When I bought my house, the deck was in poor shape. Enough to pass inspection, but the deck boards have not been sealed or washed in years. There are way too many splintering and cracked boards. I decided it would be better and easier just to cover as much as possible with Trex. I purchased a rail kit along with the Trex 4 x 4 sleeves (so the lattice and rails will be removed).
I was wondering how I could get composite post sleeves to fit over these posts. Can I forgo sleeving these posts and attach the aluminum directly? How can I make this work without it looking terrible or causing any safety issues? I am concerned that cutting the sleeve might pose a safety issue down the line.
Best Answer
Making some dangerous assumptions here...
You'll be removing everything between the posts so that you can slip the sleeve over the top, then reattach everything, right?
While you've got it all apart, take 2 of your post covers and cut one complete side off so that you've got a
Ushape and slip it on by pressing toward the house. You will likely have to cut each remaining side individually to fit exactly against the house to have a nice, flush finished look.On the post in the 2nd picture, you can probably slip the sleeve between the wood and the vinyl siding so it won't have to be a perfect cut, just long enough to cover the gap.
On the post in the 1st picture, you'll want to scrape the paint off so you've got a nice surface on that (currently) white trim, then scribe the post cover to fit nice and snug up against it.
Once you've got each of the modified post covers fitting the way you want, run a bead of construction adhesive (like Liquid Nails™ - check the label to ensure it's compatible with wood and your cover material) on each inside edge of your cover, then slip it on and probably apply a couple of clamps until the adhesive is set.
Finish by reinstalling all the railing between the newly covered posts.