Time to replace front deck and stairs.

[N80]

The front stairs and small deck on my cabin need to be replaced. They are 15 years old. They are made of treated lumber and have not aged well. I've had to replace the treads of the stairs twice in that amount of time. It has had opaque oil based stain on it from the beginning. The treads bow and twist and snap the screws off.

My current plan is to use 6x6 cedar posts that I will cut and mill. I will put them on raised concrete footings. I will likely make the framing and stringers of the best treated lumber I can find. Those parts of the original deck have done fairly well over the 15 years.

My big question is decking material. These steps and deck get full sun from just after sunrise until just before sunset in the summer and this is in South Carolina. That's what does the damage. I really don't want to use treated lumber as I'd like to not be replacing everything every five years.

So I'm considering something like Trex or Azec (maybe spelled wrong, I'm not familiar with it). I have minimal experience with synthetic decking. The best I can tell is that the two big downsides are cost and that in the summer it gets super hot. The expense will be a bitter pill but maybe worth it in the long run. The heat retention might be a different story. I'm not concerned about scratching and staining.

Would appreciate any advice or recommendations.

 

[JJT]

My cedar decks and steps lasted 25 years with an occasional oiling. 10 years ago I replaced the cedar with larch and have been doing an annual oil treatment. I'm betting I get at least 25 years out of the larch. We looked at composite, but I couldn't talk myself into plastic decking at 3 times the cost of real wood. I'm not a fan of pressure treated decking.

The cedar flooring on my covered porch is 30+ years old and still looking great.