Renovating a deck; suggestions of decking material

rajacat · « **Reply #20 on:** 26 May 2016, 07:33 pm »

Ipe is hard on the tools. Nevertheless, I built a 450 sq. ft. deck and while laying the decking, I only went through 2 or 3 chop saw blades which is a negligible expense in relation to the overall price of the materials. Drill bits dull too but the expense was tiny.

timind · « **Reply #21 on:** 26 May 2016, 08:11 pm »

I redid our deck a few years ago with Trex, or something similar from Lowes. It's sort of a light grey color and doesn't seem to be any hotter than the previous treated wood. No complaints.

rajacat · « **Reply #22 on:** 26 May 2016, 08:42 pm »

I've built other decks using Trex or something similar but I prefer real wood when applicable. There's something about plastic decks that I don't find appealing.

Folsom · « **Reply #23 on:** 26 May 2016, 08:51 pm »

They look wavy or something to me... They don't have the flat look to them.

Rusty Jefferson · « **Reply #24 on:** 27 May 2016, 01:06 am »

Not trying to flame anybody but, Ipe for decking is beyond unsustainable. Spend a little time researching the illegal harvest of Ipe on the Interweb. And there is no FSC Ipe available in the US. Everybody advertises it, but nobody actually stocks it. What Ipe is legally harvested and FSC certified goes to the EU because they don't allow chemically treated wood decking.

There are a variety of composite deck planks that wear and look better than the basic Trex planks. This particular one (http://www.greenbaydecking.com/geodeck/) has a terrific non skid surface as opposed to the fake wood grain smooth surface. Extremely long wearing too. Just one example of other options. PVC coated composites are also extremely long lasting.

Atlplasma · « **Reply #25 on:** 27 May 2016, 01:29 am »

Quote from: Rusty Jefferson on 27 May 2016, 01:06 am

Not trying to flame anybody but, Ipe for decking is beyond unsustainable. Spend a little time researching the illegal harvest of Ipe on the Interweb. And there is no FSC Ipe available in the US. Everybody advertises it, but nobody actually stocks it. What Ipe is legally harvested and FSC certified goes to the EU because they don't allow chemically treated wood decking.

There are a variety of composite deck planks that wear and look better than the basic Trex planks. This particular one (http://www.greenbaydecking.com/geodeck/) has a terrific non skid surface as opposed to the fake wood grain smooth surface. Extremely long wearing too. Just one example of other options. PVC coated composites are also extremely long lasting.

What about AdvantageLumber.com? Is there FSC certification a fraud?

Folsom · « **Reply #26 on:** 27 May 2016, 02:00 am »

That's not good. I wouldn't buy it not FSC.

Rusty Jefferson · « **Reply #27 on:** 27 May 2016, 02:10 am »

Quote from: Atlplasma on 27 May 2016, 01:29 am

What about AdvantageLumber.com? Is there FSC certification a fraud?

When I was looking for FSC Ipe several years ago for my deck, I called them. Like everyone else advertising FSC Ipe, they didn't actually have any in stock. Said they hadn't in a long time and had none coming in the foreseeable future. Did you get yours there?

I ended up going with a combination of PVC covered on my screen porch, and that Geodeck stuff for unprotected entryways. Both look as good as new.

Rusty Jefferson · « **Reply #28 on:** 27 May 2016, 02:16 am »

Quote from: Atlplasma on 19 May 2016, 03:39 pm

I have Ipe on two decks and like it very much. A more cost-effective alternative might be thermally modified lumber (http://theworkbench.com/thermally.modified.php).

I came very close to buying the thermally treated lumber similar to your link, however it was only available made with poplar at that time and was just too soft. it dented very easily.

Peter J · « **Reply #29 on:** 27 May 2016, 04:03 am »

I don't know a lot about it, but on a building forum I visit it's gotten some buzz.

http://nyloboard.com

ctviggen · « **Reply #30 on:** 27 May 2016, 10:42 am »

Can anyone relate their experience with shoveling snow off the deck? In particular, we were discussing decking options with a carpenter and he said that many of the options will dent or chip if you shovel snow off them. We like to use our deck in the winter, for access to the outside and to grill. Also, we have solar panels that throw basically all the snow from the roof onto the deck. The first winter after we got the solar panels, we did not shovel the deck and ended up with a mountain of snow (4+ feet of snow) on our deck. After that experience, we shovel the deck after every snow storm.

ctviggen · « **Reply #31 on:** 27 May 2016, 10:44 am »

Oh yeah, and also screwless, under mount systems. I really don't like to see the screws/nails, if that's possible.

JLM · « **Reply #32 on:** 27 May 2016, 12:13 pm »

We get lots of nails popping up from our pine deck and like you I like to shovel at least a shovel's worth of snow away from the house (about 115 ft).

Build quality of our 1,000 s.f. deck was horrible and while we prepped for a hot tub to go on it, the tub hasn't gone in (yet). Instead we installed a PV solar array last year over the deck (which with the utility incentive is working out great). Frustratingly being connected to the grid it can't provide backup during outages so looking into replacing my dead portable generator with a much larger propane fueled fixed unit (so a hot tub could successfully survive another 6 day outage like we had Christmas 2013).

After all that maybe we can somehow afford to replace the deck. Had the deck re-strained 4 years ago and it cost $1200. The new products seem much more promising than just a few years ago.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #33 on:** 27 May 2016, 01:04 pm »

The cost of restaining is what led me to put down the Trex.

I shovel a couple of paths every time it snows (for my cats, and to the hot tub!) so I can report that scraping away with a plastic shovel on my Trex for 2 years has damaged nothing.

Agree that the hidden fastener system is cool.

Nothing cheap about putting down and maintaining a deck, and I suspect that there is no silver bullet.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #34 on:** 27 May 2016, 02:51 pm »

Guys, your responses have been very helpful. THANKS!

I used to work in building materials sales some 15 years ago but there's so much new stuff I can't believe it.

Ipe sound greats, and doesn't seem to be the ecological train wreck that some have pointed out but cost and availability are huge issues. Black locust is an option but I'm not crazy about a drop-shipped order from hundreds of miles away. Who knows what might arrive, and what if the warden doesn't like it AFTER it gets here?

Just got a sample of Tigerwood that seems extremely uniform and stiff. But 6X the cost of typical 2x6 CCA treated.

In the short term I'm gonna power wash the substructure and start modifying the floor joists so they'll work with anything. If that means 16" O.C., so be it. First thing is to make sure the damned thing is square, and this close to the Ozarks who'll know what I'll find.

Mark Korda · « **Reply #35 on:** 27 May 2016, 03:09 pm »

Mcg, Rajacat's deck looked like he knew his stuff! You can see the nail he used for spacing. If you don't do that your deck boards will swell up like they do in a wooden boat and the water will just sit on the deck. A friend at the paint store called that the bird bath effect, and like Norm says on PBS...water always win. No stain less of old motor oil will work if you don't have drainage on the deck.
In Maine they used to use old motor oil on barns and thats why some have lasted so long. Totally wrong for the enviroment but Ipe wood comes from the endangered forests.
As a painter once I had a carpenter bud use 2 blades at once on a skill saw to open up an avenue between the decking boards for drainage. 2 years later the deck looked great even with a latex stain......Mark K.

JonnyFive · « **Reply #36 on:** 27 May 2016, 03:24 pm »

When I bought my house it had a huge deck that was in disrepair, was moldy, hadn't been stained in years, etc...

I didn't want to spend the money to redo the deck, so we powerwashed thoroughly, replaced the worst boards, and did 2 coats of Behr Deckover. I'm a huge fan of how it turned out given how it started. For a couple hundred bucks, it added years to the decks life and requires zero maintenance. You have be careful not to apply it in direct sun though, as it dries too fast.

This got me thinking. If one were to build a deck new, you could buy the boards ahead of time and Behr Deckover each board individually (rather than applying only to visible surfaces, as I was able to do). For the price of Behr Deckover and your time, it seems this would almost(?) convert standard deck boards to Trex.

What do experienced deck builders think of this idea?

Here's a recent pic, the Deckover is about 2 years old. I don't have a "before" pic as that phone died.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #37 on:** 27 May 2016, 03:56 pm »

J5, that's what I did when I resided my house; painted all the boards before I put them up.

I haven't ruled out doing what you did (clean/replair/stain), as I did that 15 years ago and it looked good for 4-5 years, but there's more to it; the builder was a moron. He has a double 2x12 beam spanning a gap in the deck boards and all kinds of crap builds up there. He also used double joints 4' O.C. instead of singles on 16" or 24" centers. Same issues.

Based on the existing deck board alignment I don't think the deck is square anyway.

Atlplasma · « **Reply #38 on:** 27 May 2016, 03:58 pm »

Quote from: ctviggen on 27 May 2016, 10:42 am

Can anyone relate their experience with shoveling snow off the deck? In particular, we were discussing decking options with a carpenter and he said that many of the options will dent or chip if you shovel snow off them. We like to use our deck in the winter, for access to the outside and to grill. Also, we have solar panels that throw basically all the snow from the roof onto the deck. The first winter after we got the solar panels, we did not shovel the deck and ended up with a mountain of snow (4+ feet of snow) on our deck. After that experience, we shovel the deck after every snow storm.

If you can find a good source (as has been discussed), Ipe will stand up to just about anything. When I have to sand off some construction-related mess, I had to use 40-grit paper to make any headway.

FWIW. I call Ipe Depot, and it has FSC Ipe in stock (5/5x6). Special orders require 120 days.

gregfisk · « **Reply #39 on:** 27 May 2016, 04:08 pm »

I've shoveled snow on Trex type decking and it was fine, no dents or scratches.

When my friend built his deck about 10 years ago he used IPE and it definitely was FSC certified as the stickers were on almost every board. I was not aware you could buy it otherwise but sounds like that's not the case? IPE is very durable and looks really nice but like I mentioned earlier it does lighten up a lot and to me doesn't look nearly as good as when you first install it.