Filling in gap around punched rail

You can do what an idiot in this part does to cover up his blemished welds.He fills craters and sych with JB weld or bondo and makes em dissappear.His welds are really pityfull to say the least and his consumption of JB and bondo probably exceeds his supply of rods. He also makes a living at it and its only a mtter of time until he welds up something that bites him in the ass, but for a gap like you have if your unwilling to try and run a bead in it, JB or even bondo should work just fine. I won;t tell if you don't and odds are no one else will ever see or know it either.

The last thing you want is a crevice where water will stand. IMO you'd be better off with a gap big enough for the water to run thru rather than a filler that at some point is going to seperate from the steel. If you don't feel confident sealing the joint with a good weld, leave the gaps open.

Ned Simmons

Is brazing an option for you? It's a little more forgiving appearance-wise that welding. Just my thoughts. Bill.

How is it that the punched holes in the top rail don't fit closely, and the bottom ones do (fit)? The weld you are making on the bottom side could be leaving you vulnerable to the same problem you are worried about on top.

If you really don't have a problem with gaps in the fit on the bottom rail, then I have an idea, but it may be too late if the rail is already assembled and welded. I was going to suggest that you smear black roofing cement in the top joint, and weld only the bottom joint. If you are planning on doing any more lengths of railing, you might consider this.

On one job where a full length seal weld would warp the frame we used a paintable silicon caulking. Any quality paintable caulking should do the trick. Some are rated for 20 years plus in outdoor conditions. If water collects in a crack it will bleed rust marks in the future. Randy

My concern is that there the punched rail hole is slightly larger then the picket size. Most of the picket sit really tight into the top rail however some have a small gap around the rail, one that I think will be too big to get filled by the paint. I dont want water to be able to leak down into this gap. My welding skill are not to the point where I think I can make a good looking weld around the top of the picket. Well I can make a decent weld but because the pickets are only 4 inches apart it is tough for me to get a grinder in there and clean them up.

Is there anything I can use to fill in this gap? In most cases I would figure it is no bigger then a 1/16 of an inch or so. Basically it is just outside what I think could be filled easily by paint. I thought of using body filler but thought that was kinda lame and was wondering if there was a better solution.

leo's comments are correct. though i was able to put down a decent weld on underside of the bottom rails i still have to worry about water coming in from the top of the underside rail. in some cases i need to worry more so as if water gets into the bottom rail it has no way to drain out.

hmm roofing cement. is that paintable? since this is not painted yet i was thinking the bondo or jb weld would hold the paint better.

Leo Lichtman wrote:

Ditto! It's better to leave the gap open to drain. There are fences of this type that have been up for over a hundred years that haven't seriously rusted. Bugs