PRESSURE TREATED PINE
We all have had the pains of trying to maintain treated pine decks. No matter what you do, softwood expands with moisture, then splits as it dries out, fills with water, freezes and splits some more. Look under any split, warped, splintering deck and you’ll see the underside still looks like new since it has not been exposed to the elements. The arsenic based chemicals used for treating were banned in January 2005 out of environmental concerns, but, the new chemicals are four times more corrosive and will decrease the longevity of any metal structure. Still, treated pine will remain in the market because of its inexpensive price.
Top
ALUMINUM
Aluminum decking has to be painted or you could fry an egg on it. We would not be waxing floors if we could paint them instead. Painted decking has always been a maintenance problem; we’ve seen it blister and peel. The solution was to sand the deck and spray paint- is this supposed to last a lifetime? Now powder coating aluminum offers great advantages over painted aluminum, but it is still subject to scratching, gouging and wear in high traffic areas, particularly if in a sandy environment.
Since an aluminum deck would be very slippery as a flat surface, ridges must be extruded in the surface which renders it somewhat uncomfortable if one sits or lies on the deck. The ridges also offer an interesting visual complement to skin tone when someone gets up off the deck (like the nail bed guy or the NY Yankees look). Additionally, the aluminum paint finish must be distressed to enhance traction which increases its ability to trap dirt. Finally, any painted product is difficult to clean.
Aluminum decking is also typically installed without any ventilation gaps, which leads to water pools in low spots. Since many aluminum deck products on the market today interlock to reduce squeaking and provide a watertight surface, most of the decking will need to be removed in order to get under the deck should you need replace an aluminum deck plank, repair structures beneath, or if you want to install wiring, plumbing or fixtures after deck installation.
Aluminum decking weighs about half as much as Ipe. An aluminum decked dock is going to float much higher in the water and be much more responsive to small wave or wind action. Just walking out onto an aluminum decked dock with several of your friends may be enough to noticeably vibrate, tip or tilt the structure, and you will certainly recognize the noise of your footfalls. We assert that a certain mass is needed to force the floats under water to achieve better stability. Ipe provides that mass.
Top
VINYL
We’ve used vinyl decking but found that it got hot in the sun, brittle in the cold, attracted dirt with the non-slip pattern and, most importantly, built up enough static electric charge to give you a good zap when you touched metal!
Top
COMPOSITE
We’ve all seen the great advertising being done for composite decking of which, at last count, there were 76 companies in the industry trade organization. The largest and oldest company in the industry recently settled a class action lawsuit because “products rot, splinter and degrade due to inherent defects in the manufacturing process.” A few years ago, one corporate parent announced the shut down or sell off its composite division due to excess product warranty claims. Our experience with composite materials seems reinforced by what we read in the press.
Composites require a sealant, which is often applied too late, and later the product develops a nasty-looking mold which leaves a permanent stain! A well-known brand actually gives you a crayon to use when you scratch off the surface color. Stains are not limited to mold or scratches; many of the composites are particularly susceptible to staining by food oils and barbeque sauce.
Typically the composite products are made of recycled soda bottles, milk jugs and grocery bags mixed with untreated saw dust (which becomes the source of rot and/or mold if not fully encapsulated by plastic). There is a risk of localized mold developing in areas of high traffic or if the surface is scratched or damaged. Polyethylene-based products are generally soft even when cool and may develop a wear pattern over time. Plastics become quite hot and even softer in the sun which accelerates the propensity for wear. The expansion and contraction of composite material can also generate problems around fasteners; we frequently see “mushrooming” around screw heads in composite material. Composites can not span the same joist distances as Ipe or Aluminum and require additional understructure, which leads to increased cost.
Man-made decking products may someday live up to their claims of “lifetime” potential, but it seems the lifetime of these materials is that of the company that produces them, rather than the product itself.
Top
|
