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ricksample

Cedar VS Pressure treated porch posts

ricksample
9 years ago

When we built our house, the contractor put in cheap 4x4 porch posts to hold the roof up. The porch is about 50' long x 5' wide concrete. It has 5 of these small 4 x 4 x 8 posts that are clearly visible from the street. It's always bothered me that these things look like toothpicks compared to the size of our house lol.

This weekend I'm going to wrap these 4x4's with wood to make them essentially 8" x 8" square to really beef them up. Then also add trim pieces at the bottom/top. My question is do I use pressure treated or cedar?

I'm reading that pressure treated may warp/split after awhile.
I'm also reading that cedar doesn't allow paint to stick that easily and will peal because cedar constantly expands/contracts. These posts will be primed then painted white.

Cedar is also double the price. I don't mind paying more for a better quality product, but if the paint is going to peal every year I think it'll end up looking worse than a split board hear or there.

They will be exposed to the elements believe it or not, each time it rains/snows the first couple feet of the porch gets wet thanks to the wind.

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