grsthegreat
Super Star Member
You could use steel stud framing….if you can afford it
ultrarunner
Epic Contributor
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2004
- Messages
- 29,784
- Tractor
- Cat D3, Deere 110 TLB, Kubota BX23 and L3800 and RTV900 with restored 1948 Deere M, 1949 Farmall Cub, 1953 Ford Jubliee and 1957 Ford 740 Row Crop, Craftsman Mower, Deere 350C Dozer 50 assorted vehicles from 1905 to 2006
I did decks and fence posts with the old green treated 40 year warranty stuff starting in the 80’s and so far no issues except I can’t buy it anymore through regular channels…
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
New treated lumber is useless. I used a brown colored (as opposed to green) 4x4 without concrete for a mailbox post, and it totally rotted away in a few years.
OP
N80
Super Member
There is a deer stand in my creek bottom. It is pretty much just a ladder made of green treated 2x6s with a plywood seat. It has been leaning against the same tree for over 20 years. I've replaced the plywood seat a few times. The ladder itself is still sound. This creek bottom floods several times a year and this tree stand will be totally submerged.
I have another deer stand mounted on three poles that were cut from the same telephone pole. The kind with creosote. This was a pole that was past its lifetime with the phone company and replaced by a newer pole at least 35 years ago. It lay on the bare ground for 15 or so years and has been in the same creek bottom as a deer stand for close to 20 years. I have seen it underwater many times. I've replaced the decking and rails on it 3 times. The poles are buried in the sand. They are solid as a rock.
My point is that we know how to make durable wood products; we just choose not to.
paulsharvey
Super Member
There are multiple types of treated wood, and ground vs concrete contact. Good, ground contact wood should last well for about 25 years. No, its not the old CCA, but its still good. Use the right fasteners, have room for water to drain between the deck boards, and 2x6 deck boards will last a long time. I dont like 5/4 boards, they cost equal or more then 2x and they are just to flexible for decent spacing of joists.
paulsharvey
Super Member
So, sun is an enemy, as is sitting water. The UV radiation attacks the wood, and allows slow, but steady leaking of the treatment, by water.
Is it just the deck boards, or the joists and posts too? If its just the deck boards, just pull them, and replace them with 2x6, ground contact, and put a roof over it, for less than replacing everything?
Is it just the deck boards, or the joists and posts too? If its just the deck boards, just pull them, and replace them with 2x6, ground contact, and put a roof over it, for less than replacing everything?
OP
N80
Super Member
Stair treads and deck boards primarily (replaced twice already with 2x6s) but now, after 15 years, the posts and framing and stringers are starting to go. I'm okay with 15 years for that. They might even make it a few more years. But the treads and deck boards are shot now so might as well re-do the whole thing.
paulsharvey
Super Member
Stair stringers absorb a lot of water, and kinda funny angles of stress, so, they are often early to go, and the stair treads get more traffic, and more exposure than the deck ,so that doesn't suprise me.
OP
N80
Super Member
I was walking with my wife in the creek bottom on my place and came by the deer stand I was talking about in my post above. She says it has been there 25 years. Here is a picture of it. The seat is long gone but the ladder itself remains quite solid. My son killed his first two deer out of this stand when he was 10 or 11. They don't make 'em like they used to. 
