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???