Anti-skate board mod for stair rails

[Golden_eagle]

twisted square bar stock for the handrails... good looking and very bumpy...

[Glenn]

Ptree, rather than modify the rail, and still meet ADA and others guide lines, why not put a large Shepard's type crook at each support. This will become an obstacle for the skaters and allow the church to hand flowers, decorations etc. while remaining in the guide lines of code.

[ironrosefarms]

blafen, that is exactly what our church did. We built a portable skate park that we set up every other week during the nice weather seasons. What is amazing is the "kid" type vandalism that we was experiencing has stopped because the kids who frequent our park look out for us and stop the problem. The other side of it is we have doubled our youth group numbers on the off Wednesdays and tripled on the Wednesdays we set the park up. The park runs from 5pm to 6:30, then youth service from 6:30 till 8pm. Reaching out to these kids has been one of the best things we have done for the youth of our community.

As for a rail design that would discourage skaters short rails do well for this. Keeping each section at 2 foot or so makes for a hard way to ride.

James

[Quenchcrack]

I think a brick wall at the lower end of the hand rail would probably discourage most skaters. Not all but most....

[ptree]

Guys, thanks for all the help.
Since we had Ike to visit, with much wind damage, this is on back burner for all concerned. I personally lost 22 BIG trees and I had lighter damage then many. We had 3 dead in our community, and more in the north of Indiana due to flooding from Ike. My power/phone etc has been out since Sunday noon. My shop took minor damage as did the house. No one hurt in my imediate family/neighborhood. I have about 6 widowmaker trees to deal with, with one BIG one leaning 15 degrees towards the house.
Anti-skater features are probably several weeks out. I like the plant hangers at intervals.

[melonkernel]

Originally Posted by ptree

Skate boarders are grinding on the top rail and the church is wanting to not atrack them, and to stop damage to the rails.

I would do as ironrosefarms' church did. Isn't church supposed to attract people and reach out to the different subcultures.
Perhaps build some stoppers on the steps, but also a "better" rail to grind. somewhere where it is ok.

[ironrosefarms]

I checked with my pastor tonight about the cost involved in having the skaters here. We pay a $750 per year fee to obtain a rider on our insurance policy due to the liability. This sounds like a fair amount but if your worried about the $ the year before we started this we spent $1600 in repairs from graffiti and other vandalism. So although our intentions was not to stop the vandalism but to reach a group of kids who are often shunned and alienated by society, the benefits that came back are kind of nice too...

We have been beginning talking about a long range goal of building a indoor skate and activity building that our youth could dominate...

The plant hangers might be the quickest easiest and perhaps cheapest route. Let us know when the life stuff settles down what happens...

James

[djhammerd]

Ptree.... Remind me to talk to you (at Quad States) about how a friend of mine deals with leaning trees when he cuts them down....

[Glenn]

Ptree, Taking on a ton or two of wood and convincing it to defy gravity and go the other way is a challenge. One thing for sure, NEVER WORK ALONE. And don't be afraid to ask for professional tree service help. Whatever they charge will be less expensive then repairing the house after the tree falls on it.

[ptree]

My plan for the widowmaker tree is to hire a 955 cat crawler with a 4-way bucket. He has been to my place before. He will push it over center and down. Then on to pushing the fallen trees down further into the forrest and followed by every @#$% pine tree with in 150' being pushed over and into the forrest.
I am still without power, and they project 2 to 6 days for power to be restored. A very good hearted guy at work took me to his house and loaned me his generator and power cord, and offered his truck to haul it 46+ miles. We strapped it on my 99 Cavilier, and off I went. We saved the food in the freezers, lost everything in the refrig. My ladies are getting pretty desperate for a hot shower, my plan is that I will enjoy a LONG LONG hot shower when I arrive Thursday at SOFA. I hate cold showers, but when you are chainsawing one has to clean up. Cold showers are sure a water saver
I have 22 major trees down, but have clear acces down the drive and street now.
I am very lucky, thre were 4 deaths in my area from windblown debris.