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My 100 year old house has a decorative railing over the front porch and a second floor dormer. When the railing was taken down to re-roof the porch, the roofer discovered that there is wood rot in some of the vertical posts on the second floor. I am unsure if the posts can be repaired or if they must be replaced. One post in particular, has quite a bit of rot at the bottom making it hard to secure onto the base (the bases will all definitely be replaced because of rot or damage when they were removed.) The problem is that due to the age of the house, I cannot get posts to match what is original, so all of them will have to be replaced, at a cost of about $250 each for six of them, even those that are not rotted. Also, the new style cap is not as nice as the original decorative cap. I have had some success with wood hardener and fill when repairing small areas of wood rot such as in a window sash. Is there a similar way I can fill a fairly large void, or is there a way to rebuild just the bottom of a post? It is about 4 and 5/8 inches square, which I guess is not standard in this day and age. I would prefer to stick with the original house style if at all possible, and It seems foolish to spend $1500 on a rail that serves no functional purpose. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
