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Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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The bottom of my indoor metal stair railing broke from the base. The welder (he is licensed nation-wide and has insurance) said that he would just cut off the damaged piece and then weld it back together. He says it's safe and they have fire proof blankets, etc.
He also says that we will open windows/door and use a fan; but that the fumes aren't that bad.
Would you do this? Anyone have experience with this?
The railing cannot be removed and repaired. I would have to replace the entire railing which is apparently going to be thousands of dollars.
Yes, welding indoors is not ideal when avoidable, however I’ve seen it done indoor many times without any issues as long as a responsible person is there to supervise the process and be able to stop the welder if the sparks are escaping the blanket. It’s very safe when properly done.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
4,640 posts, read 11,934,552 times
Reputation: 9885
so it happened....
In case anyone wondered, I had the stair railing welded back together, inside my house.
My background: I was the victim of a house fire as a child. I have never used my own fireplace. My range is electric. I have no less than 3 fire extinguishers in my house and one in my car.
But I'm trying to sell my house and I desperately needed to fix the railing and I don't have money to buy a new one. So I told myself to deal.
Originally, I had tried to use j-weld stuff which looked like I stuck clay around the railing and it didn't work anyway.
The welder shows up, scrapes off the j weld mess, lays down a fireproof blanket, gets his tool and as he was putting on his mask, I quickly walked away. I figured it would be better for me to not see everything.
I go into the next room, standing by 2 of my favorite fire extinguishers (I tried to hide them under a blanket, didn't want to do anything to make my welder feel less than confident) and waited.
What happened next will haunt me forever: there was the brightest flashing ever, the sound of screeching metal, the awful smell of burnt metal, and, fun fact: I apparently forgot to take the batteries out of all 5 of my smoke detectors.
So I'm clutching my extinguishers, trying to close my eyes to the flashing light, pinch my nose, ignore the screeching of metal + screaming smoking detectors.....and then it was done.
So, in case anyone wondered, it's perfectly safe to weld indoors. My railing looks great.
In case anyone wondered, I had the stair railing welded back together, inside my house.
My background: I was the victim of a house fire as a child. I have never used my own fireplace. My range is electric. I have no less than 3 fire extinguishers in my house and one in my car.
But I'm trying to sell my house and I desperately needed to fix the railing and I don't have money to buy a new one. So I told myself to deal.
Originally, I had tried to use j-weld stuff which looked like I stuck clay around the railing and it didn't work anyway.
The welder shows up, scrapes off the j weld mess, lays down a fireproof blanket, gets his tool and as he was putting on his mask, I quickly walked away. I figured it would be better for me to not see everything.
I go into the next room, standing by 2 of my favorite fire extinguishers (I tried to hide them under a blanket, didn't want to do anything to make my welder feel less than confident) and waited.
What happened next will haunt me forever: there was the brightest flashing ever, the sound of screeching metal, the awful smell of burnt metal, and, fun fact: I apparently forgot to take the batteries out of all 5 of my smoke detectors.
So I'm clutching my extinguishers, trying to close my eyes to the flashing light, pinch my nose, ignore the screeching of metal + screaming smoking detectors.....and then it was done.
So, in case anyone wondered, it's perfectly safe to weld indoors. My railing looks great.
Never read such a good, thrilling story about a quick weld indoors, lol.
Never read such a good, thrilling story about a quick weld indoors, lol.
And it had a happy ending. OP you did good. you made sure you had a qualified person, you addressed your fears, you got it done and it was successful.
I might have suggested letting the welder know that because of a childhood incident you had an extreme fear of fire and ask if he would prefer you to step outside and call you when it was done. It might have been a tad less stressful on you.
Good work and thanks for getting back with us and for letting us know why you were so concerned.
The end of the story makes me believe in a good qualities in people. Moved in a new house and had the same question in case of reparing such things. I just wanted to say that it is better to control welder, BC he is a human anyway. At this case it is good to have special helmet and gloves - you never know when you will need it.
Hope your life is still good despite childhood incident. It shouldn't scare you, it was an importatnt experience.
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so it happened....
