Stan in Oly, WA
Well-known Member
I have been repairing and refurbishing the steel railings on the retaining walls on both sides of my driveway. The top horizontal member of the railing is made of a 1" wide, 1/2" high channel, open side up, with a 1-1/4" X 3/16" flat bar tacked on top of it. It's a nice design, but there's a problem with it. The intermittent tacking has allowed water to get into the channel creating enough rust to force the flat bar away from the channel in many places. It's difficult to repair because the top edges of the channel have become so thin that they burn through easily. I've got most of the parts tacked back in place and cleaned up, but without sealing the gap between the flat bar and the channel, the same thing is going to happen again. My neighbor offered me the use of his MIG welder to run a bead along the joints, but I think there's too much air movement to do it with shielding gas, and I suspect that flux core would burn through just as stick did. Anyway, I'd still have to grind it into shape, and there's about 80 feet of it. There must be a caulk that's suitable for steel. It will be primed and painted with oil based paint. If the caulk lasts as long as the paint, I'll be satisfied.
Stan
Stan