On Aug 27, 6:15*pm, Mike wrote:
I'm getting ready to replace the columns & railings on my front
porch. *The originals are wood, 16 years old, and beginning to come
apart at the finger joints, etc. *For a maintenance-free solution I
like the vinyl-over-pipe columns such as the HB&G PermaPost units, but
they have a bit of a sterile look to them (for lack of a better word)
and, I don't see any good way to attach a flag pole bracket. *I could
drill through into the pipe, but it seems there would be some risk of
goobering up the column trying to drill blind into a round pipe
without being able to center punch it first.

So, I'm wondering about low- or no-maintenance solutions that are of
some other sort of composite material, resin-wood combination, or the
like, but am not having much luck searching the Net. *Any advice or
experience here would be greatly appreciated!

Home Depot, or maybe it was Lowes, has what I thought were some nice
structural fiberglass posts. The ones they usually stock are round/
tapered, but I think square ones are available through special order.