Overheard a guy at the lumber yard rant about porch columns

I was picking up trim boards yesterday and this older guy was telling his buddy that fiberglass columns are a scam compared to wood. He said his neighbor's fiberglass one cracked after two winters in Minnesota, and wood ones just need paint every 5 years. Made me wonder how many of those fancy composite options really hold up long term?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor_moore3d agoOG Member

Man, that Minnesota winter will test anything (not that I'm shocked, a coworker of mine lost his composite deck boards to frost heave last season). Fiberglass in particular seems like a gamble with those freeze-thaw cycles we get up here. I've seen wood columns that are 20 years old still holding up, just need paint and maybe some caulk at the joints now and then. The composite stuff might look nice at first but I'd rather deal with scraping and painting every few years than worrying about a hidden crack that's gonna fail when the snow piles up.

sam_harris683d ago

Taylor Moore, you might have just changed my mind on this. I was all set to go with fiberglass for my next porch rebuild, figuring it would be less hassle than wood. But hearing about your coworker's composite deck boards getting wrecked by frost heave really stuck with me. I hadn't considered how the freeze-thaw cycles would mess with fiberglass columns the same way. Wood might need more upkeep, but at least you can see when it's getting bad and fix it. I'd rather spend a weekend scraping and painting every few years than gamble on something that could crack and leave me with a collapsed roof when the snow melts next spring.

gonzalez.phoenix2d ago

Collapsed roof when the snow melts" man you're acting like a fiberglass column is gonna snap like a twig overnight. I've seen cheap fiberglass stuff last years in worse climates than yours without a problem, maybe don't buy the thinnest crap at the hardware store.