Product Maintenance

How to look after what we supply: the cleaning each finish needs, and the annual safety checks that keep a balustrade, balcony, handrail or washing line pole sound. Our stainless steel cleaning kit covers most of what is needed on a balustrade, handrail or canopy.

Stainless steel

Remember it is stainless, not stain free. Stainless steel relies on a very thin chromium oxide passive layer for its corrosion resistance. That layer reforms on its own on a clean surface, but it is damaged by iron contamination, airborne particles and above all by chlorides, which is why salt air and de-icing salt are the enemy. The steel underneath is not corrosion resistant, so regular cleaning is not cosmetic, it is what keeps it sound.

  • Warm water and a cloth. The safest routine clean. Wipe in the direction of the polish lines, then dry with a towel to avoid water spots.
  • Glass cleaner for fingerprints. Fingerprints are the most common complaint on a stainless handrail. Glass cleaner lifts them. Rinse thoroughly and towel dry.
  • Proprietary stainless steel cleaner. For staining or light scratching. Read the instructions, test somewhere inconspicuous first, rinse thoroughly and towel dry.

Clean thoroughly every two to three months as a minimum. In coastal, high salt or otherwise harsh locations, monthly is more realistic.

Grade matters as much as cleaning. We use G316 on anything external and G304 internally only. G304 outdoors will tea stain within a couple of winters whatever you do to it.

Hot dip galvanised steel

Galvanising is the lowest maintenance finish we offer. The zinc coating is sacrificial, so it protects the steel underneath even where the surface is scratched, and it will last decades outdoors with no upkeep at all.

  • New galvanising is bright and shiny. Over the first year or two it weathers to a duller, slightly mottled grey as the zinc forms its own protective patina. That is the coating working, not a fault.
  • White powdery patches, often called white rust, can appear where water has sat on the surface or where parts were stacked while damp. It is surface zinc oxide. Wipe it off with a stiff brush and warm water.
  • Wash it down occasionally with warm soapy water if you want it to look its best, more often near the coast.
  • If the coating is ever cut or drilled on site, touch the bare steel in with a zinc rich cold galvanising paint.
  • Avoid prolonged contact with wet timber, acidic runoff or fresh mortar, which all attack zinc.

Powder coating

A powdercoated finish wants an occasional wash down with warm soapy water, more often near the coast. Do not use solvents or abrasive pads.

If the coating is damaged, it can be repaired:

  • Lightly sand the affected area. If it is chipped, fill with a two pack epoxy filler, then sand back.
  • Prime with a proprietary grey acrylic primer.
  • Respray with an acrylic aerosol in the original colour.
  • Blend in with T Cut and finish with a proprietary car wax.

Where we galvanise before powder coating, there is a zinc coating underneath the paint, so a chip does not expose bare steel and will not start to rust. That is why we galvanise first on anything going outside, and it is the single biggest difference between a finish that lasts and one that does not.

Glass

Glass is not covered by our 10 year warranty, and it is the one part of a system that cannot be repaired, so it is worth being careful with. Toughened glass needs no maintenance beyond regular cleaning. Warm water with a little detergent and a soft cloth or squeegee, or a proprietary glass cleaner. Never anything abrasive, and never a cleaner containing hydrofluoric or phosphoric acid, which permanently etch glass and will strip a non-slip treatment off a floor panel.

Outdoors, rinse the grit off before you start wiping. It is the grit that scratches glass rather than the cloth.

In the unlikely event of a breakage, contact your installer for advice or us for a replacement panel. Floor glass has its own care guide: see walk-on glass maintenance.

Composite decking

On a balcony, composite decking wants a brush down and a wash with warm soapy water, and nothing else. It does not need oiling, staining or sanding, and it should not be jet washed at close range or treated with solvents.

Washing line poles and accessories

A washing line pole is galvanised, stainless or powdercoated steel, so whichever of the sections above matches your finish is the cleaning advice. What is different about a pole is the ground, the line and the moving parts.

Where the pole meets the ground

This is the only part that ever causes trouble. Water, soil and grass clippings collect at the base and sit against the steel. Keep the collar clear, and do not bank soil, bark or gravel up against the pole. If yours stands in a ground socket, lift it out once a year, tip the water and muck out of the socket, let both dry and drop it back in. On a concreted pole, look for cracking in the concrete or water pooling around the base.

Push the pole firmly at head height once a year. It should not move at the bottom. Any rock or sway means the concrete or the socket has let go, and that wants sorting before it starts to lean rather than after.

Line, pulley and cleat

  • Line. Steel core line lasts well, but the plastic coating perishes in sunlight. Once the coating is cracked or the line is marking washing, replace it. It is the cheapest part of the whole set up.
  • Pulley. A drop of light oil on the wheel once a year. Do not grease it, because grease picks up grit and finds its way onto washing.
  • Cleat. Tension the line enough to take the sag out and no further. Over-tensioning puts a constant sideways pull on a pole that is only cemented into the ground, and it is the usual reason a pole starts to lean.
  • Line prop. Check the head has not split and the foot has not rusted through where it stands in wet grass.

What not to hang off it

A washing line pole is built for a washing line. It is not a fixing point for a shade sail, a hammock, a swing seat or a run of festoon lighting pulled tight across a garden. A sail in particular loads a post many times harder than a wet line does, in gusts, and in a direction the pole was never set for. If a sail is what you want, we make shade sail posts sized for that job.

Annual safety and fixing checks

A balustrade, handrail, balcony or gate is a structural safety item, not a decorative one. We design and make ours to carry the barrier loadings in BS 6180 and we certify the steelwork to BS EN 1090-2, but the thing that transfers that load into your building is a mechanical fixing, and mechanical fixings can work loose over years of thermal movement, wind load and people leaning on them. Timber substrates shrink and settle. Sealant around a wall fixing degrades. None of that is a fault, it is normal, and it is why the installation needs looking at periodically.

Check yours at least once a year, and again after any storm, impact or building work nearby. Make it more often on anything coastal or badly exposed, and on anything in commercial or public use, where the consequences of a loose fixing are greater and the duty of care is higher.

What to look at

  • Glass clamps. The clamp bolts into the post or frame, and the clamp's own retaining screws. Press the pane: the glass should not move, rattle or rock in the clamp.
  • Side fixed brackets and spigots. The through-bolts and the set screws that grip the pane. The bushes and gaskets bearing on the glass should still be compressed and in one piece.
  • Base channel systems. The channel's own fixings down into the structure, and the wedges or gaskets holding the pane upright.
  • Posts. Base plate bolts and cover plate screws. On core drilled and grouted posts, look for cracking in the grout or water sitting around the base.
  • Handrails. Bracket screws, the fixings into the wall or post, and the joints and connectors along the run.
  • Balconies. The visible wall fixings or throughbolts, and the condition of the sealant and flashing where the steelwork meets the building.
  • Gates. Hinge bolts, the latch, and any self closing mechanism.
  • Washing line poles. Movement at the base, the state of the line and the pulley, and that nothing has been banked up against the foot of the pole.
  • Anything that has moved. A rail that gives under hand pressure, a pane that has shifted in its channel, a rust weep running out of a fixing, or a gap opening up between a post and the surface it sits on. Any of those wants looking at straight away rather than at the next annual check.

How to tighten it

  • Hand tools only. Firm, not forced.
  • Never use an impact driver or a power tool on any fixing that bears against glass. It is the quickest way to break a pane, and glass is not covered by the warranty.
  • Stainless fasteners gall. Over-tightened, they seize or snap rather than holding better. Snug is enough.
  • If a bolt will not come up tight, or keeps loosening, the problem is the fixing or what it is fixed into, not the bolt. Stop and ask us rather than keep turning it.
  • Do not swap a fixing for a different type or size, do not drill new holes in glass, and do not take a handrail off a frameless run that was designed with one, because on those systems the rail is part of what makes the glass work.

Keep a note of it

Write down the date each time you check it. It takes a minute and it is the record that matters if there is ever a question about a panel that has moved or a fixing that has come loose. Our 10 year warranty covers what we fabricate. It does not cover a fixing that has been left loose for years, a pane that has shifted because the clamp was never checked, or damage caused by over-tightening.

If you would rather not do it yourself, or you have inherited a balustrade or balcony and want to know where it stands, we carry out a chargeable condition assessment: a professional visual inspection with checks against current regulations and a written opinion. It is not a substitute for a structural engineer's calculations, and we will say so if that is what your situation actually needs. Email sales@diomet.co.uk or call 0114 243 9009.

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Related guides

If something is not right, our 10 year warranty is set out in our terms. To talk to someone, call 0114 243 9009 or email sales@diomet.co.uk.