As the hot summer sun gives way to the cool air of autumn, I start to get more and more questions from homeowners who are concerned about how their backyard retreats are going to handle the onslaught of Old Man Winter. Yeah…I hate that guy. He’s crotchety, foul tempered, and unforgiving. It is for this reason that I so encourage the use of ultra low maintenance building products that can withstand whatever that jerk throws out!
I have talked about decking extensively, but what about railings? Railings are the most visible element of a deck project as they are right in your eye-line when you sit on the deck. For this reason I highly recommend aluminum railing systems, and in that category, the only one I use is Regal Railing. Why you ask? Because there are a lot of different railings on the market…and I’ve used them all! Some look great, but you need to be an MIT graduate to install it. Some are easy to install, but after a few years you wonder who paid off the engineer to pass the brittle piece of junk. When I first used Regal Railing I thought, “What’s the catch?” I was looking for the kinks in the armor of a system that I could not only install even if I hadn’t slept in a few days (which happens a lot), but also had the strength to give me total peace of mind even if my own daughters were throwing a party on the deck. If you have strength, ease of installation, AND you look damn good…you have my attention. And trust me… as a guy with A.D.D. that’s hard to do.
Until next time,
– Paul Lafrance
About Paul Lafrance
Paul Lafrance is the creator, owner, and CEO of Paul Lafrance Design. With more than fifteen years of generating innovative and state-of-the-art custom deck designs, he is no stranger to the decking and landscaping world. He has successfully designed and built over a thousand decks across Southern Ontario — plus, he has designed thousands more across North America. With designs that are always original, each project offers its own uniqueness and the beauty that has come to define a Paul Lafrance Deck.
Paul is the host of HGTV’s Decked Out, Disaster Decks, and Deck Wars as well as one of the judges on Canada’s Handyman Challenge. You can catch Paul on his new HGTV series, Custom Built, which features innovative interior designs and home makeovers, done in the Paul Lafrance Style.
