Enhance Your Deck with Durable Deck Guardrail Toppers
Over the past several months, we looked at lots of different examples of decks built in typical urban areas. Today we are looking at something similar and these particular decks are built on the rear of buildings built within close proximity to one another. The big difference between these buildings though and the typical ones we see here in Washington DC are that these buildings are modern buildings or contemporary style construction buildings, built side-by-side like typical historic row homes.
Even though these buildings are laid out closely like the typical buildings we find in the city, close in proximity to one another, they’re actually built outside of tge real urban center, as part of the typical urban sprawl we find outside of many urban centers on the east coast of the USA.
Unlike typical brick facade urban row homes, these buildings are built with a stick framing and clad in a cheap looking vinyl siding. Underneath the decks, they have a garage which helps to alleviate some of the congestion typically found in street parking.
On top of the deck guardrail, the individual homeowners have installed a lattice type topper to extend the height of the privacy wall created by the guardrail below. Unlike a typical baluster or balustrade system with open pickets, at the guardrail area of the deck, a screen has been installed, a wood type panel which gives privacy from the ankles to the waist or rib cage of most typical average height people. From that point above though the guardrail itself does not really provide any privacy and as you can see many of these neighbors have installed a topper above which extends the screen effect provided by the guard rail below the topper screen.
It’s likely that these buildings, like many buildings in Washington DC with cooperative or condominium type covenants and agreements between neighbors, have been built with the same sort of context. The original construction, in this case, included a deck on the rear of each one of these individual homes. The HOA or condominium bylaws probably allow each individual homeowner to add a topper to the top of their deck guardrail. Many of these homeowners have added that element, just to have more privacy since each home is built right next to the neck other with very little privacy.
In some cases, from one home to the next, with backyard fences and decks closer to the backyard or grade level, privacy might be provided by the overall layout itself without an additional topper on top of the guard rail of the deck. In this case though since the decks are elevated and literally within a few feet of the neighbors next deck, there’s very little privacy provided by the configuration itself. Instead everything that everyone does on their deck is completely exposed and laid bare to the rest of the neighborhood. The topper helps a bit.
In the case of the specific deck above, the guardrail posts have been installed at a higher height to allow for that guardrail topper to be installed without having to modify or build an additional system on top of the existing guardrail to hold the privacy screen in place. Most of the lattice panels are set against the perimeter framing made from typical deck type dimensional lumber with a smaller piece of lumber nailed around both sides of the panel to hold the lattice in place.
The next picture below shows, very clearly, how close these two decks are to one another. In some sense, normally, living in the country provides a lot more privacy, but in this case, at least the screen provides a little bit more privacy from all the other neighbors surrounding each of these houses. In an urban neighborhood, a deck, especially when there’s no backyard, is a great way to enjoy at least a little bit of outdoor life. In this particular layout, since the back of the house, at the ground level, is a garage, the yard leaves little room for anything more than the driveway, though.
The pictures above show a few different styles of deck and guardrail. Here, in the picture below, there is a red painted deck and guardrail with a white vinyl lattice for the privacy topper.
Use a contractor who understands and cares about doing things right. Always, feel free to reach out to us here at Dupont Decks and Patios. We are happy to help with almost all steps of the deck building and design process. A backyard and outdoor space should make a significant, positive impact on both quality of life and home value. We can help with more than just decks, we also build patios, pergolas, ramadas, awnings, gazebos, arbors, and privacy fences.
Let us know about your ideas and talk to us if you have questions about possibilities. We are happy to participate in improving your outdoor space and quality of life! You can call us at (202) 774-9128. You can find us online at https://dupontdeckspatiosdc.com and you can email us there as well at https://dupontdeckspatiosdc.com/contact-us
