I had a backyard patio installed earlier this year and I have noticed some splits in one of the two cedar posts that support the structure. I asked the company about it and they attributed it to surface splitting and this is common and won't jeopardize the structural integrity of the covering. However, I still wanted to get the advice of the all-knowing Texags and see if anyone had any thoughts. My concern is that the splits are on either side of the post, and if they meet towards the middle then essentially 1/4 of my post is risking being split off eventually.

I've never see a cedar post that doesn;t have split like that. Even if it split in two, it is still supporting.

Should not be a problem. Your patio cover is just like ours and we have had it for about 10 years and even though the posts split in the first year it hasn't gotten any worse in the past 10 years. That is pretty normal for finished posts like that and it still has it's integrity . That's just the way it dries out .

Completely normal.

Just built our home and one of our cedar posts is split just like that. Nothing to worry about. When we asked about it we were told it somehow makes it stronger. It's called checking or something like that. It's basically the wood adjusting to the moisture in your location.

Thank you all for the feedback. Will make me (but more so my wife) feel much better.

Completely normal. Your roof structure isn't going to fall over because of this. If it makes you feel any better, I've seen some 2" wide by 1/4" thick steel banding around way way bigger cedar beams. Talking like 40 foot tall, 18"x18" cedar beams.

That's called checking. It's common for cedar posts as they dry. Nothing can be done about it. Doesn't impact the integrity of the post.

Same thing happened to all of our pergola posts, which are center cut cedar 8"x8". About a year after it was built, I started noticing the same thing. My grandfather was an architect and was by for some family get together so I had him look at them. He said if it's truly center cut it should not split in half under normal conditions. If it made me feel better it wouldn't hurt anything to put some bolts through it in the wider cracked area, but not much to worry about.

Now, that said, I have noticed it creates a hideaway for bugs, and I am in a constant battle with carpenter ants and bees. Make sure you apply whatever stain you have in the posts deep inside the cracks also.

Checking is common and to most is a preferred outcome of rough cedar. 8x8 especially those checks consist of mere hundredths of the mass of the post not to mention that check never usually go top to bottom or line up all the way through.

If you find something small you can stick it in at multiple spots and see most aren't more that 2" deep at most.

Only way to have a chance of avoiding is to get posts which are cut not from the heart of the tree. But when you have the heart center as the rings go around and it dries especially in the south those fibers contract and cause the checking.

When I sold cedar structures we also discussed that even if it were to split completely in half you would still have a structure standing on top of two 4x8 posts and most likely/depending on design through bolted at the top and in an anchor or in concrete at the base.