I live in a 1923 Cal Bungalow in Long Beach and one of my porch columns is just a 2x4 post. It looks like it's been that way for a while. The other post is the standard brick base with a concrete topper and then the wood column to the porch ceiling. My husband and I want to reconstruct the destroyed column and were wondering if anyone out there has ever done a similar project. Where do I get the concrete topper fabricated, do you think the brick column â€â€

First, are you sure the cap is concrete? It may be limestone or something like that. You should be able to get one through a brick and stone supplier. Most of the time the posts are hollow, particularly if they have a taper. There may be a solid post inside that actually provides the structural support. The brick piers are usually hollow as well. That's how the ones on my house were constructed.

It's been a while since I checked the post. Thanks for the information. I'm pretty sure it's a concrete cap. I'll definitely consult a masonry expert. I also appreciated your thoughts on what might be under the existing column. I think I'll definitely be removing it and documenting that process so I can replicate it on both sides. I hate to lose the bricks on the one column, but because they're so unique (a grey mix of shells and sand in the brick that I can't find anywhere else) I will have to go with a brick that's around today to do both sides. It would be nice to salvage the brick and either use it as an accent in the new columns or put it somewhere else in the house.

How about recover the old brick in the other column and find a modern brick blend that you can mix the old in for both columns. Concentrate the old bricks in the parts of the structure that are the most visible, i.e. not under the porch or behind the bushes.

I was just at a brick yard the other day and was impressed by the range of colors and styles available.

A great idea. I definitely will keep that in mind when I disconstruct the column.
Now all I have to do is plan it all out: find a brick yard, find the right brick, figure out supplys then get to work. Sometimes it's the getting started that's the hardest.

We've had to match brick in the past and we had the best luck with the brickyard that's been in business the longest. They had odd bricks laying around from many years ago. Yes, it's more phone calls, but we found it to be worth it.

Be careful when you deconstruct the remaining wooden column! We tried to take ours apart (they are wooden battered, meaning square but tapered towards the top) and were shocked to find that they were hollow! So the edges of that hollow empty box were holding up our porch roof! We got one side off, saw it was hollow and immediately wedged that side back in. We had to get bracing and jacks to hold up the porch roof in order to take the columns off, repour the concrete porch, put in 4x4s to hold up the roof, and now we can rebuild the original columns back around the 4x4s.
Good Luck!