A homeowner in the mountains of Virginia was building and desired to add a custom artistic woodland railing that spoke to the wildlife and forest in the local area. The design was challenging to create cohesively. An additional challenge was that the overlook area had an inconsistent radius. It was tough to have the forest and wildlife scene free flowing while maintaining compliance to the four-inch rule. This rule is to protect a child’s head from getting stuck, so no opening can be greater than 4”.
We were given sketches as a starting point to create the artistic railing design. We started by designing the two end panels of these artistic railings. These panels were duplicates of each other, just on the far-left side and one on the far-right side of the overall project. The main curved area was the most prominent portion of the railing. The client’s desire was that this area have no duplicates, but maintain the deer, bear, turkey, and forest pattern.
To measure the project, we drove six hours into the mountains of Virginia. We then set up our 3D disto laser to get the exact radius. When we did this we realized that this project was not a true radius.
Next, we drew up the design in CAD. When we did this our designer had to pay extra attention to all the inside corners and tight radiuses to get the measurements exact.
Due to the thickness of the artistic railing panel, the laser cut edge had to be designed in a very gradual manner so that the laser cutter does not “burn” the design.
We then radiused the individual panels of the artistic railing. To finish off this project we sandblasted and powder-coated the entire project in a matte black color.
To install, we transported the artistic railing panels to the site 6 hours away. We installed the panels between the existing millwork sections of the railings. The finished artistic railing project absolutely enhanced this Virginia mountain home and will be a testament to the owner’s design vision for many years to come.
