Home Deck--Wood or Composite decking

[JWE]

EON is another option. It is a plastic deck that looks like wood and requires no maintenance. I bought my materials at Home Depot and so far I am very satisfied.

The attached picture was taken in December. The deck and porch are now finished. Including the stair area the overall size is 40 foot by 18 foot.

John

 

[slowzuki]

We have had 2 decks, the first was a untreated SYP that was stained with a semi-solid at new then at 10 years, then 15 years. At 20 years we pulled it up as 1/4 of the boards were starting to develop rot.

The replacment deck is CCA pressure treated but the new lumber is much poorer quality than the original deck, I doubt it will last as long as the untreated.

The orginal deck didn't have splits and shakes all through it ( and didn't cost a $ a linear foot either!)

I can't say I like plastic although it seems to be an ideal use of recycled stuff.

 

[plaindave]

I build a deck out of Fiberon composite about 4 years ago. Unfortunately I got part of a bad production run and a third of the decking absorbed water, swelled up and checked something awful. That's the bad news. On the plus side Fiberon reimbursed me for the full cost of materials (they would have replaced the decking but there are no local distributors of their product).

That said I'm putting a new deck up by my pool and it will be decked in 5/4 Timbertech. I love the composites. No maintenance and even though I had a bad experience I still believe in them. No question in my mind that they are worth the extra cost.

Only negative I can see is that you have to make sure you get the right side up when laying the decking. I didn't do that and some of my material is very slippery when wet.

 

[Fireman_dcb]

Not sure if this makes a difference, but the folks that put my deck on used a two threaded screw - the first part is to screw the deck to the frame, the second part pulls the "ant hills" back down - no need to hammer. FYI... these were EXPENSIVE!

 

[yooperdave]

The new stuff is very corrosive, the minimum fasteners recommended is Hot Dipped Galvanized [HDG]. Stainless is the better way to go although a little more costly. Not only the fasteners but the hardware like joist hangers etc. also have to be of like treatment.



This is very true and still ignored by many contractors.

Use stainless screws & Zmax connectors.

Good Luck

Yooper Dave

 

[johnday]

NOT this contractor, all you have to do is be able to read and seek out the info. One other thing, if you use the Zmax G185 treated parts you must use HDG fasteners. If you use stainless hardware, you must use stainless fasteners. USP and Simpson Strongtie recommend using like metals. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[shade2u2]

Any updated opinions of composite materials? I'm looking at building a deck (16X24 - 6-11' off the ground) this year. All the marketing sure says that Composite is the way to go, but not much of a track record to proove it. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gifWhat do you all say? I'm concerned about sagging, stains from a late night spilled glass of wine, curling, etc. But the new treated stuff may not hold up huh. Cedar deck in Ohio? What about Cedar vs composite?
I'm also wanting to go with vinyl railing & spindles like the front porch on my house.

 

[dknarnd]

My deck is ground level and I used the Timbertech 6" boards and it has been flawless for three years now. At the house the bottom of the deck is about 18" from an old cement patio that I covered and on the lawn end I step down onto the lawn, about 7" step. I left a good sized gap between the boards and am glad I did because they really expand in the heat. Around the lawn edge of the deck I placed a landscape boarder to allow about 1" space between the lawn and the deck for airflow. Going with the synthetic was the best move I have done, no splinters on the kids feet and no maintenance. So far I haven't any stains on it but I understand that it will stain fairly easily. Also I suggest using the synthetic specific fasteners because a regular deck screw will leave a plug sticking up but the correct screws pull that plug back into the board leaving a nice clean screw head visible.

As suggested place joists at 12" centers if laying the deck straight across the joists and if laying your deck at a 45 degree angle I would go down to 8" centers. I planned on a deck at 45 degree angle but did not like the flex of the deck board across the 12" centers so I changed my design to a 90 degree deck board.

 

[DMF]

I just built my own home two years ago. We have southern exposure in the front where I have a 10 x 36 deck, an 8 x 24 covered porch, and an 8 x 20 covered porch. In the back of the house we have a 10 x 40 deck and a 6 x 8 balcony. I used T&G mahogany for the covered porches (I hope to screen them in someday and I wanted a "solid" floor with no gaps for bugs to enter that way). The rest of the decks and the balcony I used IPE which, as someone mentioned, is some South American wood. It is VERY dense and smooth. The deck boards required pre-drilling/countersinking and I fastened them with stainless steel square-drive screws. I seal all the floors with Penefin (sp?) which is an oil for use with exotic hardwoods. I like the IPE a lot and it looks like a million bucks when the Penefin is applied but apply it I must; every spring as the southern exposure beats up the decking something awful. The Mahogany on the porches are worse; they tend to dry up faster and they leave tiny little slivers (which don't hurt, they are soft) but my wife frets over them when the baby gets them in her little feet. I am hoping that once I screen the porches the Mahogany wont take as much of a beating from the sun or I may finish them with a marine-grade poly. The IPE in the back of the house can go more than one year without an application of Penefin but I do it anyway. I used Cedar for the railings and spindles and these hold up the worst. I am thinking of staining them to match the house (maybe some pigment will help?) instead of clear sealing them.
In retrospect, my wife would have liked to have used composite, mainly for the safety of the baby, for me I'd like to do away with a couple of days of sealing and crawling around on my knees, that's for sure...

 

[Maxfli]

I know everyone has their own opinion, but I had the old wood deck at the old house and we looked into a composite deck on the new house. But in the end we put in stamped concrete patio with a fire pit area. Seems to be indestructable, and looks good to boot. Considerably less money too! Fiberglass in the mix for extra stength. We did something similar (not stamped, but fiberglass in the mix) around the pool at the old house and after 15 years, it had held up near perfect. Goals for a maintenance free home???

 

[oliver28472]

We did a concrete deck at our house that comes off the main floor above the basement level, so it serves as a two car carport underneath. Engineered steel structure.

 

[Jagmandave]

I'm with Maxfli, I do everything now to be as strong and maint free as possible. There's no denying how pretty a tru wood deck looks when it's clean and freshly stained, but the amount of work needed to keep it that way is more than I care to invest.
My house in San Diego had a redwood deck that I built, 20' X 10' , plus a 10' square one around the hot tub (which also was redwood). Every year I sanded it lightly with my belt sander to bring up the grain and then put a good coat of oil based sealer with lot's of anti-uv in it, it looked just beautiful, but I had to do it every year.
My new house will have stamped, color impregnated concrete porches, patios and decks.
I've noticed you can't buy redwood here in the midwest like you could in Ca, but it makes a great deck material too, bugs don't like it much, easy to work, and stains up beautifully. If it's available in your area and you want a natural wood deck, redwood is a good choice.

 

[AndyM]

I'm getting ready to start a 12 x 24 deck, about three feet off the ground. I went through the pros and cons of each material, and I finally decided on treated wood instead of the composite materials. I'm going with vinyl railing though.

What I have yet to decide is whether to go with 5/4 x 6 decking or 2 x 6 decking (which I did at the last house).

 

[texbaylea]

RonR

The latest issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine, July 2005, has an article on the synthetic decking choices. Plus there is an article on deck framing done right. I have been through building and maintaining raised decks and it is not fun. I would certainly use the synthetic decking if I were building a new one but the present house is on grade and it is not necessary.

Vernon

 

[_RaT_]

I will admit I have not read all the posts so I may be repeating here. I agree with you about using a product like concrete etc when that is an option. In this months Fine Home Building, there is a good amount of information on decking and decking materials. It seems your going to be at $2+ a linear foot on almost any decking surface. Out here, some folks still use redwood, but I gave it up long ago. In 1995 I built a dock that receives sun from sun up to sun down and still looks almost exactly the same. No splinters, cupping, warping and no maintanence. It convinced me that the next deck I build for myself will not have a wood product on the surface.

 

[shade2u2]

Hey Andy,
How have you been? I haven't been visiting here much lately. Maybe I come up & help with your deck & you can come done to SE Ohio to help w/mine. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I'm going with vinyl railing also that matches our front porch. I'm leaning toward composite decking right now, but the treated savings up front is hard to ignore. I've heard a litte bit about the new treated material not holding up as well as the CCA. I'm going to check a couple other lumber yards today since I'm off work today.
How about the ledger board, beam, joist, etc design? Any advice out there?

 

[texbaylea]

Shade

Check out the words in the July issue of Fine Homebuilding.

Vernon

 

[AndyM]

<font color="blue"> Hey Andy,
How have you been? I haven't been visiting here much lately. </font>

John, I'm still here, just not nearly as much as I used to be. Been overwelmed with life lately, but surviving. I had my job eliminated three weeks ago, but was quickly moved into an open position of someone who was leaving the company. He had two days to pass off four years of information, and no one else knew his job. I keep close watch of my dad and his health problems in my "spare" time.

Everyone else, sorry about that thread drift. Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

The deck materials get delivered tomorrow. I haven't ordered the railing yet, because the lumberyard was getting ready to close but I only knew how many posts and sections of railing I needed, but I didn't have a materials list ready for all of the "accessories", like the vinyl caps and trim pieces.

<font color="blue"> I'm leaning toward composite decking right now, but the treated savings up front is hard to ignore. I've heard a litte bit about the new treated material not holding up as well as the CCA. </font>

It's true that the ACQ lumber is still unproven, but so is the composite decking. I don't know if we will still be in the house in 20 years anyhow to see how well they last, and if we are, my wife will probably want something different by then!

I'll be working on the deck through the weekend, stop on in if you wish to!

 

[dooleysm]

I put composite decking down last fall and it's held up well so far for me. I used traditional deck screws for the part I put up last fall and noticed the burs as the screws dug down into the deck. I added a big section to the back of the house the past couple weeks and used the new (at least new to my hardware store) PrimeGuard composite deck screws. They worked much, much better, but were quite a bit more expenseive. I paid $24/5 pounds and ended up using right at 20 pounds for around 375 sq ft of deck.

I just ordered and put up vinyl railing last week. It looks sharp, but is pricey. The kind I have went up easy, except (and that's a big EXCEPT) for the parts of my deck that are angled at something other than 90 degrees. The mounting brackets for the rails were only designed to go straight out from the posts. I talked to my supplier and she told me that you have to use a knife and notch out the brackets to get other angles. For what they charge for that stuff, you'd think they could come up with some different angled brackets that don't look like @##%@ when you notch them out.

Anyway, after pressure washing and staining my parent's deck every other year while I was living at home, I'm looking forward to no yearly maintenance on MY deck.