Ball Top Metal Railings

Traditional ball top railings, made to your sizes. 12mm solid round infill bars finished with 30mm cast ball finials, set between flat bar rails and square posts. The classic English boundary railing: the pattern you see on front garden walls, churchyards and Victorian terraces, and the one most conservation officers will accept without an argument.

Choose your finish

The same railing is offered three ways, priced in the dropdown above. The steelwork is identical; what changes is what goes on it before it leaves us.

• Unpainted raw steel. Supplied bare, straight off the fabrication shop, and the least expensive of the three. Bare steel will start to rust within days of being outside, so it has to be primed and painted on site, and kept painted. Choose this only if you are painting it yourself, or matching an existing paint system, and are set up to do it properly.
• Galvanised only. Hot dip galvanised and left in its bright silver finish, which weathers to a matt grey. No painting and no upkeep, and it will last decades outdoors. You can paint over it later if you change your mind.
• Galvanised and powdercoated. Galvanised first, then powdercoated in any RAL colour, and the dearest of the three. The colour sits on zinc rather than bare steel, so a chip on site does not start rusting. Black is the usual choice on traditional railings, and it is the one to pick if you want it painted and never want to think about it again.

How to order

Choose the total length of your run, the number of corners and the finish. Prices are set to the nearest metre, so a run measuring 3.75 metres is ordered as "Up to 4 metres". You are not buying a 4 metre railing: we make it to your exact dimensions, the ordered length simply sets the price band. The shortest band is "Up to 2 metres", which is also our minimum order.

• Add every leg of the run together and round up to the next whole metre. Pricing is based on the total length of the horizontal sections
• Count every change of direction: an L shape is 1 corner, a U shape is 2, more complicated shapes take 3 or 4
• Powdercoated? Tell us the RAL reference when we contact you about your drawing. Every colour costs the same
• We draw it on AutoCAD and send it to you to approve before anything is made, so you can adjust it and be certain it fits

Need a gate in the run? See our matching metal railing gate, made to your opening up to 1000mm wide. Raked runs to steps, curved sections or additional decorative features are quoted individually, so email us the sizes and a photo of what you are trying to match.

How the railings are built

• 40 x 8mm flat bar horizontal rails
• 12mm solid round infill bars with 30mm ball finials
• 50 x 50mm square posts with post tops
• Posts left long to concrete into the ground, or base plates to bolt down. Both are the same price, so tell us which you want when you order and it will be set out on your drawing for approval
• 1000mm high above finished ground level as standard. Where the railing is guarding a drop the regulation height applies instead, 1100mm externally, and we build to 1110mm for margin. Tell us which yours is
• Infill bars set out so a 100mm sphere cannot pass between them, which is what Part K requires

Where they are used

• Front garden boundaries and dwarf wall railings
• Gateways, driveways and path edges
• Period property restoration and conservation areas
• Churchyards, schools and public grounds
• Guarding steps, ramps and level changes

Specification

Designed to BS 6180 where used as a barrier, UKCA marked, and manufactured under our EN 1090-2 factory production control. Tell us if it is for a commercial or public building so we can specify the correct loading. Structural calculations on request.

What you get, and fitting it

All the steelwork plus the fixings needed to put it together, and an AutoCAD drawing sent to you to confirm before we make anything. If you are concreting the posts in, the holes need digging and setting out accurately. If you are base plating, the plates come drilled ready for your fixings. Either way, tell us at drawing stage which you are going with. We can quote to install it, and you will be contacted before delivery to arrange a weekday that suits you.

Looking after them

Unpainted steel needs priming and painting straight away, then repainting as the paint system requires. Galvanised needs nothing. Powder coating wants an occasional wash down with warm soapy water. See our product maintenance guide.

Other railings

• Curved hoops instead of ball finials: hoop top metal railings
• Decorative balustrade and ramp railings: ornate metal balustrade and ramp railings
• Handrail only, no infill: powdercoated steel handrail on posts