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dlong48

Veranda vs. Premier/Trademark Railings

15 years ago

We're building a new summer cottage on the coast of Maine and are at the point of specifying railings for our porch and deck. The decking is IPE. Total length of railing including stairs, if bought in 6 or 8' increments, is 130'.

Requirements for the railings:

- no/low maintenance

- long-lasting (50 years?)

- no rattles in the wind

- sturdy; deck platform is ~10' off the ground; stairs are primary entrance to house

- works with 4x4 posts

- corrosion-resistant; all SS hardware

- as non-artificial looking as possible

It seems there are two basic designs in the white-over-composite market that I've seen locally. HD sells Veranda made by Fiber Composites, which has one-piece rails with square cutouts for the balusters. Lumberyards sell Premier and Trademark, now owned by Azek, which have two part top-rails and balusters held by screws. We like the looks of the Premier or Trademark products best but are having a hard time understanding if they are worth 2x the cost of Veranda. The only? negatives I see for the Veranda are:

1) The hinge-pin on Veranda's stair bracket seems to not be SS according to my magnet test.

2) I'm worried the balusters will rattle in the wind.

3) Their stair sections seem to assume exactly one angle of stair; I'm not yet sure if that angle will be what we have.

4) The baluster holes in the stair section rails are larger than the line section rails, as you would expect, but they don't seem to have been cut at an angle so the joint between the baluster and the bottom rail is ugly. (Am I missing something?)

So, I'm looking for advice:

Does anyone have experience with the Veranda railing? Does it meet my requirements above? How would you compare it to the Premier/Trademark railings? Anything else I should be considering?

Thanks!

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