A post is a vertical structural member, typically supporting a beam or girder above and transferring that load down to a footing or foundation below, often used at specific concentrated support points rather than the closely spaced arrangement of studs found in a conventional wall.
Posts appear throughout residential construction, from deck supports to basement columns holding up a main floor beam, each sized according to the specific load it needs to carry.
Because a post typically carries concentrated load at a single point rather than distributing it along a wall’s length, its own foundation support needs particular attention to ensure adequate bearing capacity beneath that single point.
What Does a Post Involve?
- Vertical structural material, whether wood, steel, or concrete
- A footing sized for the concentrated load it transfers
- Connection hardware securing it to the beam above and footing below
- Sizing calculated from the tributary load it supports
Why Are Posts Important?
By providing concentrated point support at strategic locations, posts allow beams to span greater distances than they could unsupported, enabling open floor plans and larger structural spans throughout a building without requiring continuous bearing walls everywhere. Undersized posts, or posts resting on inadequate footings, can settle or fail under load, creating problems throughout the structure they support.
Basement posts supporting a main floor beam are a common location where homeowners consider removal during a renovation to open up space, a change that requires careful engineering to redistribute that structural load safely elsewhere, often through a larger beam or additional support elsewhere in the design. This careful redesign ensures the structure remains just as safe after the change as it was before.
Post vs. Column
Post and column are largely interchangeable terms for a vertical structural support, though column sometimes implies a more architecturally prominent or larger structural element, while post is used more generally across residential and lighter construction applications.