Best railing height for old-fashioned-looking front porch (WAS: Okay to have different window styles?)

What is the best railing height for an old-fashioned-looking wrap-around front porch? Here's a link so you can see the porch in question:

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How about 30"? The code for most areas is 36". But, like I said, we do not have to follow code because or porch is close to the ground. And 36" just looks to high, like the people sitting on the porch are in jail. (We've all spent enough time in jail. We don't want to feel that way on our front porch.) I've read that 30" was a standard during the Victorian and post-Victorian era. But I've also seen some 24" railings that look great--they're kind of the ballustrade style--low.

What do you think about 30"? Then we could just by standard composite railing components from HB&G to go with their columns and modify the ballusters to make them 6" shorter.

Please share your thoughts.

- John

jojo wrote:

Railing: Do not even consider using a 24" high railing. That would be an > abomination. > jojo
Reply to
Sasquatch
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You asked and got answers before. Didn't like them and want different?

Reply to
Glenn

Just thought I might get more opinions if I broke the question out into its own discussion.

I'm kind of surprised people haven't sounded out *AGAINST* the 36" railings. The local architects I've talked to have said that 36" looks too tall for a house that is trying to look old fashioned or traditional. They say it looks like a play pen. They say none of the

100+ year old houses had railings that high unless they've since been updated.

- John

Glenn wrote:

Reply to
Sasquatch

Maybe we know more than the locals. I'm 75 and started in construction at 18 and I have never seen a 24" rail but as I said before, it's your house and if you want it 12" high, it's no skin off my butt. We are just telling you what it OUGHT to be. I would suggest though that you keep your homeowners insurance paid up so when someone trips over the thing, you are covered.

Reply to
Glenn

I live in a house built in 1886 and owned by my family since 1891, The railing was 36" back then and still is although replaced several times. I have photos back to 1891. Too low a railing makes one feel that they will trip over it. If you don't like it, don't use any railing. EDS

Reply to
eds

"Sasquatch" wrote in news:1160070569.749716.197630 @h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Doesn't matter what they say, if there is a code (i.e., law) requiring a

36" rail.

Style is not merely a slavish, unthinking, unadaptive adherence to something that soemone did 100 or more years ago.

Remember that people were a lot shorter "way back when", so shorter rails made sense (just visit some of the original historic farm buildings - they're like tiny little doll-houses...) Ever been on an accurate replica of an old sailing ship, or on board the Constitution? Take a look at vintage clothing? And so on? Everything looks to most of today's people (in North America at least) like it was made for children.

You have a brain, why are you fretting because a few people are blithering about what people did 100+ years ago? Did they have 9' ceilings back then? Did they have MDF? Nylon? Central heating?

How tall is your *front door*? Is it tall enough for today's people or did you also put in a short door? If the door, windows, storey heights, and so on, are all scaled to modern standards, a short little railing will look absurd. And even at all of that, style, schmyle - what

*matters* is the minimum height *required by the code/law*. If you choose to ignore that, you'll probably not qualify for home insurance (or have it cancelled if you lie about the height and they come out to double-check it), *and* you would be liable if somene fell over a shorter-than-required railing. And no, it does not matter whether the person is a relative/friend, a pizza delivery guy, or a peeping tom - hell, even people who were *robbing* places have won lawsuits if they were injured because of "safty hazards".

Reply to
Kris Krieger

Gee, my grandpa was 6'2" as was his. The house I owned in Boston(1859) had

11' ceilings on the main floor. Older colonial (pre-revolutionary and pre central heating) houses were designed to hold the heat in the winter so the ceilings were often low if there were no servants to keep those fireplaces going. BTW my 1859 house was built with central heating and inside plumbing on every floor. EDS
Reply to
eds

You haven't seen a 24" rail. I bet that's exactly what you say after you trip over it. "Hey, I never saw it".

My suggestion is that you get out a ruler and go measure some railings. I bet you don't find any 24" ones. But go measure some, that's the best thing to do.

but as I said

Reply to
Pat

Kris...he said somewhere that code does not require a railing.

the thing about the code can get you into trouble, but not why you think. If you put no railing, cause none is required, your fine. If you put a 36" high railing where none is required, your fine too. You put a 30" railing in, and the inspector will not care if it's required. He has a piece of paper that says railing must be 36" high, and so he will red flag you on it. If you explain that the railing is not required, he will just tell you to take it out, or make it to code. (Their checklist has not room for exceptions, those are called waivers and around here require a couple more weeks of permitting) This of course is not always the case, but I've seen it time and again.

jojo

Reply to
jojo

You were lucky. The house I was raised in had PATH.

Reply to
Glenn

"eds" wrote in news:jvmdndh4i8_Qx7jYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

But generally, few places were that grand - heck, few are even today 11' ceilings are pretty, well, grand

But judging from the forts, homesteads, and other old buildings I've seen, also museum apparel, most people were smaller - not a matter of genetics, a matter of diet. So if there were old places with low railings - well, maybe the folks who built those were smaller. In any event, it seems to be that these days, installing a 24" or even 30" railing is like begging for someone to get hurt. IMO, it's worse then no railing, becasue if there is nothing, people are probably nore likely to be careful. A short rail offers enough of a "delusion of security" to be dangerous.

Reply to
Kris Krieger

"jojo" wrote in news:b0dVg.7680$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com:

The code required it but he lives outside the area where the code is required.

That doesn't mean it's smart to ignore it. If an injury occurs, the lawyer is likely to make some sort of argument regarding what is customary and expected.

Well, not what I specified in detail, at least.

Right - it's sort of like the "act of God" bit with shoveling snow off your walkway. If you don't get all the snow off, and it thaws a bit then re-freezes, and someoine falls and cracks their coconut, well, it used to be that you'd be liable. Dunno what the scoop is these days - but I was always meticulous about that.

Right.

So why take the chance?

It's the OP's choice of course, but IMO, it'd be nuts.

Reply to
Kris Krieger

Alright! Enough! I'll go with the 36"!!! Gawd! :-)

At least this will be one less "customization" for my builder, because we can just use stock railing components from HB&G.

Reply to
Sasquatch

I like 32-5/8".

Reply to
Art

The perfect height for any railing is exactly the same height as the height of the beer sitting on it.

Reply to
bowgus

"Sasquatch"> wrote

The ground is pretty hard to a drunk, especially the next morning, and even more so when he does a somersault backwards over a 30" railing. LOL

Reply to
Don

Sit in a chair on the porch admiring the view..then have someone hold a yardstick upright where the railing will go. I'd drop the railing til it doesnt block the view (but then I have see thru

34" high tempered glass "railings")
Reply to
Rudy

"bowgus" wrote in news:1160093924.015425.117580 @m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:

Hmmm, I'd add, "such that one's hand extends comfortably, without undue stress on the shoulder or elbow, to grasp said beer".

;)

Reply to
Kris Krieger

Yep, beer drinkers just know these things. Spontaneous evolution? Perhaps.

Reply to
bowgus

Ok ... here's pics of my design ... I obviously prefer rustic. The balcony railing is 42" high ... that's the code here for a 2nd story, and the lower railing is 36" high, again by the code. The thing about the design is that by having that 6" wide beer shelf, er, top rail, the railing has the illusion of being not so high. And speaking of high, I find that after a few beers, placing them consistently on the railing, gets more difficult. That 6" wide shelf, er, rail, ensures that no beers acidentally go over the side ... and that's what I call drinking responsibly :-)

The pics ...

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Reply to
bowgus

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