Porch columns rot from the bottom, because that is where water sits. The column is usually sound six inches up.
Why the bottom goes first
Rain runs down the column and stops at the deck. If the porch floor does not drain, or the column sits flat on it with no gap, the end grain draws water up like a wick and holds it.
That is also why replacing the section without fixing the drainage buys you the same repair in four years.
When a section replacement works
When the rot stops within the bottom foot, the column is structural timber rather than a hollow wrap, and there is somewhere for the new joint to be hidden — usually behind the base trim.
When it does not
Hollow columns, which are common on newer porches, do not take a section repair. Neither does a column where the rot has travelled above the base trim, because the joint would sit in the visible length.
Check the deck before the column
Press the porch floor around each column base. If it gives, the floor is the problem and the column is a symptom — and a new column on a wet deck is money spent twice.
Matching the profile
On period porches in Marietta and Roswell the trim profiles are rarely standard. We match them rather than approximate, which is slower and is the difference between a repair you notice and one you do not.
Porch renovation covers the work. Finished work is on our Facebook page.
