Railings: A Choice of Materials

When you are a property owner of any sort, you have to take certain liabilities into account. Some of these liabilities are of the legal sort, because you can be blamed if someone gets hurt while they are on your property. Of course, they have to show that you were negligent in some way, but that’s why you have to think about these things ahead of time.

One of the best things you can do to limit liability and create a little extra safety for yourself as well is to install railings at any spot where people might be prone to fall off and get hurt. This might be a scenic overlook on your land, a cave underneath your property, or maybe even just a trail that wanders a little too close to the edge of a cliff.

But you might be thinking “hey, I don’t let people come on my property! So, if they trespass, it’s their own fault, right? Wrong! Property rights are not absolute, and this is how the law has always been. For instance, here are five examples of instances in which an intruder was able to sue a property owner. Perhaps the silliest one was the case where a man tried to break into a school through the roof and ended up falling through the skylight. He sued the school for medical damages, and he won.

So, your main decision now is mostly one of materials. You can make barriers out of just about anything. We will start with the cheapest and crudest options and work our way up to the most sophisticated.

Let’s begin with the caveman solution: A stone wall. If you have a creek running through your property, you can probably find all kinds of flat, smooth stones that are perfect for building. With a little bit of time and effort, you can fit the stones together in such a way that you will not need mortar, but if you want the wall to be more permanent, you can use mortar between the stones to create a permanent structure that will probably be standing long after you’re dead.

Next up, we come to glass railings, which are easily the most sophisticated option. I have left out steel railings because they rust too quickly and are thus not worth the cost. There are plenty of good glass railings tacoma wa options to choose from. I recommend looking for a company that offers a firm guarantee on their products to make sure that you get the strongest product you can. Of course, ordinary glass would not be safe for this purpose, but glass railings are not usually made of ordinary glass. Glass railings are may become a favorite because they are easy to install, unaffected by the weather, and they do not interfere with the view at all. In fact, it is easy at times to forget that they are even there until you bump up against one!

Finally, we have wooden railings. These are also easy to improvise, as long as you have some trees around. All you have to do is cut them down (or buy some poles, if you’re lazy!), and they’re ready to use. While you may be tempted to remove the bark, leave it for now. It will help to prevent splitting as the wood dries out. Use a little concrete to set your poles upright in the ground, then drill or cut slots into the posts so that your cross-beams can be fitted therein. Make sure your slots are not too big, as you want the poles to be wedged firmly in place.