How much to replace wood railings on my front steps with vinyl/plastic?

[JEDI]

my front steps have 2 landings with ~30' of railings on either side. (~60' total)

the wooden railings are beginning to rot. I want to replace them with vinyl/plastic.

So far i've had 2 contractors look, but neither have come back with an estimate. it's always excuses, or dont even return my calls. it's been a month for one, and 6 weeks for another. i've given up on both.

I live in Northern VA.

How much is the material, and how much should labor costs?

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

eleventy billion rupe

 

[sjwaste]

Use Checkbook for your contractor selection if you don't know of a good one. I don't know what it'd cost, but you could make a trip to Home Depot to get a rough idea of materials. Checkbook is a good resource in Northern VA, though -- I've used it a good amount because I grew up elsewhere and don't have a good list of service people here.

I don't have a contractor rec from experience for you, though, because that's my father's old business (retired now) and he drives down and helps me out with these jobs.

Checkbook is worth the $25/yr, but I can look for you when I get home tomorrow and send you some phone #'s for the higher rated folks. Let me know.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Will code allow such a railing?

It would seem difficult to be sturdy enough to take a persons weight.

 

[bctbct]

That is a hard job to put a number on, the vinyl is not cheap and thats a pretty labor intensive project....

If i had to guess I would think around 10 billion rupe...Mikey is trying to rip you off.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Will code allow such a railing?

It would seem difficult to be sturdy enough to take a persons weight.

The code for railings usually deals with height. Vinyl/composite are strong enough and used quite a bit without any issues.

So 30' on each side? If that's the case, $800-900ish for vinyl. It's probably $200-300 more for composite.

You can order nicer types of composite than most stores carry stock though, at least if you want to go composite. Go to Lowe's, HD or whatever your local building supply place is and take a look. It costs quite a bit more though 🙁

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: bctbct
That is a hard job to put a number on, the vinyl is not cheap and thats a pretty labor intensive project....

If i had to guess I would think around 10 billion rupe...Mikey is trying to rip you off.

Vinyl is easy. The rail sections are mostly already assembled (you add brackets to screw them into the posts). The stairs require a little work.

Composite requires a bit of work though, especially the nicer stuff.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: Strk

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Will code allow such a railing?

It would seem difficult to be sturdy enough to take a persons weight.

The code for railings usually deals with height. Vinyl/composite are strong enough and used quite a bit without any issues.

So 30' on each side? If that's the case, $800-900ish for vinyl. It's probably $200-300 more for composite.

You can order nicer types of composite than most stores carry stock though, at least if you want to go composite. Go to Lowe's, HD or whatever your local building supply place is and take a look. It costs quite a bit more though 🙁

most codes will also specify that the rail must be capable of supporting a certain lateral loading as well (I think IBC 2006 is 200#)