The Best Deck Materials. Which One is Right For You?
What deck materials would be best for your deck’s design? Which deck material is best? Which one is the most durable? Which one is easiest to maintain? Which one is more expensive? Or the least. The worst thing is to make a mistake and spend a lot of money on something you are not happy with. This product will be yours for many years. Visit our website and learn more about deck builders.
These are just a few of the many questions that can be answered. There is no single answer for all questions concerning deck materials. You have unique needs and circumstances that are different from others. Let’s discuss the options, so you can make an educated decision. One that will make you happy for years.
Decks are constructed from a variety of materials, including wood, composite, metal, plastic, and aluminium. As we help you to decide which material is best for your deck as well as your wallet, let’s look at them all individually.
Wood
Wood is the most popular material used to build decks. 85 percent of single-family houses have some form of deck. They are mostly made of pressure treated pine and wood. There are several reasons why treated lumber is very popular. Yellow pine is very strong. If you want your friends to be impressed, you could describe yellow pine as dimensionally steady. The rest of you will simply say strong. It is affordable (relatively) and widely available. The stained lumber will look good. It can be weathered and refinished to look as good as new. Yellow pine can be cut, nailed, screwed, or used in general. However, it does not last as long than most other products. If you care for your treated lumber deck properly, it should provide 15 years of reliable service. Yes, you will need it to be cleaned, sanded and refinished about every other year. There will be cracks and warps over time, as well. It is always better to consider costs over time and not just the initial cost. Although estimates vary, treatment pine typically outperforms more expensive woods by 5 to 8 year. Although the cost of treatment pine is less important than the initial cost, it’s still worth considering the cost over the next 8 years. Let’s see some of the other wood types that are available.
Redwood
Redwood is an excellent deck material. It is important to know the differences between different grades of redwood. The main factor that determines the grade of redwood is which part of the tree it came from. The most expensive and best grade of wood is heartwood. It comes directly from the heart or center of the tree. The best choice for decks is to use the “Construction and Select heart”. Heartwood can last up to 30+ years in favorable conditions. It can even last 20+ years in very harsh environments. Any other grade should only be used if pressure treated first. To avoid splitting, it is important to drill these and other harder “softwoods” first before nailing at the ends. Redwood’s beautiful color is brownish-red. However, maintenance is not as important as for pressure treated pine. Redwood is almost three times more costly than pressure-treated pine. Labor costs should be similar.