Lanterns & Lamp Posts

Amish built lamp posts and lanterns. The posts are cellular PVC vinyl rather than wood, so they cannot rot at the ground line, and the color never needs painting. Posts and lanterns are bought separately. Delivery is free.

The Post and the Lantern Are Two Separate Purchases

This is the thing that catches people out, so it is worth saying before anything else. Every photograph on this page shows a lit lantern on top of a post. They are sold separately, and neither one includes the other.

A post gives you a 76 inch column with a 3 inch mount on top and no light fitting. A lantern is the fitting that goes on that mount. You need one of each, and buying them separately is the point, because it lets you match the fitting to the house rather than take whatever came bundled.

If you would rather we just tell you what goes with what, call or text 1 800 914 0074 or 352 274 6387 with a photo of your frontage. Texting is fine.

Which Outdoor Lamp Post Should You Buy?

All four posts are 76 inches tall and made from the same material. What separates them is width and how much ornament they carry, and the right answer depends almost entirely on the size of your frontage.

If you are between two of them, the smaller one usually looks better. A post that overwhelms its setting reads as a mistake, and that is much harder to live with than one that is slightly modest.

Why a Heavy Duty Outdoor Lamp Post Beats a Wooden One

Wooden lamp posts fail in one place, and it is always the bottom six inches. Water wicks up out of the soil, the timber stays damp behind the paint, and the rot spreads from the inside where nothing shows. By the time the post leans, it has been failing for a year.

Cellular PVC has no grain for water to travel along. It is the same material used for exterior trim on houses, chosen for exactly this reason, and it takes the ground line out of the equation entirely.

The color runs through the material rather than sitting on top of it, so there is no painting and no sealing, and a scuff does not reveal a different color underneath. In year five you wash it with a hose. That is the whole maintenance schedule.

What Does Not Come in the Box

Every post on this page is a sleeve. It slides over a wooden post that you set in the ground yourself.

• An 8 foot pressure treated 4x4. The structural core. Around $25 at any lumber yard.
• Concrete. Two or three bags to set it, depending on how deep your frost line runs.
• A lantern. There is a 3 inch mount at the top and no light fitting supplied.

What does come in the box: the post, the decorative cap, the screws and a touch-up kit.

Buy all of it at the same time. Finding out on a Saturday morning that you are short a 4x4 and some concrete costs you the weekend.

Installing and Wiring

Dig below your local frost line, set the 4x4 in concrete, and let it cure. Slide the sleeve over it, level it, and fix it with the supplied screws using a 3/16 inch bit. You need a cordless drill, a tape, a level, a shovel and something to mix concrete in.

Two people makes it much easier than one, mostly for holding it plumb while the screws go in. A post half a degree out is invisible on install day and impossible to unsee afterwards.

For a hardwired outdoor lamp post, run the cable up inside the 4x4 before the sleeve goes on, and dig the trench while the footing is still open. Adding power to a post already set in concrete means digging the whole thing back out. A solar or battery lantern avoids all of that and mounts the same way.

Delivery and Lead Time

Delivery is free and included in the price. Nothing is added at checkout and no freight invoice arrives afterwards.

These are built to order and Yard Craft has been running 1 to 2 weeks, which is quick for hand built work. That is an average and not a promise. Call or text 1 800 914 0074 or 352 274 6387 for today's real number rather than the one that is easier to sell.

Common Questions

Are these lamp posts wood?

No. They are cellular PVC vinyl, which looks like painted wood but cannot rot, swell or split. It is the same material used for exterior house trim.

Is a lantern included with the post?

No. Every post has a 3 inch mount at the top and no light fitting. Lanterns are listed separately on this page so the fitting can match the house.

Do outdoor lamp posts need to be set in concrete?

The 4x4 core does. The vinyl sleeve then slides over it and is screwed in place. Dig below your local frost line and let the concrete cure before fitting the sleeve.

What colors are available?

White, Light Stone, Clay and Black on all four posts. The color goes right through the material, so it never needs painting and a scratch does not show a different color beneath.

Found one cheaper somewhere else? Tell us and we will beat the price. Returns are free.