Various wood species.
Many outdoor woods are available
for the construction of decks.
Some species are cedar, redwood, teak, cypress, (iron woods)
purple heart, ipe or pau lope,
mahogany (red merrenti, or cambara) and of course southern
yellow pine (pressure treated).
To touch briefly on their strengths and weaknesses cedar, redwood and cypress may be too soft for deck applications and very pricey to purchase clear (no knots). The ironwoods are inherently clear, not extremely pricey, but very difficult to work with (Extremely heavy and difficult to cut, screw, nail, or machine).
For
most projects PT wood is quite acceptable in a clear variety(#1). PT wood has
a tendency for shrinkage, splitting and grain raising (all of
which can be greatly minimized with proper initial sealing). The most bang for your buck will come from PT
wood.
Mahogany is quite dense but able to be cut, routed, and machined easily. A first class outdoor material second only to the ironwoods.
For the ultimate in durability there is no equal to Ipe (the ironwood). As its
nickname implies the wood is tough as iron. Although very difficult to work with,
nothing lasts as long outdoors. A rich beautiful wood that ages gracefully to a
silver patina if left unfinished.
Composites.
Composite wood products are becoming
very popular. As there are more and more products coming to market it is difficult
to keep up with them. Most seem to be a wood fiber regained from recycled
pallets or other sources, bound with a plastic and extruded. We have tested
several. Composites are very pliable, cut and screw easily, and of course splinter
free. However, they are
weak and cannot be used with normal joist spacing, are
very soft and scratch very easily. Even the claws of a normal size dog would
leave permanent scratches in either product. We also noticed these products
seemed to absorb more heat, and in fact are hot to the touch in normal
sunlight.
Composites are rather expensive! They cost considerably more than pressure treated and close to Mahogany and Ipe. When factoring in the extra framing necessary for the short spans of the composites you may in fact be in the same price range as the exotics!! Although newer to the field of composites Evergrain seems like a nicer product, we like the grain pattern and overall quality better then others.
Shown below in cedar color & featuring solid white vinyl rails.
PVC: Vinyl now available for use in railings and trim boards solid vinyl. The solid white color is just an amazing contrast to the rich color of the exotics!!
It used to be the thought, you would pick one material for the entire project. Now it's commonplace to use different materials for the framing, flooring, rails, stairs, and cap rail.
One of our famous combinations is featuring the best material for the application : Pressure treated framing, Ipe decking, Vinyl rails, Ipe cap rail and stairs.
