SPONSORED CONTENT
1. Cable: Vertical & Horizontal
Stainless steel cable is the fastest-growing infill material found on homes today. You will find it in both remodeling projects and new home construction. One of the primary advantages of cable rail is that it’s durable, easy to maintain finish. For many projects, all that’s required to keep stainless steel cable looking good is a periodic soap and water bath. Depending on the geographic location of the project, cable rail can be suspended either horizontally or vertically between the posts. Both of these options look great.
Pro Tip: Although they offer stainless cable as an infill option, many railing manufacturers fabricate their posts from aluminum. Be careful with this. Stainless steel and aluminum are dissimilar metals, so if the stainless cable comes into contact with the aluminum posts, it can trigger corrosion in your railing system. Choose stainless steel posts instead.
2. Glass Rail: Clear Glass & Obscured
Using glass as the infill material in your railing system can offer several advantages over other material choices. For example, a glass infill can serve as a windbreak, allowing outdoor areas to be better protected, and thus more useable in higher wind areas. In addition to serving as a windbreak, obscured glass can provide a level of privacy to the property’s tenants, without compromising the appearance of the railing system. A clear glass infill can serve as a windbreak outdoors, as well as a tasteful room divider in interior spaces. Clear glass also does a great job in minimizing obstruction of the surrounding area, whether the railing is installed indoors or outdoors. Whether you chose clear glass or obscured, glass infill is the perfect complement to today’s growing modern home designs.
3. Bar (Rod) Rail: Vertical & Horizontal
Where cable rail tends to disappear when you look through it, minimizing obstruction of the surrounding area – bar railing adds additional elegance to space. Bar railing also does not require the periodic re-tensioning that cable rail requires. If you choose bar rail, pay special attention to how the infill bars are connected to the posts. If the bars are welded to the posts, the welds should be clean, tight, and look like a row of tiny, precise puddles. This “roll of dimes” is the hallmark of master metalworkers. If, instead of being welded to the posts, the infill bars fit into holes cut into the posts, make sure that the open space around the bar as it enters the post is nearly non-existent. There should be little or no space around the bar as it enters the post. This is the mark of a high-quality fabrication process, utilizing state-of-the-art, accurate to 4/1000th of an inch, fiber laser tube cutting equipment. Choose a manufacturer whose railings are fabricated with the industry’s most precise equipment. You will get a better quality product that looks better, installs faster, and endures longer than a railing system fabricated on older CNC equipment.
4. Mesh Panel
Woven metal panels are an attractive infill that you will find in both commercial and residential properties. They come in an almost limitless variety of patterns, fabricated from several popular materials. The panel manufacturer will create a stainless steel u-channel to surround the panel, which is then held in place between the posts by the same clamps used to hold glass panels in place between the posts. Few railing options can compare the visual impact of a stainless steel railing system with a mesh panel infill.
Post courtesy of AGS Stainless.
About AGS Stainless: Fabricated 100% Off-Site, Custom-Made, All-Stainless Steel Railing Systems. For more than 30-years, AGS Stainless has fabricated custom-railing systems for some of the world’s most distinctive homes and commercial properties.
Why demand prefabrication for your custom rails? Whether you chose cable, glass or bar, or mesh panel for your infill – having the railing system built 100% offsite reduces product cost, improves product quality, and dramatically shortens installation time.
For more information, visit AGSstainless.com, watch this 1-minute video “Why AGS” or call us at (888) 842-9492.
