TL;DR
A guard post is the vertical structural member that anchors a deck guardrail, engineered to resist a 200-pound load applied at the top rail in any direction. Typically a 4x4 bolted to the rim joist or framing with through-bolts and tension hardware rather than lag screws alone, posts are spaced so rail spans stay within the railing system's rating, commonly 6 to 8 feet.
What it means
A guard post is the vertical structural member that anchors a deck guardrail, engineered to resist a 200-pound load applied at the top rail in any direction. Typically a 4x4 bolted to the rim joist or framing with through-bolts and tension hardware rather than lag screws alone, posts are spaced so rail spans stay within the railing system's rating, commonly 6 to 8 feet. Inspectors push on them during final review because a flexing connection here is one of the most common deck-safety failures.
Where it sits in the glossary
Guard post is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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