In article .com,
DIYDan wrote:
I plan to build a roof for my front porch that will connect to the
steep-pitched roof of my brick cape cod house. I want to use 2 square
columns, about 7" or so wide by about 8' tall.

These columns will support beams coming from the house. The beams
support the rafters of the porch roof. Since the columns will be
load-bearing, I want them to be solid instead of hollow. I was
thinking about pressure treated wood.

But I want the columns to be painted white. I don't have experience
painting pressure treated wood. I'm thinking it might now work well.
Any ideas? Should I cover a center post with better wood for painting?

I would buy the prefab kind of columns with the metal tube down the
center but they don't have any plain smooth square columns at Home
Depot. I don't want something fancy. Any ideas?


PT lumber can be painted but you must wait long enough to ensure that
it is dry enough. After treatment the lumber can be really wet and if
it is too wet, paint may not adhere. The bigger problem you will face
is that the surface of common PT lumber will not be good enough for
what you are describing. There will be many checks, cracks, knots,
etc. So you probably would want to cover it as you asked, or use a
steel post and build a wooden box around it. That is a pretty common
approach, BTW.


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Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland