This beautiful bark-sided farm house fits so well in the mountains. We’ve applied poplar bark siding to our cottage and will use some again on the upper level of our home addition. I’m assuming the columns are poplar logs and if the same is used for railings, what is the care required and life expectancy of both? In the Blue Ridge Mountains, it is common to see locust wood and laurel used for posts and rails. Our grapevine posts from locust wood finally rotted after 15 years. I know it’s not the same application, i.e., not protected by roofing, but as much as I love the look, I’m concerned about using poplar logs for columns & rails. Thoughts?