How To Repair Rotted Column Posts

Round Wood Column Repair / Replacement for Porches
Porch Cavalcade Restore or Supervene upon: Assessment of a Porch Repair Immovability Over 30 Years

• POST a QUESTION or COMMENT near the types of decorative & structural porch or interior decorative forest cavalcade failure in residential & light commercial buildings

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of involvement. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Forest column installation, troubleshooting repairs: how to repair or replace a porch column.

This commodity describes the inspection, repair, or installation of both round and square wood columns often used on porches and sometimes used in edifice interiors.

Columns that split, lean, bend, sag or rot are oftentimes more than a corrective problem: often the column is also serving to support a porch roof or other building features. We describe the procedure for repairing porch columns and we examine the condition of the repaired and replaced porch columns at the time of original work and again at the aforementioned porch thirty years afterward in 2022.

Nosotros as well provide an Article INDEX for this topic, or you lot tin can try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX as a quick fashion to observe information you lot need.

Wood Porch Columns: causes of impairment, methods of repair or replacement

Causes of Damage to Circular Wood Porch Columns

Wooden columns have been used on buildings for centuries; the Poughkeepsie home at 57 South Grand Avenue, shown at left and whose renovation we began in 1985 and whose renovation volition be finished when all of the home's owners have died, included repairs to a porch whose roof, columns, floor, and floor construction had been rotted by decades of neglect and of course leaks.

That's Laura Waterman and Katie the Certified Environmental Inspector domestic dog on the front end porch of this dwelling house earlier repairs were begun in 1985. In 2022 the habitation stood empty and in need of repairs over again.

Here we depict repairs to classical Doric style hollow lock stave wooden porch columns. We depict the original repair work and and then we examine the durability of that work xxx years afterward. This abode, originally constructed in 1900, enjoyed a front end porch across the width of the edifice. There from 1900 through the 1940'southward it was common for Poughkeepsie-ites to relax on the porch in the evening while an occasional car passed up or downward G Avenue.

By the 1970's the dwelling house had been covered by aluminum siding, suspended ceilings had been installed within, and as part of an extensive renovation, the front porch columns, rotted and split up, needed repair or replacement.

Really a little rot on a round hollow wood post is not the worst trouble one encounters. More than serious harm to porch columns includes crushing cavalcade bases or plinth blocks, impairment by rot, termites, or carpenter ants that, when combined with the sloping porch floor and perhaps with a sagging porch structure, places an un-fifty-fifty load on the column from front to dorsum or side to side causing columns to split up, lean, or even collapse. .

Choosing Replacement Porch Column Shapes & Profiles: Entasis is important

Because most circular wood columns and certainly all of the larger sized columns were used on such homes are hollow they were congenital using techniques similar to barrel-making and in fact I telephone call them hollow stave columns. Strips of wood with pocket-sized natural language and groove sides are glued together to grade the cavalcade.

And then the column is given entasis - illustrated by my sketch below. Entasis is a colulmn shape or profile formed by a convex curve designed to provide a pleasing form that was originally figured out by the Greeks and shown on classical columns. You lot'll see that entasis is tricky: it'south not a symmetric curve.

Yet when viewed from a distance the columns look straight. Entasis was used in the Egyptian pyramids but is most associated with the columns found in the Classical Period in Greece. In Red china entasis was discussed later, in 1103 past Yingzao Fashi. [Wikipedia at REFERENCES]

[Click to enlarge any prototype]

If you actually build a column without entasis, as were the ugly aluminum columns we considered as replacements, the cavalcade looks weird when in place - excessively tapered from bottom to meridian. Kudos to Hellenic republic.

Of three near column top or capital designs, Corinthian, Doric, or Ionic, the simplest and smoothest is the Doric cavalcade blueprint, shown hither. Smooth-surfaced Doric columns are the design almost ordinarily institute on wood porch columns.

Repair or Replacement Procedures for Rotted, Split, or Damaged Porch Columns

Anyhow, a hollow stave column, when exposed to uneven loads by the weight of the roof pressing downwards on a column that rests on a rotting or improperly shaped plinth cake (base) wants to divide. So column repairs will include both gluing dorsum the split column staves and cut/replacing rotted sections. For a forest column that is smashed beyond repair, don't despair.

The split up shown in the hollow wood cavalcade at above right tin can be repaired but I do non recommend only injecting epoxy into the open joints: you're making the column diameter e'er wider and asking for more harm in the future.

A proper repair involves removing the cavalcade, opening the joints a scrap further and blowing them make clean and dry. Then glue is inserted and strap clamps are used to re-clamp the column to its original dimensions.

At higher up left you tin run across that damage to porch columns and often the porch floor usually begins at the porch roof or soffit and box beam that bears on the column tops. Leaky porch roof congenital-in gutters ship water into the box axle and porch soffit where it rots those components every bit well as leaking into the columns beneath.

Come across EAVES TROUGH, INTEGRAL GUTTERS for details of how this porch and its eaves trough gutters were repaired.

What Happens When You Wrap a Dwelling in Aluminum?

Above yous tin can see at above left the h2o stains on the soffit and the box axle supporting the porch roof as well as at the top of our round stave wood porch column. Mrs. Perkins, the housekeeper for Mr. Perkins until his married woman died, became Mrs. Perkins #2 and lived in this dwelling for ensuing decades.

In the 1960's Mrs. Perkins #two accepted a contractor'due south offer to cover the entire outside of the home in aluminum: aluminum siding and aluminum wrap covered all of the habitation's trim from superlative to lesser.

Wrapping a home in "no maintenance" aluminum was appealing to Mrs. Perkins who was facing a costly domicile pigment job, but if the trim and siding are not properly installed to keep water out of the surfaces they cover (or to permit it out if it enters), the result spells trouble for afterwards owners such as Laura and Katie. For instance, at the dwelling house's front end porch the aluminum wrapped around the box beam supporting the front porch acted every bit a gutter to trap leaks from higher up around the beam causing both axle rot and porch column rot.

Take a look at the cavalcade summit (above right) and notice those night vertical lines: the column staves were coming united nations-glued. In wider column segments and especially almost the column base where h2o accumulated inside the hollow cavalcade these staves dissever completely.

At above correct yous can see the deterioration of the roof cornice trim, soffit and box beam exposed afterwards nosotros finished removing the aluminum wrapper.

Above and below are photographs of the rotted and carpenter-emmet damaged forest column base.

At in a higher place right yous can run into my temporary support jammed under the porch cavalcade merely more important notice that the column is badly separate. Someone had attempted to "repair" the porch column by attaching a metal ring around its base.

Water running in the cavalcade interior soaked the column base and plinth block, rotted those components, and rotted the porch floor and supporting axle below. The corners of the porch floor construction were supported by hollow brick columns.

Water running inside those columns were an engraved invitation to carpenter ants who had moved into the columns too, adding to the excitement.

The brick columns (piers if you prefer) supporting the porch were falling apart and needed to be re-built from footings upwards (above left, 1985). I re-used the original bricks but modern mortar.

At the column top, non wanting the carpenter ants to have an easy access into the porch construction over again, I installed a solid, custom-fabricated copper column top shown in the photo above. Yous'll too note that the porch floor repair lumber used treated wood. This was afterwards covered with a fascia trim board for better corrective advent.

At higher up is one of the same rebuilt brick supporting piers in 2022, three decades subsequently: still intact thanks to that copper cap flashing just visible under the bluish trim boards effectually the porch floor frame.

Watch out: there is no safety way to remove badly damaged porch columns like these without kickoff constructing very secure independent supports for the porch roof - unless you lot're going to tear off the whole roof construction offset. In this case the porch roof structure was salvageable: nosotros just needed to rebuild the eaves trough gutters, soffits, and box beam below.

So we supported the roof to let removal of the damaged porch columns at the left and right porch corners.

Above you can run into how we supported this cease of the porch roof so that the corner cavalcade could be removed for repair or replacement. At this point we've also begun repairs of the porch roof gutters and trim. Nosotros simply used a telepost (aka "jackpost" that is a telescoping column with a big screw in one terminate) to jack the roof just enough to permt removal of the old cavalcade.

Watch out: Bracing and cross-bracing are critial for safe when jacking a porch or removing columns.

Venting Suggestions for Hollow Lock Stave Wood Columns

While repairing the salvageable and replacing the worst wood columns on a Poughkeepsie New York home built in 1900 information technology made sense to pay special attention to flashing at post tops to forbid water entry from in a higher place, venting the hollow column interior to reduce rot and carpenter ant attacks, and to provide a sound and properly set column base or plinth block, adapted to the gradient of the porch.

To vent the cavalcade I built a custom plinth block of solid treated lumber and cut arches at the sides of the block parallel to the wood grain so as to avoid splitting.

I fix the columns with base vent openings to the left and correct sides of the column so that they'd not be obvious from the street, and I bore my column summit vent hole most the column top but on the porch interior side, once more for corrective reasons. My original sketch below shows where these vent openings were placed.

At above in my original sketch and below photographed in 2022, 30 years after this renovation, you tin can run across the vent opening at the pinnacle of the circular hollow forest column.

Back in 1985, after I got sick of repairing the porch roof and gutters (beneath) it was fourth dimension to either fix or replace the porch columns whose absence was disturbing everyone else.

We removed the scary angled temporary supports and installed temporary woods posts nearly the porch corners but leaving plenty room to install the replacement circular wood columns when they arrived.

Above we see that the same home in 2022 needs repairs and maintenance but I was pleased to see that my copper-lined eaves trough gutters had protected the box beam and soffits from water damage for three decades.

Above are images of the replacement corner posts that nosotros brought upwardly from the American Wood Column Corporation in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1985. Nosotros matched our original columns that themselves may have come up from this visitor or its predecessor, depending on when the original porch was constructed. American Wood Column Corp. has been in business organization since 1918.

At in a higher place right yous'll encounter the deterioration that can appear after 30 years of atmospheric condition exposure with no maintenance. No 1 painted these posts subsequently our original installation and paint job back in 1985. This lock-stave hollow wood cavalcade is repairable: h2o has non been running in its interior and I saw no rot on the column whatsoever.

The center columns at this porch were in meliorate shape and could be re-glued, repaired, and re-used. The corner columns, on inspection, were, well, depressing. We drove downwards to One thousand Street in Brooklyn, New York to purchase almost perfectly-matching replacements for 2 of our Doric columns that were across repair.

The manufacturer glues up the forest stave column then puts it on a gigantic lathe to cut the cavalcade to a profile with perfect entasis.

The repaired porch received the new columns at its corners. At in a higher place correct is the same home photographed in Baronial, 2022. The property is for sale and needs at least a roof and exterior painting, just its Doric columned front end porch is still standing. In the ensuing xxx years non one soul has seemed to notice that they are not an exact match for their heart- sisters.

In a higher place left: in 2022 it's time to supercede those plinth blocks and some of the cavalcade bases, and other column repairs are past due.

I'd recommend using a pre-formed fiberglass column plinth block to put an terminate to rot worries and to improve the intake venting at each column base of operations.

Above is the front porch at 57 Southward. Thou Avenue in Poughkeepsie in Baronial 2022.

Replacement Lock Stave Forest Column Sources & Porch Repair Guides

• American Wood Column Corp., 913 Grand St., Brooklyn, NY 11211, Tel: 718-782-3163 E-mail: tpl913@verizon.net, Website: http://americanwoodcolumncorp.com/ - this company was the source of the replacement lock stave wood columns described in the article above.
• Architectural Mall, Tel: 877-279-9993, Website: http://www.columnsandbalustrades.com/, provides porch columns made of fiberglass, polymer stone, fiber reinforced polymer, PVC wrapped columns, Forest-stain grade columns (interior use), aluminum (extruded, uniform diameter), and polyuethane columns. From the website this company'south physical address appears to be a secret.
• Pacific Columns, Inc., 505 Westward. Lambert Rd Brea, CA 92821, Tel: 800-294-1098, Architectural columns. Annoying talking website.
• Turntech, LLC, 114 Cocalico Creek Rd, Ephrata, PA 17522, Tel: 717.859.5944, E-mail: info@customturnings.com, Website: http://customturnings.com/ Custom Woods Columns and other products

• Better Homes and Gardens (Eds.), "The Porch Book [at Amazon.com] (Improve Homes and Gardens) (Ameliorate Homes and Gardens Home)", Better Homes and Gardens (2011), ISBN-10: 0470948523, ISBN-13: 978-0470948521
  Features before-and-afterward photos that inspire you to give your home'due south outside a facelift, Covers amenities that brand porches more attractive, similar lighting and fans, kitchen areas, decorative ceiling and wall treatments, flooring options, and much more, Offers design construction topics, like using an architect, permit issues, calculation entryways, and more than
• Fine Homebuilding (Eds.), "Building Porches and Decks (For Pros by Pros)", [at Amazon.com] Taunton Press (2003),
  The For Pros By Pros titles are compilations of articles from Fine Homebuilding magazine, selected by the editors of the magazine and organized past subject. New articles from recent issues of the magazine have been added to this edition of Building Porches and Decks. Updated and redesigned throughout, this book gives builders the very best and electric current information.
• German, Roger, "Porches and Sunrooms: Planning and Remodeling", [at Amazon.com]
• Hor, "Decks, Porches, and Patios (Home Repair and Improvement, Updated Series), [at Amazon.com]
• Schmidt, Phil, "Black & Decker: The Complete Guide to Porches & Patio Rooms", [at Amazon.com]

...

Continue reading at COLUMNS & POSTS, DEFECTS for problems with structural forest columns, or select a topic from the closely-related articles beneath, or run into the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or come across DECK & PORCH CONSTRUCTION - home

PORCH CONSTRUCTION & SCREENING

Also see ARCHITECTURE, STYLE, & Edifice AGE

Suggested citation for this spider web folio

PORCH COLUMN REPAIR or REPLACEMENT at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & ecology inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & trouble prevention advice.

Or run across this

Index to RELATED ARTICLES: Commodity INDEX to Edifice DECKS & PORCHES

Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

Or meet

Alphabetize to RELATED Articles: ARTICLE Index to BUILDING STRUCTURES

Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Inquire a Question or Search InspectApedia

...

Inquire a Question or Search InspectApedia

Try the search box just below, or if you prefer, post a question or annotate in the Comments box beneath and we will respond promptly.

Search the InspectApedia website

Note: appearance of your Comment below may exist delayed: if your annotate contains an image, web link, or text that looks to the software as if it might be a web link, your posting will appear after it has been approved by a moderator. Apologies for the filibuster.

Technical Reviewers & References

Click to Show or Hide Citations & References

Publisher InspectApedia.com - Daniel Friedman

Source: https://inspectapedia.com/exterior/Wood_Column_Repairs.php

Posted by: sticklesstes1943.blogspot.com

Share this post