Wood type for porch railing

[Brad Seubert]

Looking to re-do the porch railing and skirts on the porch of my 1925 bungalow located in Milwaukee WI and wondering what the right choice for wood would be. It will be painted white and I would prefer not use treated lumber.

Looking around it seems like I can get your typical cedar from the big box stores, which i would think would take paint fairly well.

The local hardwood supplier didn't have much that caught my eye as being a good outdoor wood that would take paint well. Only thing I saw was cypress at $4 something a board foot and only available in 4/4.

If I looked around I might be able to find doug fir 2x4's or 2x6's that I could mill into the pieces for the railing. How does doug fir do outdoors when painted?

[Jamie Buxton]

If the trim is going to be painted, it doesn't have to be wood. Consider Azek, or the other man-made trim materials. Water has no effect on it.

[johnny means]

+1 on man made. My SIL is a builder in the Chicago area. Her specialty is million dollar plus homes done in the southern style. Lots of big rap around porches. In that price range she thought she should stick with traditional materials. Turns out Chicago winters are brutal on big decks and porches and after a few call backs and more homes she's settled on using top the line man made materials for a lot of exterior stuff. Not the crap vinyl siding thats on my house, but heavy, substantial materials that can't be distinguished from the real thing without class inspection. Even then the untrained eye can't tell the difference.

[Brad Seubert]

I would love to do it all in PVC but I think it would cost two or three times as much as doing it in wood.

I only plan to be in this house for about 3-5 years. I am all for doing it right and not going cheap but I just don't see the benefit of using PVC here. I would prefer to use a good quality wood that will be cost effective and if constructed correctly will last many years.

[scott vroom]

I would love to do it all in PVC but I think it would cost two or three times as much as doing it in wood.

I only plan to be in this house for about 3-5 years. I am all for doing it right and not going cheap but I just don't see the benefit of using PVC here. I would prefer to use a good quality wood that will be cost effective and if constructed correctly will last many years.

Redwood or cedar

[David Eisenhauer]

I re did my Mother's house porch rails (located underneath a porch roof) in San Antonio, Tx several years ago and used regular SYP framing material, painted white. The rails lasted the 20 years she owned the home prior to selling it, with a re paint job every few years or so.

[Brian W Smith]

Interesting data point story;

My cousin built the house in '64......2 years later the owner installs a white Oak,horizontal shadowbox fence.It's around 5-6' high.Best guess is there's been three slight "rebuilds" over the years.Heck,I replaced some posts back in '79.Anyway....I'm back over there.I'm sectioning the face bds,to utilize the "good",solid 4' that's between the posts.Am planting 6x6's and using the very same face bds,albeit in as "verts".Am capping off the new fence with an "L" section.....a 2x10 and a 2x4.Creating a peaked cap rail.The customer is 90'ish....and an absolute charmer.Am pre-staining all the face pcs with Cabots,Brown Oak.All the "new" wood will stay PTP green.I did some serious drawings/study's for the project.......was/am shooting for a Wachovian(NC) look.


Just sayin,you are going to be hardpressed to find a "plastic" material to last as long as wood,if it's given proper engineering from the get-go.

[Rich Engelhardt]

How does doug fir do outdoors when painted?I had doug fir skirts around my back deck. I put the deck in the summer of 1987 and took it down something like 10 years later.
I slopped a coat of Thompsons Water Seal on it when it went up and that was all it had on it.

The wood was perfectly fine with no signs of rot or decay.

IMHO - good drainage - installing the wood so water can't pool anywhere and/or making sure the end grain stys free of any standing water - goes a long, long, long way towards extending the lifetime of any wood outside.


P.S. - if you're going to paint, you're doing the right thing to avoid treated. Painted treated is nearly always a problem at some point.

[Larry Frank]

I used Trex decking boards for the top rail on my porch. It has been in for quite a few years now and has weathered and looks better than the wood used for the rest of the deck. I like it better than wood as there is no chance for a splinter.

[Brad Seubert]

I had doug fir skirts around my back deck. I put the deck in the summer of 1987 and took it down something like 10 years later.
I slopped a coat of Thompsons Water Seal on it when it went up and that was all it had on it.

The wood was perfectly fine with no signs of rot or decay.

IMHO - good drainage - installing the wood so water can't pool anywhere and/or making sure the end grain stys free of any standing water - goes a long, long, long way towards extending the lifetime of any wood outside.


P.S. - if you're going to paint, you're doing the right thing to avoid treated. Painted treated is nearly always a problem at some point.

Glad to hear Doug fir does well outdoors and I agree the construction methods are a huge part of it.

Looks like I will go for Doug fir if I can find it. If not I'll have to go with cedar.

Has anyone used the general finishes 450. Looks like they have that in white. Wondering how well it sprays through an hvlp system.

[Brian W Smith]

We have some D Fir here that's been exposed to every kind of weather.From direct Southern exposure "heat",to torrential wind/rain.Been through 1/2 dz hurricanes in the last 30 years.They're 1x10's going around an elevated side porch floor system.And that same porch has 30 y.o. SYP 2-1/4 inch T&G flooring which has been painted(along with D F bds)exactly once every 10 years.There are a bunch of "tricks" if you want to call it that?......which is very important to wood trim pcs surviving the elements.

One neat area,and one of the biggest myths in homebuilding is in the soffit area(wood vs plastic).I have worked on countless historic property's which have their original,150 y.o.,SYP soffit systems.........and the kicker,most only have one or two coats of paint.Heck,went to do an assessment on one 1837 house that we "passed" on,but it had exactly ONE coat of paint on all of the original interior woodwork.It was a faded Robbins egg Blue,will never forget it.That was another house that had it's original soffit system,with one coat of paint.