What to do about the Deck?

Let's face it. Decks suck. I've spent more time researching decks than anything else, I think. As our builder said, there's no deck that solves all the problems. The deck is an important part of this house. With access from every room, living in this house will naturally spill out onto it. It's large, so replacing it at some time would be a significant cost. I thought I knew what I wanted. I went into this thinking, gee can I afford Trex? Then I read the horror stories about Trex, once it's been up for a few years. Uneven color fading. Mold. Staining. Yikes. My builder didn't want to install it and some decking supply companies have removed it from their showrooms. Time to hit the web to see if I could find a 'once and done' material.

You've got choices. There's composite, which is plastic mixed with wood fibers, plastic, and aluminum. In natural woods, the common choices are southern pine, cedar and ipe. Composites are probably the most popular at the moment, since they require less maintenance than wood and can be laid with low labor costs. Colors will change over time, so the deck you buy today won't look the same after a few years. Dark colored composites, and plastic decks, collect heat. On a hot summer day, it's not recommended, and you really can't walk on them barefoot. They cost a little more than a cedar deck, but not outrageously more. You can also lay them with hidden fasteners, so you don't have screws or nails to see. They can scratch and stain. Some brands claim not, but Consumer Reports says otherwise. Mold and mildew can sprout on them, so you should clean them every year, but that's not a big deal. The verdict is still out on just how long you can keep them looking good though. Plastic is, well, plastic and looks like plastic, no matter how they mold it. It also sags over time. Not for this house. I didn't look too deeply into that option. Aluminum is certainly once and done, but, well, it's aluminum. It looks like a metal deck and is extremely expensive of course. You don't have to touch it again though, other than cleaning it.

Natural woods are probably the least expensive, but require much more care and feeding as we all know. Pine is real inexpensive, but you have to reseal, restain and treat it for insects often, unless you want to replace it sooner, rather than later. Cedar is resistant to weather and insects, but same story. Unless you like a gray deck, you have to stay on top of it. Then you have the whole green thing. It's not just that you're killing trees. The stains and sealants used for wood decks are a source of toxic emissions. They've come out with green sealants, but it's reported they don't work as well yet.

Ipe is a Brazilian hardwood that is so dense, it can't be installed with nails. You have to pre-drill every hole. It is the most expensive natural wood you could probably pick and costs the most to install. That density though makes it impervious to weather and insects. It's so strong that you can joist it 24" on center instead of 16". It won't splinter or crack. You do have to treat it, but just with a single coat of an oil conditioner, like Penetrol. No staining or refinishing is required, ever. It's as close to once and done as you can get with wood. Of course, Ellen just loved it. I did too, but oh my, should we invest in it? Then too, I am concerned about the rain forest. A wood that dense obviously doesn't just sprout and grow to maturity in a year or two, like bamboo. In fact, I was talking to one timber frame company that uses reclaimed wood from the Amazon. He explained that timber harvesting in the Amazon isn't like the US. Here, we may clear cut, but we use the wood. In Brazil, they might fell 20 acres of trees, and then burn them just to get to the one large premium tree the logging company wants. What a horrible waste of resources that is. His company steps in and uses the 'waste trees.' I vaguely saw the value in that, but was still disturbed because it doesn't change the practice.

Our attitude to all investments in this house is to spend money on those things that really matter and save everywhere else. For example, the loft over the bedroom was originally drawn up as a public loft. If we did that though, then we'd have to spend money on a nice stair for access. There wasn't a lot of room for a conventional staircase, so that led us to spiral. You can get cheap spiral kits, but they look like cheap spiral kits. A good looking one that does justice to the rest of the house was ridiculously costly. So, the loft became a private loft with a cheap stair. Why have a loft in the first place? The master bedroom closet and my sleeping area will have a ceiling anyway, so we may as well use the space above it. It was an inexpensive way to add finished square footage that might be valuable someday, if we ever face reselling the home.

Back to decks. If we cave and make the Ipe investment, we'll have added a beautiful, long lasting and prominent feature to our house that will likely retain its value for the rest of my days. Our expected savings in HVAC will probably offset some of the cost difference from our original budget. How much remorse would we have though, when we step upon this deck and think of the slash and burn atrocity to nature that we may have promoted in a distant land? If you visit us and walk on a composite deck, you'll know the answer to that question. I don't have one for you right now.