Deck material opinions wanted

[tkappeler]

Ok. I know the title asking for opinions may be more than I bargained for but ...

We are adding a deck onto the home we built last year. We have been back and forth on composites vs wood. The deck is south facing, no shade. Cost is criteria but we do not want to be penny wise, pound foolish. We are using 2x10, 12" OC, 10' span from house ledger to double 2x10 beam. Using current best practices throughout. Ledger is anchored with Fastenmaster Ledgerloks per code. Grace vycor covering rim/sheathing before ledger, second layer on sheathing above ledger, wrapping over top of ledger.

We have considered composites and placed several samples out on the PT temp steps of the deck structure. There is a noticeable temperature difference between the composites and natural materials. Leaning more to natural not only for aesthetics but heat. Concerned that if we go with composites, that the heat gain into the house off the deck at the two french doors will be dramatic. We are not fans of the composite railings and it seems silly to do composite deck and natural railings. We are also having trouble envisioning that kind of hybrid mix of materials.

Sio, if we are leaning towards natural, we are looking at mahogany. We know it will need to be refinished every year, maybe two if lucky. My wife is a teacher and has the time off to take that on. We are specifically looking at Blue Star prefinished mahogany. Prefinished at the factory with Sikkens Cetol on all sides. We are thinking that this has to give us a jump start on the protection. One concern is the malaysian vs honduran species. I have always equated malaysian or Philippine mahogany with luann.

I accept all :2cents:

 

[kcflhrc]

We moved to our house last year and it has a pretty large deck out our master bedroom. The flooring is composite, the side rails are composite also and sagging. The flooring looks pretty good but I don't believe the composite stuff was made for the side rails, it also has aluminum tubing for the vertical bars. If I had my say I would tear it all out and re do it with CCA/treated lumber, that's what we use around here. I'm also adding another deck off our kitchen and I will do it with CCA lumber.

 

[paulharvey]

We moved to our house last year and it has a pretty large deck out our master bedroom. The flooring is composite, the side rails are composite also and sagging. The flooring looks pretty good but I don't believe the composite stuff was made for the side rails, it also has aluminum tubing for the vertical bars. If I had my say I would tear it all out and re do it with CCA/treated lumber, that's what we use around here. I'm also adding another deck off our kitchen and I will do it with CCA lumber.

Real CCA can only be had for agricultural uses now I think. I assume that it is that way nation wide. Even for Ag use, I think you pretty much have to buy from an actual farm supply type store. Home Depot/Lowes/84Lumber don't sell it at all anymore around here.

I'm not trying to be the safety guy or the wacko-enviromental; just trying to say I don't think you can find it anymore other than in fence posts.

There are a lot of newer pressure treated woods now, so many you kinda have to do some research to find what actually will work for your application. The cheaper common pressure treated stuff doesn't hold up nearly as well as the old .4# CCA.

 

[roadhunter]

Probably won't work for you with wood framing but using the 24" square concrete pavers has gotten popular in the marine construction business for things like decking boat docks. They have some advantages over the other options.

 

[oosik]

I have two house decks - facing NE & SW - both are small but adequate. Interestingly, ten years ago I bought a new all aluminum dock with composite decking. The two house decks are made of fir and have lasted since we built the house 32 years ago. I have put some deck stain on the two about 15 years ago, otherwise, nothing. The composite deck on our dock is DEFINITELY a hotter material than the wood decks at the house. The dock decking looks exactly the same as the day it was delivered ten years ago. I do nothing to it except clean the bird poo off about this time of year. The composite decking material has truly withstood severe environmental conditions. Hot, blazing sun all summer, rain & cold in the spring and fall and ice & snow all winter long - we leave the dock in the lake year-round.

I do believe the longevity of the wood used for the house decks has a lot to do with our very low humidity - year round.

 

[JRobyn]

I've recently done one large rear deck that's fully weather exposed, re-done a large rear deck that's well-shaded, and about 800sqft of covered wrap-around porch. Used regular pressure-treated pine for all the decking and one set of railings; pre-fab steel railings for the rest. About the lowest cost, and all look great for our application. Will use a PT top rail "cover" on the porch railings when I get them all finished. Considered composite, but figured I could tear out and redo the PT decking 3 times for what the difference in cost would be. And we like the look/feel of regular pine boards better. We're using "Penofin" sealer with good results so far.

I found that the kiln-dried is quite nice compared to just regular #2 grade PT and may be worth the extra cost in some applications (like the top rail covers). The surface finish is smoother and it is definitely more dimensionally stable. Not soggy like most plain #2. The preservative also seems to be more thoroughly integrated.

- Jay

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have a 12'x44' patio facing north setting 7 feet above a concrete lower deck. I did shop some of the composite and alumu-plank but rejected it because of the cost. I can redeck completely 3 times for what the aluminum plank stuff cost. Mine is covered so minimal sun and water damage but I fully expect it to last more than 20 years. I hope I last long enough to have to re-deck it.

 

[bucktaker]

If cost is primary factor then its PT Pine.... but have you looked at the ironwoods... a natural hardwood that resistant to weather and bugs....

 

[tkappeler]

If cost is primary factor then its PT Pine.... but have you looked at the ironwoods... a natural hardwood that resistant to weather and bugs....

Ipe was too pricy. For the most part, we do like the variations in color that you see in some woods but did not like the look of Cumaru. Looked into Massaranduba also. That looked good but close to the mahogany in looks for significantly more $$

 

[mbohuntr]

Dunno about choices, but avoid dark colors. Our deck gets full sun and is coated a russet brown. It easily runs 20 degrees hotter than the outside temps. NO bare feet on a 90 degree day! OUCH!