Bob Aquino
06-07-2006, 8:49 AM
Hi all. I am looking to put some railing on the front porch of my house. it will be a typical country front porch railing, nothing fancy, square ballusters, upper and lower rails. I have all the equipment to make whatever I need though I would like to save some time if possible by not fabricating all the pieces. The big box stores tend to carry mostly pressure treated stuff and I could paint it white to match but my experience is that this stuff will dry and warp quite a bit and I want something nicer than that.
I did see some composit railing at Lowes, not the shiny pvc stuff but a material that had a matt finish on it that would look nice. They had it in 6 and 8 foot lengths. The span I need is about 80 inches. The 6 for an upper and lower rail was about 38 but the 8' set was about 30 more. Not quite sure why an extra 2 feet should be double the price, but that type of gouging is enough to make be do it some other way.
So the question is, whats the best material to use that will hold paint well and wont go wonky as the sun and rain beat on it year after year. I'm in the southern part of VA so we do get our share of both. I'm thinking maybe cedar glued up to make the rails? Any suggestions for other types of wood? thanks in advance for any help.
I did see some composit railing at Lowes, not the shiny pvc stuff but a material that had a matt finish on it that would look nice. They had it in 6 and 8 foot lengths. The span I need is about 80 inches. The 6 for an upper and lower rail was about 38 but the 8' set was about 30 more. Not quite sure why an extra 2 feet should be double the price, but that type of gouging is enough to make be do it some other way.
So the question is, whats the best material to use that will hold paint well and wont go wonky as the sun and rain beat on it year after year. I'm in the southern part of VA so we do get our share of both. I'm thinking maybe cedar glued up to make the rails? Any suggestions for other types of wood? thanks in advance for any help.