decorative/secure iron bars for windows in San Francisco Bay Area

March 5, 2007 2:01 PM

I'd like to put iron security bars in front of one window of my home. I've occasionally seen iron grille-work over windows that's beautiful in its own right, even independent of the security benefit. Where could I find decorative and secure iron bars in the San Francisco Bay area?

Custom work would break my budget, so I'm looking for something pre-fab that's both solid and less ugly than criss-crossed straight bars.

posted by Zed_Lopez to home & garden (4 comments total)

Lots of inexpensive places to pick this up. There's an architectural salvage yard in Berkeley called Ohmega, on San Pablo, that has a yard full of pretty old wrought iron grillwork - you could easily have it cut into pieces, spraypaint it rustproof black and have it mounted for very little.

I think Urban Ore might also have some, and the reuse yard down by India Basin in the city.
posted by luriete at 2:17 PM on March 5, 2007

You ought to do a bit of checking: In some cities, you can't install these things unless they are fire-safe (you can remove them easily from the inside in case of a fire).
posted by Lockjaw at 2:52 PM on March 5, 2007

In some cities, you can't install these things unless they are fire-safe

In San Francisco, if you put bars over your BEDROOM windows, then at least one set of bars must be openable or removable from the inside to allow for egress. (Don't know about other Bay Area cities, but it's a good idea regardless)

In practice, this means that one set of the bars are hinged, and have a latch on the inside that's hard to get to from the outside. Any ironworker/welder should be able to take care of putting this on vintage iron for you -- it's not all that difficult.
posted by toxic at 5:00 PM on March 5, 2007

(I'm in Berkeley.) Thanks for the tip, Lockjaw; I'll check for relevant regulations.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 5:37 PM on March 5, 2007