On Deck

I Hate Composite More than My Ex-wife!

If you've spent any time on my website, then you've probably gathered that I pretty much hate composite (strongly dislike!) as a building material. In spite of all my appeals though, every so often someone will approach me and be determined to have a deck built using composite. They will strongly insist and I eventually give in. I'm working on one such project now.

They are nice enough people, but they wanted us to use composite for the inside of their screened porch. The idea would really have been an unattractive clash between the natural exterior and the artificial material....not good. I encouraged them to use natural lumber inside and they agreed. 

We did, however, move forward with composite for the outside deck surface (again at customer's wishes). But it frankly has been a headache from the beginning. First, this particular brand (one of the most well known) doesn't sell fasteners along with the material.  So we had to search for a couple of days to find screws that came close to matching. Second, there were no instructions with the material on how to install it  (no, it's never as easy as just laying and fastening...there are always lots of necessary details). We found information on the internet...but of course they weren't clear.

Once we got started, we quickly discovered that deck screws on this material mushroom up when fastening. So we determined that we had to pre-drill and countersink each hole first...lots of fun. And none of this even covers the high prices that come along with composite material! I think I average about one composite deck a year now. If I had my preference (both for the homeowners sake and mine), I would never build another one!

Exotic Hardwoods

I’ve written some posts on composite decking but haven’t yet touched on the “elegant” stuff, namely the exotic hardwoods.  Needless to say, you can find some very beautiful wood in the exotic group.  But as with most things, there are down sides.

I’m going to here on Ipe (pronounced EE-pay), the most popular of the exotics.  Ipe has been around for a long time (it’s wood after all, ha) but has really become popular in the decking/remodeling world for the last five years or so due to heavy marketing.  I was first introduced to this beautiful wood at a home show at the World Congress Center back in 1989 as it really caught my attention way back then.  (I typically tell people it’s like Thomasville Furniture.)  The contractor who introduced me to the wood was using it as an alternative to cedar and pressure treated pine.

We’ve had the opportunity to build several decks using Ipe around Atlanta.  My evaluation is that it’s probably the most beautiful material you can build with.  The biggest problem though with the wood is its density / inflexibility.  The density prevents it from absorbing stain necessary to shield it from inclement weather.  This translates into checking and cupping of the material.  (“Checking” refers to small surface cracks that are developed due to weather change.)  And this all leads to more frequent maintenance having to be performed.  I recommend (at least) two maintenance sessions a year if the wood is in the sun.

The inflexibility comes into play when it comes time for deck railing.  Because of its density, Ipe is very hard to work with (cut).  This is why most Ipe flooring contractors use a different material for the railing.  The problem is that even when trying to stain other material to match the Ipe below, it never really looks the same…and falls short.  Bottom line…if money is no object, go with the Ipe.  I think there’s better value though using other material.

Atlanta Decks

As I’ve posted before, I happen to think that Atlanta provides the best setting for decks in the world…the climate, foliage and culture all provide us with a wonderfully natural backdrop for beautiful decks.  And I think this is one of the reasons the composite material has had such a hard time here.

Many homeowners aren’t aware that most of the decks produced in Atlanta are built with wood as opposed to composite.  But this isn’t the case around the rest of the country where composite is pretty popular.  Atlanta is really a “hold-out” city in terms of composite use…and I believe that, in the long-run, we will reverse the national trend back to wood.

Composites have been around now for about fifteen years.  Back when the material was first getting some serious press, I remember being shown a bench that had been made of composite before the popular Trex brand came around.  The benches looked pretty good but when I went to sit on one, I was  surprised by how spongy it felt. My friend’s take was that the sponginess was good as it “had some give to it”. 

As I look back on that along with many composite experiences since, I’ve developed a pretty “rigid” perspective on it.  My take on it today (in addition to others I’ve asked) is that I prefer structures like these to be solid and sound.  When I sit on a bench, I expect it be solid without much “give”.  Further, when I walk on a deck, I expect it to be strong and supportive.  And while composites have come a ways in terms of aesthetics, it’s still miles away from the true natural look that wood provides.  The bottom line is that composites really have a “natural” disadvantage as a building material.  My prediction for Atlanta decks and decks around the country is that we’ll continue to see advances on wood treatment (such as our TailorWood) that will cushion the long-term lead of wood over composite.  What are your thoughts on this?

Composite Decks versus Wood Decks

As a consumer, is it better to go with a composite material or wood when building a deck?  It’s a good question, and one that I must field almost every day. 

My experience with composites has been interesting.  About 10 - 15 years ago, composites were introduced into the decking industry and heralded as its next savior.  The promises included lasting virtually forever and being maintenance free.  I must admit that we got caught up in the hoopla a little… although because I’m so crazy about wood, we only built a few composite-based decks.  And looking back, I’m so glad that we didn’t get caught up in it more.

Unfortunately, as other deck contractors experienced, the composite decks that we built came with problems.  The material didn’t hold up to the weather and elements very well…but most importantly, it just didn’t look very good.  Unlike wood decks, which almost seem to mature like fine wine as time passes, composite decks started out looking “ok”, then got worse (I’m sure Mother Nature got a good laugh out of that).

We were lucky in that we never got caught up in any litigation as we continue to support any work we do, but other contractors and manufacturers weren’t so lucky.  A quick Google search of “litigation” and “composite deck” or “warranty” and whatever composite you’re considering should yield an eyeful about the pitfalls of going with a composite deck.  The promises over the years by the composite manufacturers (they’re now promising that they’ve fixed the problems that they claimed to have fixed several times earlier) are now sounding a little hollow to me.

If you’re completely sold on composites, then we’ll build one for you.  But don’t be surprised if problems start to crop up.  Because if they do, then the manufacturer will not pay for the labor to fix the problem…only the material.  Conversely, on the wood decking side, we’ve only had to replaced a few deck boards in about 15 years.  That’s not bad and is testament in my opinion about the value of good ole wood.

Choosing the Right Wood

On just about every appointment I go on, we run into the discussion of the right wood to use.  Pine, cedar, ipe, synthetic...fortunately, there are a lot of options out there today.

After having been in the industry for years now, I've worked with them all.  They all seem to have their own strengths and weaknesses.  Like a crazed scientist, I've been working on building the "perfect" wood for decks.  It includes not only the material but the cut as well.  This experimenting has led me to something I think will really take off...as an aesthetically pleasing and affordable material for homeowners and an easy material to work with for builders.

I'm calling it "Tailorwood".  The material is #1DSS air dried pressure treated yellow pine or cedar, and, working with Norcross Building Supply, we've designed a cut that will make both applying it and drainage ideal.  We recently built our first deck built solely with this Tailorwood and the results (particularly the response from the homeowner) has been great. 

But I didn't mean for this post to be a commercial for this particular material.  We also like (and will continue to promote) ipe, cedar, and pine.  Ipe is a beautiful Brazilian hardwood that is incredibly strong and will transform over time from its original reddish-brown to an exquisite silver patina.  Cedar is another popular wood, but like ipe, is generally more expensive.  For less prominent areas where budget is a real concern, pine is just fine.  It's still very durable.  If you have a few projects as a homeowners, while it's nice to use the same material throughout, there's nothing that says you can't mix and match materials.  I've worked with homeowners who have a very nice setup using a few different materials for different things.