Decking materials

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Permalink Reply by Douglas Fry on January 5, 2009 at 10:06am

Julie and Dave, we too wanted to minimize the maintenance on about 1500 sq ft of deck, but changed from composite to real wood,..., very glad we did. However, it is the Brazilian hardwood--Tigerwood--that we used versus any North American wood. Beautiful, durable, excessively strong and very low maintenance (we'll be putting a parafin-based oil on the deck 1 time a year with an applicator and takes about 1-2 hours for the 1600 sq ft).

Why did we switch? Research showed problems with the composites--staining, color fading, lack of spanning strength (joists must be 12" for any diagnol run boards), predrilling all holes or using some sort of clip, and we didn't like the final look on such a large area as we're doing). If interested, I'll send you to our photos of the deck.

PRICE was another huge reason, and, if you don't want to treat the wood at all, you don't have to.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin on January 5, 2009 at 10:37am

Dave and Julie,

I too have had an interest in the composite deck materials. I have not had any experience with it, but did have an observation to share. I can say from a recent home visit, there must be a premium and low grade version. I am not sure of the brand of deck material I saw at this home, but was certainly not impressed at all. The composite deck materials are made up of wood particals and some kind of resin. This deck I saw looked like fading brown particle board that had been exposed to water. That is an exact description. Every screw hole was raised from the surface. I was not impressed. Maybe it was a cheap knock-off, but I would proceed with caution. I did see unused material waiting to be used and it looked really good. May be the difference between new unexposed material and that which was exposed. Perhaps the well recognized brands do not react to weather exposure in this way. This deck was less than 5 years old. Perhaps a preservative could be applied to prevent this kind of weathering....! Isn't that supposed to be a primary advantage of a composite? :o)

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Permalink Reply by Joe on January 5, 2009 at 10:55am

Here is some research from another log home website where Lynnette does a lot of research on log home details.

http://log-homes.thefuntimesguide.com/2007/12/say_no_to_composite_decking.php#more

Joe

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