My experience says wrought iron will eventually rust unless repainted. I have powder-coated aluminum patio furniture which looks the same as day one after 4 years. If built correctly there's no reason alum can't be rigid.

It all depends on the install/product far as flex goes.

The quality of finish is key when using steel handrail systems with outside projects.

These guys www.kingmetals.com have alum and steel products that,when installed corectley, will both last a very long time and have little flex.

The price installing a rail system like this is way over your basic box store. J.

It is not wrought iron. It is steel railing. Wrought iron is fibrous and last for hundreds of years with low rust. In the Carolinas steel custom railing is less expensive than aluminum railing. I don't like the powder coated railing. Inevitably the paint will chip and it somewhat ugly to repair.

We found a company called RailingWorks that pre-fabricates the powder-coated aluminum railing for a quite reasonable price. Ships it as a "kit" with pieces, connectors, etc. And, because it's aluminum rather than steel, the freight charge is not ridiculous. It's not custom-welded, but if well-measured looks like it'll be easy to attach and look good.

Does anyone have experiences with them? If they're OK, we're planning to order from them next week.

Around 5 years ago, I installed some shade sails in my back yard. I already had some carbon steel pipe so I decided to use that for the supports. I wire brushed away the loose rust and primed them with Rust-stop primer. then painted them with flat black paint. They still look wonderful today! I am getting ready to do some steel handrails around my new deck and plan to paint them with the same stuff. If that Rust-stop primer worked that well on rusty pipe, I can't imagine how nicely it will work on new steel. I am not a fan of powder-coating. It is impossible to touch-up if rust does pop through.

Info hound, did you buy from railing works? Was is a good choice?

I went with a white vinyl railing. For me it's about uniformity with my neighbors and most important---safety.

We did go with Railing works, and recommend them highly! We've gotten lots of compliments in the years since. The color fits our stucco, and the cables almost disappear as we're looking through the railing to our back yard

Our experience was very pleasant, and the results awesome. They were knowledgeable, easy to work with. Easy to get samples of color and the top/bottom etc. elements, so which is what persuaded my skeptical DH that this was precisely machined, excellent powder coating, a very clever design, and could be a DIY project.

They worked with DH to choose the type of attachments to the deck, and also to the concrete stairs. In collaboration with them, we supplied the specifications for the railing, including all turns and stairs -- they answered all his questions, mailed diagrams back and forth till my engineer husband was certain it was all nailed down. The "kit" came with clear instructions. It did require cutting the top and bottom rails to for some of the 90-degree angles; DH has a circular saw, so that wasn't a problem, though

My husband and sons (16 and 10) installed the railings around our deck, and also next to the stairs to our front entrance.

I can't praise it enough!

As for my concern about maintenance, the finish and parts have been completely maintenance free. The cables haven't loosened, the railing is solid, and the powder coating is flawless. (No, I am not associated with the company. Just very happy that we went with this! It's one of the unadulterated success elements of our remodel! :-))