My wife and I are about to buy a home that we will eventually retire to. The
plan it to rent it out until that time, which is a factor in the question I am
about to ask. The house (like me, built in the early 50's) has wrought iron
railing around the front entry way and steps that go to a side door. It all
needs to be repainted, but one of the vertical supports on the side steps has
cracked about an inch above the base. It just appears to be square tube, but
it was all cast in place, meaning the tube is embedded in the concrete. I
will eventually want to replace all of it with something more attractive, but
for now I just want it to be safe and not something that will lead to a
lawsuit from a renter.
I am thinking that I could wire brush the paint away from around the crack,
clean off any rust and then weld the crack up. To be absolutely safe, I would
also weld some angle iron on the two corners by the crack, repaint the whole
railing and forget about it until after retirement. For what its worth, I
don't want to lug shielding gas with me, so I was planning on just using flux
core wire in my welder. It can be windy near the house, so that might be a
good idea anyway.
At least that is my plan, but I have never worked on wrought iron railing
before. I know I can't weld the decorative parts of the railing, but does
anyone see any problems with this plan? Anything special I should consider
before tackling it?
As always, thanks!
Jim
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