Rusted wrought iron post

[sligoNoSPAMjoe]

I am working on a older home and the back porch has a roof "supported" by decrative wrought iron post. Right now one of them is rusted at the bottom so it is hanging from the roof. It is over a concrete pad.

I had two ideas:

• Use a few steel angles securing one leg to the concrete pad and the other to the post.

• Build a from and pour a new concrete box around the bottom of the post making sure I somehow key that block to the existing concrete pad.

Any comments or suggestions.

Yea, I am trying keep the price and work to a minumum.

Thanks

[Colbyt]

When I paid a wrought iron welder to do a repair like this for me he came with metal plates for the base and tubing that was one size larger than the existing.

He cut off all the rot, slipped his new tube over the old, welded it and that to the base which he drilled and pinned to the slab.

Your solutions sound like they might also work.

Let us know what you do and how it works.

[aemeijers]

I'd be more inclined to switch the posts for wood 4x4s on metal standoffs, or cruise the local metal-mongers and Habitat ReStore for suitable rip-out posts in better condition.

-- aem sends...

[Lee B]

My last house had wrought iron supports holding up the roof on the front and back porches. These were half height supports, set on top of 4' high brick "pillars". Just as I was getting ready to sell the house, I noticed I had the same problem - some of the wrought iron all but "dust" where the ones in the back met the brick.

Not being at all a do-it-yourselfer, and not wanting to sink much more $$ into the house, what I did was contact an awning company. They sell those pillars in aluminum (I think?) for much less than the cost of a new wrought iron one (I know; I checked). For me, for that type of neighborhood that worked well. It might not in some more upscale areas. They actually might minimally decorative supports, although not all of the "grape leaves" designs.