I held the 2 halves of the case together with welding clamps and used expoxy to hold it together. 

I typically recommend Thermaplastic Polyolefin (TPO) membrane because of the strength of the seam welds and the solid track record of the product.       

The second burst pipe was over the summer because of a bad weld joint and has been repaired.

Welding and installing structural steel and non-structural steel and sheetmetal actually.

Depending on the railing design, you may be able to weld a 1" or 1 1/4" tube on top of the railing handrail section, or if it is a traditional handrail replace the top handrail with a tube.

As I said, if I have any doubt as to whether it will leak if the tenant looks at it wrong, I just use a Sch 40 solvent-weld trap.

I also do my own welding, plumbing, roofing and electrical work. 

Because its a thermoplastic membrane with heat welded seams, its actually the best product to stand up against ponding water.

He charged $30/lb of 410a and $200 for brazing (welding) the leak. 

Pex was designed to be very resiliant (you can freeze the pipes 2 or 3 times before it will burst and if you catch it before it does freeze that many times you can heat up the pipe and it will return to it's original form.2). if you use too much glue for the CPVC it will actually keep welding the plastic and can get too thin to the point of burst pipes.