Porch progress

We’re getting there. I’ve spent the last two days sanding down the pressure-treated posts. I really wish the local stores had the planed versions rather than the raw posts with 100s of perforations. I remember a time when pressure-treated meant the wood was just green. Now it means rough hewn and full of holes. Bah. At any rate, I spent about an hour on each sanding down the rough surface to get down to the green meat of the wood. Then, I spent between 2 and 3 hours applying wood filler to fill the holes. I had to let each side dry for at least a half hour before I could rotate the post, otherwise, the filler would ooze out of some of the bigger gouges in the wood. Once dry, I spent another hour sanding the filler down to create a mostly smooth surface. There are still some gouges that need to be filled again, but I figure I can do that once they are standing.

So, I created some post-toppers and bottomers and squeezed the newly improved posts into place on the newly improved deck surface. Then, I sanded down the rough spots of the old street-side railing and screwed that into place. The mailman will be pleased to see our mailbox in it’s proper place again.