Restoration Primer: Sturdy Details for Wood Columns

Somewhere along the line, someone had tried to “improve” this perfectly good central Virginia Federal brick house by adding on a portico with huge (20×20-inch) box columns. I was called in to replace the original wood columns, which had been built around 6-inch steel posts. The columns were poorly flashed at the top, and set right on the masonry at their bases, with no ventilation provided. By the time I saw them, the wood was cupped, twisted, and rotting — really in terrible shape. I first suggested to the owner that we downsize the new columns to 12×12 inches for better scale. And we added some details to ensure that the new columns would last for a long time. For the bases