Porch Post Columns

Porch post have provided exterior definition for many an American home built in post-Colonial America.  Older Midwestern homes and California bungalows both have traditions of covered front porches supported by porch post, either at the corners or spaced around the periphery of the porch.  Larger porches and those that are screened often use porch post interspersed with railings to provide both architectural form and a framework for the summer screening.

One of the nineteenth century traditions with farmhouses and older homes that is carried on today is the use of tapered porch post.  Square post that narrow slightly from the base to a ten or eleven inch base can be found in many bungalows, arts and crafts style homes and farmhouses.  One of the practical purposes of the wide bases in these porch post is that they hid the six by six structural supports underneath.

Porch post today that are being installed in new homes or that are being used in remodeling jobs are often made from material other than wood.  Synthetic options in wide use today require less maintenance and are less prone to cracking or splintering than wood post.

• Porch post need to be of load bearing capacity in order to support the overhead covering.

• New and rebuilt porches today may feature post made from some synthetic composite such as fiberglass and polyurethane that can support weight.

• Post with fiberglass or other synthetic covering rarely require repainting and look nearly identical to the wooden post of the past.

• Some craftsmen that are using basing round or square porch post will create a decorative strip around the base or the top of the column.

• Older homes often used post modeled on one of the five traditional Roman column styles.

• Remodeling an older porch may involve stripping many layers of paint off the carving done for the tops or bases of the post.