Need Opinions

"Stupidru" (Schm1an) 07/29/2015 at 10:27 • Filed to: None

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So my wife and I are expecting our first child this year and I’m trying to get as many projects around the house done before then. We have an upstairs patio that we use quite a bit, but I noticed that some of the fence posts are loose and I’m just afraid the kiddo is going to lean on one of those and fall, so I hap-hazardly just went to town screwing them in with pocket holes. I understand some woodworking purists turn their noses up to pocket holes, but all I want to know is “does this look ok?” or should I have tried to hide the pocket holes by drilling from the bottom side? If this is going to look awful, what can I do to mask it?

This is how they’ll look once they’re painted

Any and all opinions are welcome- Thanks!

CalzoneGolem > Stupidru 07/29/2015 at 10:31

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Should be fine but they’ll fill up with water. Would be better underneath.

VincentMalamute-Kim > Stupidru 07/29/2015 at 10:33

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What’s done is done. What might have looked better than pocket holes on the top side that aren’t flush is just simple screw head holes from the front post side. If it bothers you, you can’t fill the holes better and sand them all flush?

Or if it’s borderline good enough to you, leave it, get the rest of the projects done and fill it in, sand them flush after you get more time (ha!).

Brickman > Stupidru 07/29/2015 at 10:33

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Sand it down so it’s smooth and add wood filler to the recessed holes , then sand and paint.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Stupidru 07/29/2015 at 10:35

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I’m by no means a wood working expert, but underneath probably would have been a better option. As it stands now, I’d suggest a little wood filler and sand paper, try to get them flush with the rest of the railing. Then paint over, that should help hide a lot.

Rainbow > Stupidru 07/29/2015 at 10:38

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Could you add screws to the other side and just cover them with whatever, then paint over them? I don’t think that would particularly look better, but it might be stronger. (Yes, I realize there are already screws there. At least I assume so. I just mean either replacing them with newer, bigger ones or adding extras alongside them. If the things are coming loose, it’s probably because the old screws aren’t doing their job anymore.)

OPPOsaurus WRX > Stupidru 07/29/2015 at 10:48

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well depending on where you are, those would not meet code if there were built today and will probably become an issue of you constantly yelling at the kid to get down. The intermediate horizontal is going to be something the kid will constantly be climbing up to and wouldn’t be allowed on new construction. Obviously its not going to crawl out of the womb and up the railing so you have some time but you might want to rebuild the railing. Its not hard to expensive.

you can screw the balusters to the nailer then attache the nailers to the top and bottom rails No more than 4” gaps anywhere. Also if you have any hanging lights above a table make sure they are able to support a small child as well.....

Stupidru > Rainbow 07/29/2015 at 12:11

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The old nails are coming loose, which is why I am screwing these in

Stupidru > Snuze: Needs another Swede 07/29/2015 at 12:13

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Yep, taking a Dremel Multimax to the plugs to make them flush, then taking a random orbital sander to the top (did this earlier this summer— all the paint was bubbling and nasty) to make it all smooth, then repainting

Stupidru > CalzoneGolem 07/29/2015 at 12:17

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I glued in the plugs and they’ll have a coat of paint over the top so hopefully it will at least resist water entry and not let it weep straight in

Stupidru > Brickman 07/29/2015 at 13:33

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I think that’s the best case scenario— flush cut the dowels that didn’t go down all the way and add wood filler to the rest to fill the gaps, then sand and paint. Hopefully it’s not noticeable to the casual guest. If the wife complains, I’ll just build a new deck— I’m not crazy about this one as it is, but it came with the house