Balustrades

Knotwood aluminum balustrade systems are an architectural alternative to standard aluminum railing. They use screen panel infill rather than open pickets, so the balustrade gives visual privacy as well as edge protection. Most deck railing sold in the U.S. is a picket or cable system bought in stock lengths. This is a specified system, made to the opening and installed by a trade.

Homeowners use them on decks and balconies that face neighbors or a street at close range, where a more substantial infill is wanted instead of an open picket system. Builders specify them on multi-story balconies and exterior stairs, where the edge needs protecting and the space needs screening at the same time, and on rooftop terraces where the balustrade is visible from the street below.

A picket railing does its job at the edge but gives no real privacy, because the gaps let sightlines straight through. A Knotwood screen balustrade uses much closer profile spacing, so the same element that protects the edge also screens the deck from the neighbors and the street. Panel height, spacing and the connection back to the structure are all set for the project rather than taken from a stock kit, which is what lets the balustrade suit the position it is going into.