At Structural Beam, we fabricate and install steel railings for staircases, porches, or balconies. Call +1 773-917-8998 today for a free consultation!

Steel Railings Fabrication In Chicago, Il

Modern steel railing designs in steel, both mild and stainless, are popular these days. Steel stair railing, steel deck railing, steel balcony, or steel porch railing, you name it —at Structural Beam, we can fabricate and install them all.

Steel, the perfect railing material

When looking for a material to provide safe support or safety barrier, what can be better than steel? Both mild structural carbon steel and stainless steel have excellent mechanical properties and are very well suited for railing and handrails fabrication. At Structural Beam, we work with both, and always have metal products available to start miscellaneous steel fabrication on very short notice.

Metal railings, planning ahead

Unless you are planning to renovate your balcony railing or fit new railings to an existing exterior or interior staircase, it’s good to plan railings fabrication and installation as early as possible and bring the steel erection specialist in the loop, so he could clearly communicate his requests to builders and structural steel fabricators for those holes, connections, and openings to be in place when the time comes to install the railing.

Steel staircase railings

Metal staircase railings would always have a more or less pronounced handrail, the part of the railing you hold onto, either a dedicated rail, running in parallel to the railing itself, or a top rail of the railing made into a handrail, comfortable to hold onto. Newels, the posts that are on the sides of the march, and balusters, the posts that are in between, are the other parts of the staircase railing.

Handrails can be either a part of the staircase railing or mounted on the wall along the staircase if one side of the staircase is facing the wall, which is often the case in residential settings.

Pickets and cables

Metal staircase railings can be designed in various ways, two generic types being picket railing and cable railing, along with their many variations. While picket railing utilizes vertical poles for the infill, cable railing uses stainless steel cables. There are advantages and limitations to both systems, and your designer is there to help you to choose the one that is best for you.

Custom metal staircase railings can be fabricated by the Structural Beam team, just bring us in the project early, at the design drawings stage, so our fabricators and erectors could spell their ideas out clearly and have a detailed placing plan for the fabricated railings to be seamlessly installed.

There’s a variety of styles used for those, and the main difference is in the choices of infills and a much less pronounced handrail since it is not used for climbing the stairs up and down.

Common infill styles are:

Picket railing, basic, standard, and familiar, is still in fashion and is best for the safety of your kids

Cable railing, more contemporary, with stainless steel cables running through the holes in the poles, looks really sleek and helps to enhance the style

Metal infill railing, with perforated metal panels. By customizing the patterns of perforation you can regulate the degree of privacy, which is always a nice thing

Mounting styles

Can’t emphasize it enough, but this should probably do it. It’s way better to bring both miscellaneous steel fabricators and erectors into the project as early as possible. Consider the variety of the mounting styles for metal railings, when it wasn’t done:

• base plate style mounting involves the poles having base plate welded onto them, and then bolted to the connectors or via anchoring bolts
• core-drilled mounting, erector needs to drill into the concrete to then cement the poles into the drilled holes
• side mounting, not the prettiest, perhaps, but does the job
• welded steel onto steel, the most obvious of all, the welds will be visible unless somehow covered

My point here is this: yes, we at Structural Beam are there for you no matter what, and we will happily go by any of the styles mentioned above to install your metal railings. But! If you bring us in the process early, we won’t be needing drilling into the existing concrete, mounting on side of the slab, or altering the existing structure in any intrusive way.

Our erectors and fabricators will cooperate with the designer and the builders and figure out the most structurally sound and aesthetic way for that metal railing to be integrated into your building. This way you’ll get the best quality at the lowest cost, and that’s how we like our projects to be for our customers.

Structural Beam is fully suited to work in the general contractor capacity. We have structural and miscellaneous steel fabrication and erection capability, along with concrete and brick masonry capability, and are well equipped to deliver turn-key fabrication and erection service. If you go with us the whole way, you can be sure that the installation of your steel railings will be done optimally.

Estimation

If you’d like us to fabricate and install railing for already existing structures of your house or commercial property, our experienced team will visit the site and take all the necessary measurements and check all the relevant conditions. It will allow us to come up with an estimation for your project.

Should you be happy with the estimate and decide to go with us, our engineer will then get to the drawing board and do the sketches and drawings, with the much-needed feedback from our fabricators and erectors.

Fabrication and delivery

Our builders, fabricator, and erector will deliver a high-quality staircase, balcony, or metal porch, complete with railings that are perfectly integrated by design, with most of the welding done in a controlled fabrication workshop environment and not in haphazard on-site fabrication conditions.

If you are in for “just” the railing, they’ll be fabricated according to the specs, and professionally installed by our experienced erection/installation team.

At Structural Beam, we have a fully stocked fabrication workshop, and our ironworkers and welders are both skilled and have all the appropriate certifications to work with both structural steel and miscellaneous metal fabrication. Here’s an overview of operations during the steel railings fabrication:

• Primary cutting of the materials, members size checking
• Drilling holes for the cable (in case of cable infill stainless steel railings), cutting stainless steel cable, cutting stainless pipe
• Shaping of metal members, if required
• Assembly of the railings, predominantly by welding
• Welding railings onto the steel staircase parts (that’s the beauty of ordering everything in one place!)

• Finishing
• Application of primer paint layer for initial protection from rust, powder coating, etc.

We do delivery ourselves to ensure careful handling and appropriate transportation for fabricated railings. Our experienced erectors install steel railings or erect railings-incorporating structures. We’ll make sure, that your new steel railings will serve you long and well!

Call Structural Beam, your local, Chicago, Il miscellaneous steel solutions company, at +1 773-917-8998 and order your metal railings today!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you make a steel railing?

Steel railing fabrication involves cutting, drilling, shaping, and welding metal products, to assemble the steel railing

Which steel is best for railing?

Mild structural steel, like A36, and stainless steel like A306 are common choices for railing fabrication. Mild steel is considered best for some applications that require superior mechanical properties. Stainless steel is chosen for the corrosion resistance and aesthetic appeal

How do you weld a railing?

Depending on the material, different types of welding equipment are used. A36 can be welded by SMAW, or stick welding, gas metal arc welding, or MIG welding, and oxyacetylene welding. For stainless steel railings, it’s gas metal arc welding or MIG welding. Structural Beam’s certified welders are adept at using all of the mentioned welding methods.

Where can I order metal railings fabricated near me in Chicago, Il?

Structural Beam is steel railings fabrication specialist, we can do installation/erection, too. Call us today at +1 773-917-8998 for a free price estimate for your railings project!