Covering steel support column

[steve_b]

Hi,
I am in the final phases of finishing the basement bedroom for my son. There is one steel support column (4"dia) about 3' from one wall and it's location allows a half wall to be built tying back to the wall (decoration only) - this hides the bottom half, but what to do with the upper half. I could paint it and make a decorative piece at the interface to the half wall and the ceiling. I could build a 'round' cover to encase the pole, but I need to be careful about making it to large in dia (look out of scale) - but I'm not sure how to go about doing this.

Any suggestions?

[cabinetman]

You could use a bending plywood in 1/8" thickness, and then veneer it with a flexible veneer.
.

[crokett]

A box column would be be quicker and easier, unless round is the look you are going for. For a really finished look the box column could be made wider than the half wall and run floor to ceiling. Then you can flute it, chamfer the corners, etc. The half wall would then run from the column to the adjoining wall. The advantage to a square column is you can also attach shelves, etc over the half wall if you ever want to.

Here is a pic of a column I built. I cut flutes and chamfered the edges. There are square plywood spacers every 16" inside.

[Sparky2002]

This is what I used to when I finished out my basement this past summer. I bought this at my Lowes. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...tt=pole%20wrap

Imagine something like a roll top desk type of wood wrapped around the pole. You break each joint and bend it around your 3" or 4" pole. They are red oak slats and I stained mine but paint would work also. They also have base plates and caps to finish it off. I am happy with the ease of installation and the look. I can upload a photo later if you want to see what it looks like finished. I don't have all my rehab photos with me.

[steve_b]

Cabinetman, Sparky - how did you attach to the pole? adhesive? I'll see if Lowes here in Ontario carries this product (not that I have looked for it before)

Crokett, Looks good, I'll need to take some measurements and see how it wood (pun intended ) look

Thanks

[RAV2]

We used manila rope glued to the pole. Looked good and rustic.

[Sparky2002]

Steve_b,

To attach the pole wrap to the post I drew a vertical line with my level and applied liquid nail to the line area, using the line as straight edge. After letting it dry fully, I applied liquid nail to the rest of the pole and attached the wood. To hold both sides of the seam I used a lot of passes of the blue painters tape. I have three boy and in the last 4 months it has not been taking down. The base cap is also held down with liquid nail.

I have attached some photos of it installed.

[cabinetman]

Cabinetman, Sparky - how did you attach to the pole? adhesive? I'll see if Lowes here in Ontario carries this product (not that I have looked for it before)

Crokett, Looks good, I'll need to take some measurements and see how it wood (pun intended ) look

Thanks

If you use just a paper backed veneer, it should be glued (solvent based contact cement) to a substratre (I described in my previous post). The ribbed looking stuff Sparky linked to is called Tambour. There are many types from a thin veneer on MDF, to solid wood. It's backed by paper, and can be glued with a variety of glues or panel adhesive. I prefer solvent based contact cement. The picture below is an aquarium stand I made covered with a solid wood Red Oak tambour, 1/4" thick. IIRC, the solid wood runs about $12/sq.ft.
.

.

[LarryG]

I would do something like David (crokett) shows, possibly with the addition of a half- or quarter-column back at the main wall, to visually tie the covered column to something else and make it make more sense from a design standpoint. If you do use a partial column back at the main wall, you might then consider adding a header at the ceiling, to tie everything together and create a window-like opening.

What Sparky did with his column looks fine because it goes all the way to the floor; but to have a round upper column sticking out of a rectilinear half wall would to my eye look amateurish, because of the lack of continuity between the upper and lower halves. So my first thought is to make it square, or make it round -- but not both. Also, if you just wrap the steel column with some thin material, it's going to be blatantly obvious that that's all you did: wrap a skinny, ugly column with something ... anything ... to hide it. That's not going to look very well at all (and you clearly care what the thing looks like, else you wouldn't have asked the question in the first place, right?).

Lastly, give some thought to the suggestion to incorporate some shelves, or maybe some kind of hanging artwork within the opening, or whatever. Think about what furnishings or accessories might be placed against both sides of the half wall. The idea is to instead of ending up with something that says, "There was a column here and I didn't know what to do with it," do something that turns it into an asset.

[steve_b]

Thanks for the suggestions and particularly about the square ver round - so I'll pass it by the foreman and see what she has in mind and go from there.

Great forum ..

thanks

[pelligrini]

One thing that would make a round cover look proprrtionate is to thicken up the half wall. I bet your son could use some shelf storage, or such. A smaller round element extending from a substantialy sized base does not look out of place. It would look kind of funny if was the same width as a thin half wall though.

Another neat look would be to terminate the half wall at the column and do the column in a round finish. Kind of giving the end of the half wall a bullnose appearance.