Building small wood porch questions

[Sean Troy]

Hey all, I'm going to replace an old brick porch with a new wooden one. It's basically just a step up for our guest house. The size will be about 5' x 4' with one step up. What do I need to know about the footer size for the posts? Would pressure treated lumber work for this application as I want to paint the wood also? Should I set the posts in the concrete or attach to the concrete? Frost level here in western Kentucky is not that deep. While I'm thinking of it, are posts actually the way to go? I was going to cap them off with a railing of some sort.Thanks for any info, Sean

[Lex Boegen]

You can paint pressure-treated lumber after it dries. If you paint it while it's still wet, you'll trap moisture under the paint and it will peel.

I recently rebuilt my screen porch, and I used pressure-treated 4x4 posts. I did not put them directly on the concrete slab. I used a mount from Simpson Strong Tie that is galvanized steel (rated for direct contact with pressure-treated lumber). It is one inch thick, so it raises the 4x4 up by that much, which is good because now I don't have to worry about rainwater wicking up through the end grain. Simpson Strong Tie also makes lighter-duty 4x4 post mounts that are a black plastic (ABS maybe?) that is also one-inch thick. It's pretty inexpensive, and for your application, that's what I'd use. I would pour a concrete footer, and then use the black plastic mount as a spacer between the lumber and the concrete. Even pressure treated lumber will rot when exposed to moisture, it just takes longer than untreated lumber. FWIW, that's my two cents. :D

[Jim Rimmer]

I can't answer about the posts but if you are in a city, I would check on permits and especially building codes about steps, rails, etc. You don't want to have to do it over.

[Ramsey Ramco]

Check your local building codes regarding frost level I'm in the midwest it is 3' here. I would assume a 12" round footing would be plenty good and I agree about using the galvanized post bases we mount them using expanding concrete anchors on top of the footing since you cannot bury posts in concrete here. I would personally strongly reccomend cedar for the exposed/painted material since even after treated lumber dries I have found paint to flake off, with it only being 20 sq ft 5/4 cedar for the decking won't be expensive but I would build the frame out of treated and wrap the faces in cedar 1x or 2x. Hopefully that helps again our climate is significantly different in Nebraska so your situation may differ a bit. Good luck.

[Sean Troy]

Thank you all, you've given me great info to get me started. I'll check codes and about permits first. Sean

[Lee Schierer]

The problem you will encounter with painting will be that the lumber will absorb moisture from under the deck and the paint will peel. I fought this problem on our decks for several years and finally gave up painting them. You will also find that treated lumber gets very slick when it gets wet and freezes. For a deck that small I would go with one of the nicer looking composite materials for the deck surface. It will look nicer longer and be less maintenance in the long run. You can even cover the exposed skirt boards with composite material. Here's a composite deck with the fascia wrap.http://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=22852&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1129058970

[Sean Troy]

The only problem is the decking needs to be white to match the house. I've never seen white composite.