# Forum Home Renovation Fences & Screens  How to lift Iron Lacework?

## john777

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has found a way to temporarily lift the iron lacework balustrade on a Victorian terrace 1st floor front verandah? 
I need to lift the balustrade out of the way so that I can then replace the rotted timber floorboards and then replace the balustrade back in its original position. The balustrade sits directly onto the floorboards and is made up of heavy decorative iron panels tied together by a top iron handrail (2 x pins at the top of each panel tie it back to the top rail). The top rail is embedded at each end into the brickwork with a centre brace running from the top rail back to the timber floor .
The whole balustrade is strong and firm in its original position but I am afraid to dismantle in small parts in case I break some of the securing pins which would then mean getting someone in to weld up 
One idea I had is as below: 
1. Tie off all decorative panels with wire to each other and again to the top rail with the aim of making the whole balustrade as rigid as possible. 
2. Next run 2 lifting ropes with pulleys off the top verandah roof cross beam (beam is approx. 60mm wide x 300mm deep) back down to the balustrade. 
3. Next disconnect the top rail from brickwork and middle brace and lift the whole balustrade approx. 100-200mm off the old timber floor or just enough to allow removal and replacement of boards. 
4. Lower balustrade and re fix as per original    :Wink 1:

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## Moondog55

What you propose sounds reasonable to me, I may have added a length of 90*45 MGP12 to the top well lashed down with fencing wire or nylon cord to be double sure.
or perhaps a 90*35 on each side with a few 10mm bolts just to hold everything together rigidly 
I assume from what you have written that the beam is in good condition so the strength should be more than adequate.
If this iron work was screwed down directly to the floor boards you may want to add a treated pine bottom plate to the new veranda and screw the iron to the new bottom plate.
A couple of pictures usually helps people give better advice .

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## Black Cat

If you contact your local council they will have a heritage adviser who will have dealt with this sort of thing before - best to ask them. They may even know some shortcuts.

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