The Best Wood for a Covered Porch

Structural Support

• Ordinary 2-by-4 inch wood can be used for a covered porch's frame if it is protected from the elements by exterior-grade paneling or stucco. All exposed wood, including ballasts and columns, should be moisture-resistant. Many traditional wood porches incorporate painted wood for the flooring and support columns. Covering wood with mold-resistant paint prolongs the wood's life.

Pressure-Treated Wood

• Pressure-treated wood is often used for decks, porches and fences. It has been chemically treated to resist moisture, rotting and insect damage and lasts for many years. It is also the least expensive building material for a covered porch. Previously, pressure-treated wood was treated with the arsenic-based preservative chromated copper arsenate. That material was phased out because of concerns about its toxicity. Most pressure-treated wood available today is preserved with alkaline copper quaternary.

Natural Woods

• Cedar, redwood and cypress are naturally rot-resistant but are more expensive than pressure-treated wood. They have a natural appearance that weathers over time to a gray finish. Most often used for decks, they also can be used for a covered porch. Redwood is the most expensive of the three woods, and cedar is usually the most economical. Your geographic location also plays a role in the woods' price. Cypress grows in the southeastern United States, and consumers there pay less for it than consumers on the West Coast.

Composites

• Wood composites are made by combining wood sawdust with plastic to create strong, weather-resistant building materials that require little maintenance and last indefinitely. Wood composites are made in a variety of colors and appearances, and they are considerably more expensive than wood. Their ease of maintenance and durability usually offset their expense over time. Wood composites may fade from exposure to sunlight. The fading is permanent.