Column Bases

[SarahFair]

The columns on my house were replaced at some point and the wood they used is not...stellar.

The trim at the base was warped, falling off, and rotting because they only put a primer base on and called it a day.

We pulled the trim off the bases before we painted the porch, decided we didn't like the flat base paint, but it had gotten so hot we decided to wait til this fall to repaint the porch and finish out the columns.

Unfortunately with the *amazing* quality of soaking wet green wood they seem to be stocking stores with, we are going the PVC trim route, that way we won't have to deal with warping and rot..

I want to go as historic as possible, but I dont really have a reference.
The oldest picture I have from the house is the 80s, and you can't really see much detail, but what little you can see, the very bottom of the base is different.
I'm definitely not going back with the railing, I find it suffocating for such a long shallow porch, and just more railing to keep clean

I dont really know what "style" home this is. I've been told a Folk Victorian.
I *believe* it was built around 1907. Lots in the neighborhood started selling around 1905 and this particular lot bounces around in the deed books between a couple men for a couple of years with no mention of a dwelling on the land. I'm assuming the men were business partners because they owned a few lots on the street where they built houses and immediately sold them, so Im also assuming they were buying some sort of plans or kits

Most of the houses on the street built around this time period have square columns, but the bases all seem to have been replaced with the same cheapo wood ours was

I'm including a picture from the 80s and one from around the 4th of July this year where you can see on that last column how they looked prior to us pulling the other bases off.

Does anyone have any place to go for reference photos, have some to share, or opinions on what should go there?

[1918ColonialRevival]

If you don't want to use PVC, you can always have a lumber yard (NOT a big box, but a true lumber yard) make the column bases out of oak or mahogany, which will prove superior to any soft wood. Also, be sure to keep that gutter clear and you shouldn't have near the water coming down onto the column bases and getting soaked up.

As for the style of the house, it looks like a typical turn-of-the-century eclectic that borrows elements from several styles popular at the time. The porch column bases in the picture from the '80s look to be a lower profile version of what's there now, though it's hard to tell for sure. I highly suspect those probably weren't original, either.

[SarahFair]

Thanks!

[Gothichome]

Sara, i’m inclined to agree with Colonial. What is there was probably pretty close to what was there originally. Are the columns supported just proud of the porch by a steel o cast iron pedestal? This was a very common way to mount porch columns, It allowed the column to stay out of the water on the porch deck. The fancy trim was just decoration and was expected to be replaced ever few decades.

[SarahFair]

Sara, i’m inclined to agree with Colonial. What is there was probably pretty close to what was there originally. Are the columns supported just proud of the porch by a steel o cast iron pedestal? This was a very common way to mount porch columns, It allowed the column to stay out of the water on the porch deck. The fancy trim was just decoration and was expected to be replaced ever few decades.

I'm not sure what's inside
I just figured it was a 4x4 encased

[Gothichome]

Sara, looking at the older picture and comparing to the new, I think your porch has had a major rebuild. The older picture shows a brick foundation supporting the deck were as you now have a lattice surround and I see the exposed ends of the 2x12’s. Also I see other differences in the build, in the old picture the posts appear to go threw the floor mounted on the brick, it now looks to be mounted on the floor of the porch deck. I highly dought you have steel mount.
To my eye your board surround looks to be in good condition so I see no need to fuss about the posts, just replace the rotten trim in any fashion you desire.

[SarahFair]

Sara, looking at the older picture and comparing to the new, I think your porch has had a major rebuild. The older picture shows a brick foundation supporting the deck were as you now have a lattice surround and I see the exposed ends of the 2x12’s. Also I see other differences in the build, in the old picture the posts appear to go threw the floor mounted on the brick, it now looks to be mounted on the floor of the porch deck. I highly dought you have steel mount.
To my eye your board surround looks to be in good condition so I see no need to fuss about the posts, just replace the rotten trim in any fashion you desire.

It did have a big rehaul sometime between 2012 and 2016. The framing boards under the whole porch have been redone. The right side of the porch still has tongue and grove boards, the rest are new boards, which are also very warped
But cost prohibited in replacing all of them.

The columns are in fine condition, it is just the trim that was warping and popped off due to never being properly sealed from the elements