Project Overview & Background
The homeowners had already replaced this railing once. The original installer used 304 stainless — fine inland, wrong here. Three blocks from the Esplanade, with onshore wind carrying salt spray year-round, 304 develops surface rust ("tea staining") within a couple of seasons.
We rebuilt it in 316 marine-grade stainless with vertical rod infill. Vertical was the homeowners' preference and it has a practical advantage in a coastal home: horizontal members collect salt deposits and airborne grit along their top surface, while vertical rods shed it. We also specified mechanically polished welds rather than as-welded joints, because the heat-affected zone at a weld is exactly where coastal corrosion starts.
Structural Challenge:
Matching a replacement guard to an existing stair whose treads were slightly out of level front-to-back — common in older beach homes that have settled. Every post base was individually shimmed and the cap rail scribed rather than cut to a single angle.
Engineered Solution:
Full 316 specification including fasteners, vertical rod infill to shed salt, and individually shimmed post bases to absorb the stair's settlement.
We learned the hard way that not all stainless is the same. This one still looks new after a winter of onshore wind.
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