A false balcony provides a rail in front of a patio or French door on the upper level of a building. It does not provide a floor segment for the person to step onto but provides a safety barrier at the outside edge of the door. The construction process can be as simple as adding a prebuilt wrought iron rail to the exterior wall or it can include a more ornate presentation. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Measure the exterior opening of the door. Include the exterior door trim in the width of the opening. You are determining the distance from the points on each side of the door where railing materials can be firmly attached. This is commonly just outside the door trim.
2. Build a wrought iron rail assembly to this width. Include at each end 90 degree corners that extend the rail about 2 inches to wall mounting brackets. This type of rail can be assembled from wrought iron railing components sold for deck railing or can be built to specifications. Custom builders often produce more ornate products than the kind you can buy to install yourself.
3. Attach the brackets of the railing assembly to the walls. The bottom brackets attach just below the door frame level. Use 3 1/2-inch lag bolts to fasten the railing brackets firmly in place.
Tags: wrought iron, door trim, iron rail, more ornate, wrought iron rail
