Railings And Columns On Bluestone

kylemfk

I have a customer, who has a customer with a question I can't answer.

Existing porch is concrete (25'x6' 14' high), to be redone with bluestone on top. Homeowner wants to replace existing 4x4 wood columns with nice 12' fiberglass columns and also to run a railing (like timbertech) around the whole thing. My question is how should the railing + columns be mounted on bluestone? Or should they be mounted first and the bluestone cut to fit around the bases of everything??
Any tips at all are appreciated.

Greg Di

That there's a good question.

I've seen blue stone crack, especially when wet/soaked, and especially near the edges. The fiberglass columns will be structural I assume, but they will distribute the load a decent amount.

It would be a job I would do with apprehension since I don't think you'll find any applicable data on the "right" way to do it.

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kylemfk

Thanks Greg, they find me, I don't know how, but they find me...

HemiMan2500HD

I did a porch like that once. A lot smaller though. It was with the vinyl comonial porch posts. I found columns that have a plate that sits partially inside the column and then we attached the plate with tapcons. If you drill slow and keep it wet it won't break unless you are real close to the edge. The columns had base covers that covered the plate. If they are load bearing the plate is there just to keep it from kicking out the load will keep them in place