At first, we must reveal why we decided to box those columns in before moving forward on the process we follow to arrive at the destination achieved. Below are the reasons;
– Our house carport has about 4-5 columns that are square in shape and has been separated apart. And currently, that is before we commence the columns work, then there is a split personality with some about 4 columns as mix in the house.
– Base on how we saw some different ranches of our neighbors, we understand that the box in square form is recommendable and that is our target. We want to bounce back to that kind.
On the first day of us starting the boxed, I was thinking throughout that “how long will it take for us to even finish a column including the stem caulking process and even the painting stage. That is a big deal and we must by any means try out best to overcome the work.
I was not comfortable with how we started deviating even before going deep into the process. But anyway, that didn’t get us tired. After finishing three columns, we move back so that we can be able to view it well.
We found out that the columns are little not substantial, even though we expected that the de-scalloped header will look good. That pull us to use more boards of size 1×6” at the top on the right side of the original header which is 1×3”. We attached them using nails with screw and wood glue in some parts, depending though. The boards are bought in the local store that is near to our base.
The work is progressing as you can see below;
The detour did not reach this far, while the caulking look like a forever time and some numbers of seams are involved. It is somehow taking a long time and we didn’t want that because there might be rainfall down or something related to moisture that will touch the wood.
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I could remember when we work on the header in our previous house and we follow the same method and it is almost seven years ago now. The method is like this; prepare and set the wood for us + painting. We caulked to seal them up and that is not compulsory, you can live it after painting or live the painting too, but note in mind that it won’t look attractive.
Since our concern is to make sure it looks good, right? I don’t think anyone can live it without painting and caulking since it is part of the work too. So, just do it no matter how lazy or tired you are, or rest and continue the columns later.
The caulk type you should or want to solely depend on you, you can choose a high, low, or light one. In most cases, we use door caulk and sometimes dap window type or paintable finish. Those are types of caulks Homecareabout mostly uses.
If we finish with the first step of setting up the woods, we then move to caulk. Once you applied it (any type you chose to use), wait for it to dry which will not take a long time.
It usually takes us like an hour or more for the caulk applied to dry and once we touch and confirmed, then will move to the painting stage. Several times ago, we do live it to rest for some moment before preparing for the painting. We are lucky the boards we bought are already prepaid; we will just install them on the porches and no need for anything more.
The paint too, we don’t buy any because the people that live in the house before us left some numbers of paints and they are for the house. That’s great and we are happy to see that we won’t spend anything. We were thinking of repainting our trim using some part of the paint we found and at the same, we are so lazy of working throughout the house. There is trim all over the house and it won’t be such easy for us to do that during the time.
We used just one of the coats with some adjustment. Can you see how it is transformed? And we weren’t happy on the first day.
Working on the ornate and traditional columns is really a good idea as it makes our exterior look so updated. It is crisper. It is in accordance with the mid-century ranch. Before, the four square columns in the carport don’t longer clash with some two curvy columns.
In the photo, you would be able to see the exact place where the board of 1×8” size (which is particular at the back and front of the column) collides with the board of 1×6”. We nailed the boards to the sides
And before we ended up the boxed column discussion, we did like to briefly list the details of the budget we made over the project. The main thing and where our budget goes is the primed boards.
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The rest of the column supplies used are bought by us, we actually found them in the house as I said before. They are caulk packages and house paint. We are so much lucky over the boxed porch columns project.
Below are the breakdowns;
- Four 1 x 3″ boards for original (thin) header: $50.50
- Four 1 x 6″ boards for thicker header: $79.33
- Six 1 x 6″ boards for sides of posts: $102.08
- Six 1 x 8″ boards for front & back of posts: $138.12
- TOTAL: $
We made the mistake of buying 1x3s because it is small and we would have not spent up to our budget as written.
The boards to are somehow expensive, we would have instead get less price one like whitewood even though the one we bought is highly recommendable because of its qualities (smooth and straighter).
Also, the primed boards are totally good and make work easy, fast and convenient for one to do. It doesn’t require any longer thing. You will just use it wherever you want without spending time working to maybe smooth and or anything thing. Now everything about columns is successfully done.
Here we come to an end. What’s your view on the column boxed process? Can you do it yourself without any issue or fear? Drop your comment below.
