load-bearingporchpost
After removing my front porch railing, I noticed that 3 of the 4 porch posts do not make full contact with the porch slab. The one closest to the front door is the one that doesn't move around. The others move around quite a bit on the bottom.
I don't remember the posts moving around before I removed the railing.
Are these load bearing?
Is there danger of the porch collapsing?
Instead of using king studs on either side of the header, use jack studs.
The jack studs take the load from the cripple and transfer it vertically to the floor. You could attach to king studs as you showed, but the problem is you now have to worry about sheer strength as well.
The plan will make the 4x4s look good. However, you did say they are LOAD BEARING, an epoxy is great for holding things together or protecting things, but terrible at withstanding stress from a load. The posts function is to transfer the weight above it to the ground, so filling in the rotted parts of the wood with epoxy is just hiding the problem. Most epoxy adhesives rely on the stress being directed against thier cohesion to the material. When the stress is in a direction that is contrary to that the epoxy fails. If you wanted to glue two pieces together to double the load bearing capacity it would work great for that, but it can't take the load and replace the structural member yet. Maybe in the near future they will come up with something that can. Sorry to tell you this, but you are going to have to replace the 4x4 posts, or you run the risk of them tipping, or collapsing so that the structure comes down. It aslo would be a good time to bring them up to code. The good news is you can treat them so they are rot resistant for far longer now, and it is far cheaper than having the carport fall on your transportation.
Best Answer
Typically in cases like this you'll have cantilevered trusses in the roof system with an interior bearing point. The posts are entirely decorative (and hold the railing system). The biggest clue is the shape of the gable.
It's possible that only the one by the door is carrying a load. There could be a small beam there for the high front gable, but that's not likely. You'll need to peek into your attic to be sure, but considering the design and apparent age of the home it's a safe bet.