole" where you just break the cements surface. The bigger bit wants to jump around when you start and this makes the going easier.
- you will need to have somebody vacumn out the hole as you are drilling. It's a pain in the *** as when whe dust accumulates in the hole you progress comes to a standstill. I just had my father-in-law use the regular home vaumn wand attachment to do this. I would pull out of the hole and he would vacumn and back to work I would go.

Mainly it's time consuming crap to do it right. Since I wold try to use the largest anchors and bolts I could for maximum strength. It's a slow process but the ones I put in are in for good.

P.S. be carful cranking down the bolts as I broke on off the first time I did this, but that was before I used the larger (stronger) bolts.

Good luck!