pressurepros offers some good advice...

Here is a link that might be useful: Sealing a Deck - Make it look professional

Jasper:

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, my reading of that thread is that it relates to decks where the spindles are stained like the deck and railing. I intend to use sealed garapa as the deck and railing but just painted white spindles in between. Thus, I will have to somehow protect the railings and deck from the paint if I were to paint them after installing them first. I am wondering whether having painted white spindles is a mistake given the difficulty in painting up front as well as the potential need to repaint in the future once they are installed. I can see that being a huge pain in the a@#$.

I think you just completed your own question,adding to the fact pt pine spindles will warp/twist no matter what kind of finish is on them rethinking the material is a good idea.

A person could use white alum power coat balusters no finish needed at all. J.

John--thanks for chiming in. I have followed much of your advice from prior notes so I am glad to have your input. The problem is that my wife does not like the metal/aluminum balusters. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Nick

I am wondering whether having painted white spindles is a mistake given the difficulty in painting up front as well as the potential need to repaint in the future once they are installed. I can see that being a huge pain in the a@#$.

I had a neigbor once who built his own deck and dipped (paint) all his spindles prior to install. Can't say his numbers were as much as yours, but I recall seeing all those spindles hanging in his garage to dry. Anyway, I imagine the maint down the road would still be a royal pain.

Good luck

-jasper

Tough call, Nick. My first thought is to get a different wife, but that's not always practical. What is even less practical, though, is scraping and repainting 350 spindles. I like Johns' suggestion. Further discussions with your wife may be in order.

My first thought was if the wife wants the painted wood, let her do it. Then discretion got the better part of valor and I posted here. I will work on convincing her that the metal balusters are the way to go.

Thanks guys.

Nick

Hmmmmmm she dont like the alum balusters because....... nevermind sometimes there is no logic to it.

Idea!>>> 2'' pvc pipe,im not kidding, its white,not all that much $,no upkeep at all, installes with conectors just like the alum pipe, bang bang everyones happy!!

Maybe I am not showing her the right pictures of aluminum balusters. The only ones I could find are on deckorators.com and deckrailsolutions.com. Can anyone recommend another place to go that has them?

Thanks again

Nick,

Don't even bother with PT ballusters. If you must have white wood, cedar will work, fairly stable.

I built this cedar fence, has 600 2X2 ballusters.

But I painted it assembled, with a Wagoner spray gun, nothing masked.

I am planning to build an ipe/garapa deck also. Painted Alumunum ballusters are for me.

If the Lady dont like the mateial from both those sites, she just dont like em. It is possible to get them a little thicker like a 1/4'' but like how is that going to change things becides they are power coated steel.

What is the problem with the allum, exactly? That would help. J

Only response is that she just doesn't like them. What about if we used garapa for the balusters--like the rest of the deck--and just stained it to match?? I would imagine i could then just use a paint sprayer to spread the stain over both the baluster and the deck itself with proper coverage for overspray which hopefully wouldn't be too difficult. What do you think?

NG,are you talking bout using garapa for the deck/rail system and painting the whole thing white??

probley not, if white balusters and golden grappa is wanted, the round thing is out,go with composite 2x2 white balusters. J

John:

No, I was going to do garapa all around (deck, spindles, railing) and stain the entire thing together with TWP--probably the honey color. If I do this, how difficult would this be to maintain in the future.

Also, thanks for the recommendations to George at East Teak--great guy and very knowledgeable.

Nick

I gotcha, so white is out gold is in. Its a good idea to glue and screw the balusters in top and bottom. TWP should work well for you,its not all that hard to put on or maintain. George has a lot of talent the match with Him and East Teak coudent be any better. J.

I've seen some of your comments on TWP 100 versus 500 series. It seems to me that the consensus is that the 100 is better. Since it cannot be shipped to Jersey, can I go somewhere and buy it and just bring it back?

If you can get the 116 use it. I tested out the 516, it works about the same just takes longer to set up. J

thanks John. You've been a great help.

Nick