Should a deck railing be attached to the house?

[Thomas G. Marshall]

My 6 y.o. deck is attached to the house via ledger, as is commonly the case. But my contractor, who is repairing an enormous amount of rot around the house (another story...it's less than 14 years old) had to pull the cedar 2x4 that was vertically attached to the corner board that the railing connected to.

He wants to put a post there and keep it and the railing from touching the house at all. He says that he never allows that when he builds a deck.

Is this normally needed? The corner boards are being replaced (as needed) with Azek, and figured that some combination of that and some other similar heavy piece of composite or PVC or vinyl on the house would allow the railing to remain attached.

I'm not happy with the rigidity of the railing and am afraid it won't "feel" strong enough.

[RicodJour]

It's not required by code or anything. The rail just has to be able to take an impact. If the post is securely bolted to the deck joist/ ledger, then there's no problem doing it that way.

R

[krw]

After the ledger for my deck rotted out (in a lot less than 14 years), taking the rim joist and sill plate with it, I decided to free-stand the entire thing. There is nothing at all touching the house. There should be no problems free-standing the railing, assuming he knows what he's doing.