A few years ago I did major (for me) repair work on my porch, including new railings, columns, and plinths. The columns are just pressure treated posts. I used pressure treated blocks for the plinths or column bases, a 5/4 piece over a larger 2x piece. These sit directly on the painted untreated wood porch deck.
I need to repaint the porch deck and am thinking about redoing the plinths. Are simple blocks ok, or should I redo them and rout some slots along their bottoms for water drainage and air circulation, or should I maybe sit them on four corner pieces to allow even more air circulation? Any other ideas?
Also, is it common to attach the plinths to the decking, and if so, how?
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
Replies
There are some little aluminum spacer blocks with small feet on the bottom that will do the job more reliably than wood. They are totally waterproof and won't shrink, swell, rot, or squish. You can usually get them in the deck hardware areas of the lumber suppliers. Channels on the bottom of the blocks is a poor idea because the exposure of the end grain allows the wood to act like a sponge.