Deck Railing Made Simple It is time to add the Deck Railing now that we have our Deck Building and Deck Stairs complete. As I mentioned earlier in Deck Building we wanted a deck that was low to the ground and easy to access. We did not want railing all the way around our deck and we wanted to add Deck Benches along the edge of the deck as seating and a natural barrier.  
As you can see in the pics above we did add railing to what we call the cook deck and to the deck stairs. We wanted the cook deck area to have a different look than the rest of the deck. The railing adds to that area and makes it stand out. We also added railing to the deck stairs for safety and to make it more attractive as you can see below.  Building the deck railing was relatively simple; let me explain it in steps: After the Deck Building was complete I added 4X4” posts attached to the 2x6” facial board with large lag screws. As you will notice in the pics I installed a post on every corner and in the center of the long runs to give the railing strength. After the posts were securely attached I ran a 2x4” board on end at the top of the post flush so I could install a cap railing flat on top. After the top railing was complete I installed a 2x4” at the bottom flush to the inside of the 4x4” post. I then installed 1x1” pickets between the 2x4” evenly spaced on all sides. One thing that I also did was cut the bottom of the posts and pickets at a 45 degree angle to give the deck railing a more finished look. The final finishing touch was a post cap that I picked up at the The Home Depot . I added a cap to each post on the deck railing.   | 
