We have a brick and concrete steps outside the ouse with metal railings set into the side of it. The railings on both sides have come loose and the concrete around the posts have crumbled away so there is a gap. How can I (someone who is all thumbs) repair this?
call a repairman, if you don’t have masonry skills you’re setting yourself up for a lawsuit
lite, I appreciate the suggestion for calling a repair person but I believe if someone tells me how to do it I can do it. The railing is not comming out just loose and I believe I can do the job myself.
There are several ways of repairing your loose railings, depending on exactly how they’re loose, how the steps are constructed, how the railings were originally anchored, etc.
For example, if the railings were originally mounted with dead-end (e.g., lead, wood, plastic) anchors and the holes have broken or become “wallowed” out (i.e. too big), there are several products on the market that can be used to fill the holes so that they can be redrilled for new anchors. One of the best I’ve used (sorry, can’t remember the brand name) was a two-part chemical filler that came in the shape of a cigar and was packaged in a plastic tube. It has the consistency of modeling clay and is divided longitudinally into two colors – a light gray and an almost black. You just pinch off what you need, knead it in your hands until the colors blend to a darker gray (it will heat up as you do this) and work it – forcefully – into the hole. When it sets up – an hour or so – it is hard, durable and drillable. I used this stuff to repair spalls in a concrete floor caused by toilet anchor bolts ripping out, a very difficult repair situation, and it worked like charm.
TBone From what I remember he just dropped the railing back in, the bottom of the railing where it goes into the stairs was just the flat metal there were no anchors on it. The chemical filler you are talking about sounds like what I need. I can put it into the gap that exists now. I’ll have to do some web searches to find out the name
It’s epoxy putty. Sold under various names, you can find it at Home Depot or Lowes or other home fix-up store.