I have a porch at the front of the house. It is two 11cm posts holding up an apex roof. It is painted white. The bottom of both posts have rotted and need replacing. I am capable of doing this once I get the right size posts. I have considered laminating some untreated wood and then thicknessing to the correct size but I am concerned about splitting etc. The only wood that I seem able to buy is 5x5 green posts. Can anyone advise please about the success of gloss painting green timber once it has been planed to size. The picture shows my first solution of just replacing the bottoms. It wasnt that easy to graft in a section with the post in place so I am now going to replace the whole post. The glass panels are being replaced with a more modern banister and splindles. Thanks
Paining green posts for my porch outside
- Thread starter Catman Chris
- Start date
Gloss paint will not last well on wood that is damp because it will expand and contract as the humidity changes. It will be worse when it starts to rot.
Unseasoned timber will shrink and possibly warp as it dries. IMO you would to better to use a breathing water-repellent preserver initially and, if you insist on using paint, do it after a year or so when the moisture content has somewhat stabilised.
How do you plan to isolate your new timber from the damp doorstep, and prevent rain running down the post to its foot? The end grain is the weakest point.
You can get 4-inch oak posts, at some expense, and softwood, but you need a timber merchant, not a DIY shed. Oak is not normally painted.
Unseasoned timber will shrink and possibly warp as it dries. IMO you would to better to use a breathing water-repellent preserver initially and, if you insist on using paint, do it after a year or so when the moisture content has somewhat stabilised.
How do you plan to isolate your new timber from the damp doorstep, and prevent rain running down the post to its foot? The end grain is the weakest point.
You can get 4-inch oak posts, at some expense, and softwood, but you need a timber merchant, not a DIY shed. Oak is not normally painted.
Thanks John. The adjustable metal foot on the temporary roof prop in the pic ( 2x2 CLS) is the eventual foot for the post. The end grain will be painted and then have a decorative skirting around the bottom , probably from synthetic material and then painted with the same paint as the post. As for the post itself I have gone down the green route as I cant get CLS / softwood in the size that I want. The local timber suppliers / yards only supply treated wood in that size. I can buy a newel post and plane it to size but that is very expensive wood to then put through the planer. Hence the painting Green. Dulux weathershield allows the wood to breathe once the moisture is below the acceptable amount. The porch floor will be tiled once the painting etc is done.
I used oak on my last property but large 300mm square posts , lots of coats of oil .