Custom wrought iron railings are hand-forged steel railing systems built to the exact dimensions of your staircase, porch, patio, or property line. Every railing is made to order from your measurements, so it fits the run it was designed for instead of being cut down from a stock length.
Our collection spans 37 designs, from ornate hand-scrolled interior staircase railings to clean geometric panels and traditional spear-top exterior fencing. Send us your measurements and a design direction, or send us a drawing of your own, whether that is a CAD file or a sketch on a napkin.
Interior staircase and landing railings, exterior porch and step railings, garden and patio railings, and property-line fence railings. Each of these has different mounting, finish, and code requirements, which we break down below the collection.
Traditional scrollwork, floral and leaf motifs, spear-top and estate profiles, vertical baluster, art deco circular motifs, laser-cut geometric panels, and glass-accent modern designs. Finishes and metal colors can be matched to existing ironwork on your property.
For questions about a specific design, email contactus@monarchcustomdoors.com or call 888-799-4755.
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They look related, but they are built differently. A railing on an open staircase has to be graspable and has to meet handrail height rules. A fence railing along a property line has none of those requirements but has to survive weather and ground contact. Mounting is different too, and so is finish.
Here is how the four applications actually differ.
| Application | What changes | Typical mounting | Designs in this collection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior staircase | Must serve as a graspable handrail, not just a guard. Baluster spacing matters most here because of child entrapment rules. Finish is decorative, not protective. | Core-drilled or surface-mounted to treads, or mounted to a knee wall | Classic Scrollwork R102, Vertical Baluster R112, Floral Scroll R907, Circular Glass Accent R113 |
| Balcony and mezzanine | Guard height governs. Interior mezzanines are decorative; exterior balconies need a weather-rated finish and structural anchoring into the slab or wall. | Face-mounted to fascia, or surface-mounted to the deck | Ornate Scrollwork R105, Modern Oval Pattern R914, Scroll Top R908. See also our dedicated balcony railings collection |
| Porch, step and patio | Exterior exposure plus foot traffic. Often needs to work as both guard and handrail on the steps. Drainage and standing water at the base drive finish choice. | Base plates anchored to concrete, or embedded posts | Vertical Bar Porch R910, Curved Baluster R911, Decorative Top Rail R913, Exterior Curved Staircase R906 |
| Fence and property line | No handrail or guard code applies in most cases. Local fence height limits and HOA rules govern instead. Ground contact and soil moisture are the main durability factor. | Posts set in concrete footings | Spear Top R118, Estate Fence R119, Vertical Bar Security R122, Garden Railing R117 |
When you request a quote, tell us which of these four you are building. It changes the drawing, the mounting hardware, and the finish recommendation.
Most U.S. jurisdictions build their residential rules on the International Residential Code (IRC), published by the International Code Council. Local amendments vary, and commercial projects fall under the IBC instead, with stricter numbers. Always confirm with your local building department before finalizing dimensions. That said, these are the four measurements that come up on almost every inspection.
Under the IRC, a guard is required on any open-sided walking surface more than 30 inches above the floor or grade below, and that guard must be at least 36 inches tall. Commercial work under the IBC generally requires 42 inches. This is the number that governs balcony, deck, landing, and open-stair railings.
A handrail is measured differently from a guard. Its height is taken vertically from the stair nosing, the leading edge of each tread, and it must stay uniform for the full run. The IRC requires a handrail on at least one side of any flight with four or more risers. On an open staircase, one railing often has to do both jobs at once, which is why the code allows the top of a stair guard to sit at 34 to 38 inches when it also serves as the handrail.
Openings in a guard cannot allow a 4-inch sphere to pass through. This is a child-entrapment rule and it is the most commonly failed item on ornamental railings, because decorative scrollwork can open up gaps that a plain vertical baluster never would. There is one exception on stairs: the triangular gap formed by the riser, the tread, and the bottom rail is allowed to pass a 6-inch sphere.
Guards are designed to resist a 200 pound concentrated load applied in any direction at any point along the top, with infill components (balusters and panels) rated for a 50 pound load spread over one square foot. Steel handles this comfortably as a material. What actually determines whether an installation passes is the anchoring, which is why base plate specification and substrate condition matter as much as the railing itself.
Full text of the residential guard provisions is available from the International Code Council's digital code libraryb>.
Send us the dimensions your local code requires and we will build the railing to them. Design complexity does not have to be sacrificed to hit a spacing requirement. Scroll patterns can be laid out so the negative space stays compliant, which is a drawing-stage decision rather than something to discover at inspection.
This is where two railings that look identical in a photo diverge. An interior staircase railing lives in a climate-controlled space and never sees moisture, so its finish is almost purely aesthetic. An exterior railing is a different engineering problem.
Outdoors, the failure point is rarely the steel section itself. It is the joints, the base plates, and the bottom of the posts where water collects and sits. Coastal salt air, road salt in freeze-thaw climates, and irrigation spray all accelerate that. Exterior ironwork generally calls for a full-coverage primer or a galvanized base layer under the topcoat, and it needs periodic inspection at the anchor points rather than a set-and-forget assumption.
Interior railings, by contrast, can carry finer detail, thinner sections, and specialty finishes like gold accent or polished surfaces that would not survive outdoors. Several designs in this collection, including the ornate panel and circular glass accent styles, are best suited to interior use for exactly that reason.
Tell us the installation environment when you request a quote and we will recommend the finish accordingly. Metal color options can be reviewed in our metal color selections.
The 37 designs here fall into roughly five families.
Traditional scrollwork. Hand-formed C and S scrolls, the most recognizable wrought iron vocabulary. Classic Scrollwork R102, Ornate Scrollwork R912, and Curved Scrollwork R902 sit here.
Floral and organic. Leaf, vine, and blossom motifs worked into the panel. Floral Scroll R907 and the Garden Railing R117 with leaf accents are the clearest examples.
Spear top and estate. Traditional exterior fencing profiles with pointed finials, used for property boundaries and security-minded installations. Spear Top R118, Ornamental Spear Top Estate R915, Estate Fence R119.
Vertical baluster and classic bar. The restrained option. Straight verticals, sometimes with a scroll accent at the top or midpoint. Vertical Baluster R112, Scroll Accent R904, Vertical Bar Security R122.
Modern and geometric. Laser-cut panels, repeating circles and ovals, glass inserts. Laser Cut Geometric R100, Modern Circular Pattern R107, Art Deco Circular R109, Circular Glass Accent R113, Modern Oval Pattern R914.
Curved and spiral staircases are handled as a separate category of work regardless of style family. A curved run cannot be built from a standard drawing. Designs like Curved Spiral R101, Grand Double Curved R1020, and Carved Post Curved R1021 are built from the actual geometry of your staircase.
Four things, mostly. Total linear footage is the obvious one. Design complexity is the bigger swing, because hand-formed scrollwork is labor that a straight vertical baluster panel simply does not require. Geometry matters more than people expect, since a curved or spiral run requires custom templating rather than repeated standard panels. And finish specification, particularly for exterior work where additional corrosion protection is called for.
Send us your run length and a design direction and we will quote it. There is no charge for the quote.
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Also customizing elsewhere on the property? Browse our wrought iron doors, wrought iron gates, and wrought iron windows to keep the ironwork consistent across the whole exterior.
Residential guards must be at least 36 inches tall under the International Residential Code, measured from the walking surface. Stair handrails are measured differently, at 34 to 38 inches above the stair nosing. Commercial installations under the IBC generally require 42 inch guards. Local amendments vary, so confirm the figure with your building department before finalizing dimensions.
Openings in a residential guard cannot allow a 4-inch sphere to pass through, which effectively caps baluster spacing at just under 4 inches. This is a child-entrapment requirement. On stairs, the triangular opening formed by the riser, tread, and bottom rail is allowed to pass a 6-inch sphere. Ornamental scrollwork must be laid out so its negative space stays within these limits.
A guardrail prevents falls from an elevated surface and is required wherever a walking surface sits more than 30 inches above the floor or grade below. A handrail provides something to grip while using stairs and must be graspable, with a specific cross-section. On an open staircase a single railing often performs both functions, which is why stair railings have stricter shape requirements than balcony railings.
Untreated steel will corrode outdoors, which is why exterior railings depend on their finish system rather than the metal itself. Failure almost always starts at joints, base plates, and post bottoms where water collects rather than on open surfaces. Coastal salt air and freeze-thaw road salt accelerate it. Interior railings face none of this and can carry finer detail and specialty finishes.
Yes. Curved and spiral runs are built from the actual geometry of your staircase rather than from a standard panel drawing, so accurate measurements or a template are required at the start. Several designs in this collection, including Curved Spiral R101, Grand Double Curved R1020, and Carved Post Curved R1021, are built specifically for curved staircases.
Yes, in three ways. Finish and corrosion protection are the biggest difference, since exterior work needs a weather-rated coating system that interior work does not. Mounting differs as well, with exterior installations typically anchored into concrete footings or base plates. Interior railings can also use finer sections and specialty finishes that would not survive outdoor exposure.
It depends on the substrate. Wood treads typically take a surface-mounted base plate or a core-drilled post. Concrete steps take an anchored base plate or an embedded post set in the slab. Masonry knee walls take side-mounted brackets. Tell us your mounting surface when you request a quote, because it affects both the drawing and the hardware supplied.
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