Repair A Rotted Porch Column
Structural Porch Column Rot Repair
What do ants and porch columns have in common? The best answer should be nothing, but we know better….
Columns add charm, personality and beauty to walkways, decks, landings and porches. Many of the homes where I live have beautifully turned wood posts as structural posts for porches.
Unfortunately because the posts are situated along the exterior perimeter of the porch they get wet by wind driven rain and roof run off or splash up, resulting in rot at the base. Porch column rot is pretty common along the base and eventually become a home for carpenter ants.
Carpenter Ants and Wood Rot
Ants are interesting creatures. Did you know that an ant can carry 50 times its body weight? If that’s the case why repair the column . . . just kidding.
Accepting that ants live in nature is one thing but having them live in your home is another. No matter how you feel on this topic I’m sure you prefer not to have an ant problem in your home or living in your porch posts.
As a renovation contractor I see Carpenter Ants in just about every home I work on, mostly around damp wood as a result of water intrusion or lack of proper maintenance. When you think about the fact that there are 1.5 million ants on the planet for every person then it’s easier to understand why I see so many ants.
If you have a rotted structural porch post, you can either replace the column, or repair it; on this project, we chose the latter.
