Selection Guide
Porch Tongue and Groove Boards
Vertical Grain Fir Tongue and Groove Deck Boards- 3 ¼ wide by 5/4 thick - back primed and painted in floor paints.
Porch Columns
Updating the Feet and Bases
If you have wood sitting on a porch floor, it is probably getting rotten from absorbing water. It also likely prevents water that gets onto the porch from smoothly rolling off of the porch.
They make plastic or metal feet/bases for porch posts, we started making our own. For square columns we use Trex grooved deck boards, cut to sit behind the profile of the post.
For larger columns like round columns with the traditional square at the bottom, we make the Trex grooved base, and then on top add 4 triangles of fir that hang over the edge of the Trex, so it still looks traditional but has that composite foot that allows water to flow off of the porch and prevents it from wicking up into the wood components and causing rot.
Round Columns
6 inch and smaller square posts. Instead of fiberglass or PVC for 4x4 square type columns, you can also go with 4x4 posts of kiln dried fir.
Deck Boards
Pressure Treated Boards:
Grade 1 or Grade 2
Composite Deck Boards:
We are only interested in installing the composite deck boards which you face screw and plug. The edge connecting ones suck.
Wolf Deck Boards:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l8EJS6yTIzfbeSx4o2hpufwFmYeJ8oJA/view?usp=drive_link
Deck Railings
We really do not like composite or metal railings.
Richmond Rail:
In CAR neighborhoods and other older homes this style wooden railing is pretty great. This is a fir wood railing with a top component, balusters, and a bottom rail. The top bar is sloped which helps with water runoff.
PT Wood Rail:
A basic old school pressure treated wooden railing with 4x4 posts and a 2x4 at the top and at the bottom of the balusters. Can be capped with a 2x6 or a composite deck board. Probably the most economical of all railing options.
Deck Stains