Deck Materials for Every Lifestyle

by Mary Butler

Beautiful and Tough Deck Materials
Building a deck might seem like a straightforward task�until you walk into your local home improvement center to buy the deck materials. While 80 percent of decks are built with pressure-treated Southern yellow pine, more varieties of materials emerge every year to compete with pine as a top choice. There are traditional wood decking options, of course: cedar, redwood, and more recently, tropical hardwoods. But today's marketplace also offers a growing number of manmade options that are attractive, lightweight, sturdy, and nearly maintenance-free. Their pros and cons offer you quite a bit to consider before you settle on what deck material will best suit your lifestyle and budget.

Wood Decks: A Classic Choice
Wood is beautiful, natural, and inexpensive. What's not to love? Splinters, for one. Most wood decks require regular staining and maintenance to prevent them from splintering, rotting, and warping. Dry climates like the Southwest, are especially hard on wood decks. Durable and decay resistant tropical hardwood species such as ipe and red balau have grown in popularity in recent years because they don't require the same upkeep. But they come with their own special challenges. Exotic hardwoods tend to be heavy and so dense that a hole must be drilled for every nail hole, and the darker woods absorb heat to the point they can get too hot to walk on with bare feet.

Manmade Decking Offers Ease and Longevity
A wooden deck will run you about $15 per installed square foot for pine and the price only goes up from there; with redwood and cedar costing the most at $30 per square foot. Mid-price options are manmade decking materials, which are low- to no-maintenance and splinter-free: composite decking made of a mix of wood and plastic, and vinyl and plastic decking, including PVC and polystyrene options. About 15 percent of decks built in 2007 were made with composite decking material. Although it can cost nearly twice as much as wood, the durability and easy maintenance of composite decking is said to make up for the price difference. Vinyl and plastic decking offerings, which are newer on the scene, offer the same perks and can cost less and more closely resemble wood than composite alternatives. But looks can be deceiving. Some versions squeak and, while stiff underfoot, plastic certainly doesn't have the heft of wood.

Source:
ThisOldHouse.com