Deck Material Recommendations

[NRA4LIFE]

Redid ours with Timber Tech in Western WA 7 years ago and have never looked back. Every other year power wash and all is good.

 

[GARLICSALT]

TREX is badass, slippery when wet!

 

[grfox92]

Just finished up this PT one today.

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[B Harrison]

Composite decking is going to be hot in the sun. Wood Decking will require maintenance.

Red Pressure treated like they sell at Home Depot, shouldn't require any routine maintenance. Pay someone to re seal it every 5 years and your good to go.

Composite to Wood decking itself isnt a huge difference in cost. Where composite gets really expensive is i.n the accessories. Post sleeves, Railing kits, Stair kits, facia boards, encapsulated boards for perimeter and stairs, concealed fastener systems, thats what makes composite twice the price. I just finished a big covered deck with composite, 2 weeks ago, and spent the last week building one with Red Pressure treat. Ill try and post some pictures tomorrow. I dont have much on my phone unfortunately.

Good composite deck has always been 3x the cost of standard deck.

Some of it is 10x the cost.

We have a 15x 780’ boardwalk that is completely HDPE
The material only, is $617,ooo delivered.
Labor is $380k roughly

But that stuff is 50 year guarantee (whatever that’s worth)


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[E.Shell]

100% PVC decking is supposed to stay cooler in summer vs the typical composite decking.

It is usually a bit more expensive and the c-to-c span of the joists of your existing deck is likely too wide (assuming 16"). I think the Azek stuff I've seen calls for 12"o.c.

There are expansion/contraction considerations with the 100% pvc stuff as well.

In any case, the lighter the color, the less it will absorb and hold heat.

Another structural issue with re-working the deck boards with PVC or composite is that you are not supposed to meet two boards on one joist - not enough bearing surface. Joists should be doubled under joints (with a nailer) so the each board rests on the full 1-1/2" wide 2x.

 

[mt terry d]

Last TREX deck I put down
was 153 degrees in the sun.

 

[RadialJett]

Ipe = Alpha deck

 

[TimberRunner]

I replaced our PT deck boards during covid with Trex. Our decks (total about 700 SF) get about 5 hours of sun in the summer. I haven't found it to be particularly hot and my lab lays on it all the time.

I will never have a wood deck again.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Another structural issue with re-working the deck boards with PVC or composite is that you are not supposed to meet two boards on one joist - not enough bearing surface. Joists should be doubled under joints (with a nailer) so the each board rests on the full 1-1/2" wide 2x.

This is what I did.

 

[EastHumboldt]

Trex and composites like it are great for shaded areas, areas where it’s very humid and cool. So NorCal and Ore and Wash coast, or in the rainforest. If you live anywhere with summer temps regularly in the mid to high 90’s trex and similar composites get so hot you can’t touch them. Arizona. And Vegas and SoCal. The shrinkage and expansion is pretty drastic. If you install a 20 ft length with a 1/8” end gap in full sun on a warm day in the afternoon, the next morning that gap will be 3/8” or more.

No experience with PVC.

 

[yfarm]

Dock builders in my community push composite decking without changing the underlying structure. Virtually every composite dock has warped boards within 3 years. I had a dock built in 1986 with wood decking, in 2006 had it rebuilt. When the original dry cracked, split boards were removed, the undersurface looked new, could have flipped the boards and refasten. This was 5 miles north of the Rio Grande where its at least 90 and sunny every day from May 1 to November 1. I also previously owned a house in the midwest with a small treated pine deck off the mbr in a high humidity, shaded environment, remodeled the house and added a large cedar deck when the pine deck was already old as in 15 yrs. Sold the house in 2024, the treated pine deck was about 40 yrs old had been pressure washed and sealed three times during my ownership of 35 years. The cedar deck had been pressure washed and sealed every 3-4 years since built, that deck had been redecked once in that period and was ready for complete reconstruction on sale. Treated pine decks and docks for me in the future.

 

[Gadjet]

Dock builders in my community push composite decking without changing the underlying structure. Virtually every composite dock has warped boards within 3 years. I had a dock built in 1986 with wood decking, in 2006 had it rebuilt. When the original dry cracked, split boards were removed, the undersurface looked new, could have flipped the boards and refasten. This was 5 miles north of the Rio Grande where its at least 90 and sunny every day from May 1 to November 1. I also previously owned a house in the midwest with a small treated pine deck off the mbr in a high humidity, shaded environment, remodeled the house and added a large cedar deck when the pine deck was already old as in 15 yrs. Sold the house in 2024, the treated pine deck was about 40 yrs old had been pressure washed and sealed three times during my ownership of 35 years. The cedar deck had been pressure washed and sealed every 3-4 years since built, that deck had been redecked once in that period and was ready for complete reconstruction on sale. Treated pine decks and docks for me in the future.

This is good to hear. I have 3 small docks at my cabin in Colorado that need new wood. Lots of people tell me to go with cedar, but I’m thinking about going with the “ground contact “ treated pine from Lowe’s. Much cheaper.

 

[JustABritCrazy]

As a forester I’m extremely biased towards using wood over plastic 99% of the time. That said when I replaced my deck in 2018 I went with a light gray plastic composite. Haven’t touched it since. Can walk on it with bare feet and no splinters. As I’m not even close to being a competent carpenter it was easy to work with.

 

[MDX8277]

We have a local guy that makes steel decks with concrete pavers for the floor. They look awesome and similar in price to wood.

 

[Pharmseller]

I’m about halfway done replacing my wood deck with Timber Tech. I’m in Western Oregon.