Hello, our house has these four poles in front. Now they are wood (with I'm sure some kind of metal poles inside that actually support the awning) and painted, but the paint is chipping away. We'd like to make them maintenance free if we can. We asked a company to wrap them in metal, but were told that was not recommended (I imagine due to it touching the ground, thus water?). What do you recommend to make them maintenance free? Other ideas included wrapping them in boral board, or with James Hardie (using boral board on the bottom area). It seems like it is too small of a job for many companies (e.g., that does James Hardie siding work) to take, so something that a handyman can do would be appreciated, but other ideas are also welcome. Also, we don't mind bulking up the poles a bit either.

Thank you in advance for your input!