Railings — glass, aluminum and wood.

Glass where the view is the point — a deck over a ravine, a porch facing the garden. Most expensive, and the hardware matters more than the glass. Aluminum is the sensible default: powder-coated, never rots, never needs painting, and the picket spacing is engineered. Wood matches a deck and costs least, but it is the one you will be maintaining.

It depends on the height of the walking surface above grade, and the Ontario Building Code sets both the guard height and the maximum opening a child could pass through. Decks above a certain height also need a guard that resists a specified lateral load — which is a post-attachment question, not a picket question.

We confirm the current requirement with your municipality before quoting rather than working from memory, because this is the item inspectors actually fail.

Almost always the post connection, not the railing. A post lag-bolted through decking into air will work loose no matter what is spanning between them. Posts have to be through-bolted to the framing, or set in proper post bases, with blocking behind. That is invisible once the deck boards are down, which is exactly why it gets skipped.

Frequently, and it is one of the best-value jobs we do. A sound deck with a tired wood railing becomes a different structure with black aluminum pickets, and it costs a fraction of a rebuild. We check the posts and the framing first and tell you honestly if the deck itself is the problem.

Yes — open stairs, landings, glass panels on a stairwell, wood handrails and newels. Same principle: the fixing into the structure is the job, the visible part is the easy half.