railing idea

dad really, really wants to use stainless steel cable rail for the screen porch/deck/stairs on the east side of the house.

I think the stuff is great too. but i'm concerned about the price. (that's funny because usually it's the client worrying about costs, not the architect... but someone has to think about it, and that falls to me somehow.) dad thinks he can save lots of money by getting a deal on long lengths of cable and making the railing himself, somehow avoiding the costly hardware and high price of pre-assembled lengths. i'm skeptical. plus, who is actually going to do this? (probably me.)

i just saw this nice alternative on another house blog, LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog. the Texas Plat House used hog panels, a type of welded wire mesh used to build hog pens. they slid the wire panel into a groove in the wood all the way around. this could work for us too if we can find the material or something similar.

link: http://blog.lamidesign.com/2009/04/texas-plat-house-gets-handrails.html

j o s h