Pillar Pick

(Are the alliterative titles getting tiresome? I almost do it automatically now. It’s kind of a Bradaptation thing. It’s endearing, right?)

Brent will be here on Wednesday evening, and the Project to re-deck my front porch will begin. I’ve already ordered the decking. The other component I want to be sure I have before he comes is columns.

I currently have 4×4 timbers holding up my porch roof. They are solid, but they aren’t very attractive. There are several buildings in my neighborhood that look like my house… probably from the same builder. The variety of porch columns my neighbors have is fascinating. It was also freeing – I can choose whatever I want.

I decided I would get round columns. I found some at Lowe’s that are made of fiberglass-reinforced polymer. They’re like super-hard plastic. They are rated for supporting 10,000 pounds each. Amazing! My porch currently has five columns, but it leaves a huge space to fill with unsupported railing. I decided to narrow the space and to make the railings more solid. That meant six columns instead of five.

Fortunately, Denis is in town this weekend. I got some help from him, and loaded up the truck with columns and brought them home. They are now waiting on the porch until Brent gets here.

The boxes containing bases and caps were sold separately.