Steel pole finish

[vfrdave]

I have this galvanised pole by the front door wife doesn't want it just painted.

What can we do with it?

Block wall behind it will be clad with a limestone.

[Jeremy Harris]

Build a stone pillar around it to match the wall that's to be clad?

[lizzie]

+1 to @JSHarris suggestion

[Barney12]

I've got exactly the same issue for my porch. I'm intending to clad it in cedar (dimensionally stable and matches my dormers).

I'll simply machine up the sections to make a polygon. 

 

[Temp]

If it's galvanised it can be tricky to paint. Bit like trying to paint a wax candle with water colours.

 

I think I would clad it, possibly asymmetrically so it looks like it's a bit further from the wall?

[Onoff]

Brick / woodgrain effect Fablon?

 

Hammerite Special Metals Primer will stick to that. Rough it up and wipe down first. Halfords do it. 

 

B&Q do a Fortress one.

 

 

Edited November 16, 2018 by Onoff

[Ferdinand]

Tricky, and interesting, @vfrdave.

 

Two years ago I actually did a survey of porch support poles in our area to see what people used. My favourite was one from a bungalow my dad designed and supervised in 1970 where he actually used a pair of galvanised scaffold poles for a car port. Still there, still unpainted, still with the original occupant in the bungalow - now in her 90s.

 

Here I would leave it until the wall is clad, and some landscaping done, then consider using it as an accent feature on the building, bearing in mind the overall look. To me eye a stone post would be incongruous with the design. If you have something whch is a contrast colour elsewhere, then do something to reflect that - or perhaps to match your downpipes etc.

 

What is at the bottom of the pole? Can you easily put foundations in for a stone or similar post? What does the porch do? Does the wind come whipping down from that side whilst you are fumbling for your key standing in your batman costume after the Christmas Party? 

 

If it needs an element of shelter, what about filling the gap to the wall with something permeable. Fill in the bottom half of that gap and you could have a hidden "drop-off" point.

 

Given the clean look of the place, I quite like the idea of afterwards growing something up it where the leaf colour would change, have berries, or similar.

So my suggestion is to fill the gap to the wall with something like expanded stainless mesh or Corten or even anodised ally or copper, dressed round or in front of the column, then either leave it as a feature or grow a suitable plant up there.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by Ferdinand