Has anyone done a hardwood decking project?

[eniacs]

I'm looking at improving our small area of softwood decking which now looks tired.

Planning on two areas, one for BBQ's next to the lawn, around 20m2 and another stepped up area with stainless + glass surround outside our conservatory, probably another 25m2 there as well.

Has anyone done any of the types of hardwood - Oak etc? As far as I can see its around 30-35/m2 for oak which is pretty good. I've a lot of oak bits around the house and like the contemporary look of oiled oak.

Had a quick look at the plastic stuff, but it looks to be much more for the nice stuff, which we would inevitably want to go for!

[C0ffin D0dger]

Haven't done an oak deck personally but my sister-in-law's partner did one and it looks very nice. Now he's a cabinet maker by trade so knows what he's talking about and said you must use stainless decking screws with oak. The normal steel coated jobs will discolour the decking overtime apparently so budget for the screws when you're pricing it up. Cost a lot more than normal decking screws.

[blade runner]

Personally I would avoid oak as a decking material as it's not a dimensionally stable timber when used outside. It alss splits and checks on the end grain quite badly. There are other hardwoods far better suited to decking such as ipe and balau.

[Mark Benson]

C0ffin D0dger said:

Haven't done an oak deck personally but my sister-in-law's partner did one and it looks very nice. Now he's a cabinet maker by trade so knows what he's talking about and said you must use stainless decking screws with oak. The normal steel coated jobs will discolour the decking overtime apparently so budget for the screws when you're pricing it up. Cost a lot more than normal decking screws.

Oak has a lot of tannins which will cause normal screws to rust and discolour the wood permanently. Same reason you avoid using wire wool on oak, small pieces can break off and rust, staining the surrounding wood.

[onesickpuppy]

Just make sure you seal it properly:

Clicky.



ETA: It's a video, potentially NSFW.

[B17NNS]

I used balau at my old place, did look lovely.

[shimmey69]

One thing to be aware as well is to pre drill it and counter sunk it slightly especially if your using pine or spruce joisting, as other wise the screw rip out the spruce when trying to pull down into the hardwood and you loose your hold.

[RammyMP]

The Inlaws have put plastic decking down, I was dubious at first but after 5 years it still looks band new. It didn't cost much more than timber. Similar to this: http://www.timbertechuk.co.uk

[eniacs]

That video is cracking! For the last day or so I've been going over it in my head laughing. Brilliant.

So balau decking seems to be well voted for here. No wonder I've not seen much oak decking.

I've been out and measured up and I need 35m2 for both bits of decking. Add to that some stainless, glass and some joists and I reckon it should be around 3- 3.5k if I do the labour.

[Simes110]

I've just had a wooden deck (dick?) completed. My builder texted me 30 minutes ago to say he was finally done, so I really do mean recently.

I deliberated on this very forum regarding my choice of wood and we went for yellow balau. Now it's oiled (Liberon, as recommended on here), it looks truly stunning! (In my opinion, I hasten to add...)

Edited by Simes110 on Thursday 18th September 13:14

[skilly1]

Some nice ideas here

http://www.silvatimber.co.uk/decking.html

[ColinM50]

I've built four decks in softwood and they all looked good for the first year or so. Then the weather and age gets at them and they lose their good looks, much like women I suppose, and then you're into the how to revive them threads.

Tried various oils and treatments but they all really look what they are, false looking painted wood. if I were doing one now, I'd definitely use the plastic resin type. When I did my big deck, four levels and two big staircases on my house in South of France, it looked brilliant. Now it just looks tired and unloved despite being pressure washed twice a year. A neighbour did one at the same time in the "plastic" and it still looks as good today.

Oh and a warning about teak or oak. Both will go grey very quickly and you can't pressure wash teak, you'll just rip out the soft fibres and you'll quickly end up with a badly ridged deck. Look at any wooden decked boat and you'll see they're grey when dry. Also boaters only ever wash the decks with salt water and a soft broom but they wash them almost daily, you're not going to do that are you?

[Vron]

I can't decide to have a hardwood deck or to have outdoor porcelain tiles. The issue I have with decking is surely as soon as you pull a chair in or out you scratch the surface badly?

[blade runner]

ColinM50 said:

I've built four decks in softwood and they all looked good for the first year or so. Then the weather and age gets at them and they lose their good looks, much like women I suppose, and then you're into the how to revive them threads.

Tried various oils and treatments but they all really look what they are, false looking painted wood. if I were doing one now, I'd definitely use the plastic resin type. When I did my big deck, four levels and two big staircases on my house in South of France, it looked brilliant. Now it just looks tired and unloved despite being pressure washed twice a year. A neighbour did one at the same time in the "plastic" and it still looks as good today.

Oh and a warning about teak or oak. Both will go grey very quickly and you can't pressure wash teak, you'll just rip out the soft fibres and you'll quickly end up with a badly ridged deck. Look at any wooden decked boat and you'll see they're grey when dry. Also boaters only ever wash the decks with salt water and a soft broom but they wash them almost daily, you're not going to do that are you?

I've recently finished a large deck in hardwood (yellow balau). Personally I much prefer real wood with all its variations and flaws compared to plastic. Yes it needs more maintenance, but that's the pay-off for having something natural rather than man-made. I also have no problems with it turning grey and am always a bit surprised when people make this a negative.

All wood will turn grey outside unless you stain or paint it a few times every year - and even then it will never look as good as the day it first went down. There is almost nothing you can do to counteract the effects of UV and the constant wetting/drying process, so just accept it and enjoy a natural material doing what it does in a natural environment. I'm actually looking forward to mine turning silver grey so it better matches the grey marble tiles inside.

[Vron]

blade runner said:

ColinM50 said:

I've built four decks in softwood and they all looked good for the first year or so. Then the weather and age gets at them and they lose their good looks, much like women I suppose, and then you're into the how to revive them threads.

Tried various oils and treatments but they all really look what they are, false looking painted wood. if I were doing one now, I'd definitely use the plastic resin type. When I did my big deck, four levels and two big staircases on my house in South of France, it looked brilliant. Now it just looks tired and unloved despite being pressure washed twice a year. A neighbour did one at the same time in the "plastic" and it still looks as good today.

Oh and a warning about teak or oak. Both will go grey very quickly and you can't pressure wash teak, you'll just rip out the soft fibres and you'll quickly end up with a badly ridged deck. Look at any wooden decked boat and you'll see they're grey when dry. Also boaters only ever wash the decks with salt water and a soft broom but they wash them almost daily, you're not going to do that are you?

I've recently finished a large deck in hardwood (yellow balau). Personally I much prefer real wood with all its variations and flaws compared to plastic. Yes it needs more maintenance, but that's the pay-off for having something natural rather than man-made. I also have no problems with it turning grey and am always a bit surprised when people make this a negative.

All wood will turn grey outside unless you stain or paint it a few times every year - and even then it will never look as good as the day it first went down. There is almost nothing you can do to counteract the effects of UV and the constant wetting/drying process, so just accept it and enjoy a natural material doing what it does in a natural environment. I'm actually looking forward to mine turning silver grey so it better matches the grey marble tiles inside.

That looks very nice. My house is similar - rendered with aluminium doors. Can't decide whether to have the same tiles carrying on through from the open plan area so when all the bifold doors are open it will look continuous or whether to have hardwood as I have planning permission to put some cedar or similar cladding on the house exterior.

[blade runner]

Gradually starting to grey nicely after a few months down...

[eniacs]

Blade runner; Thats a stunning decking there. Exactly what Im looking for.

Colin; Thats what the issue with the decking we have, it looks tired. It was the cheapest stuff 5 years ago, and now its really showing it.

Simes; Get a photo up!

Skilly, thats a nice site, a little more expensive than some, but photos look good, thanks.

[ColinM50]

If you're happy with the wood turning grey then fine, your choice but I got the impression from the OP that he wanted the crisp fresh look of new wood and IMHO the only way you'll get that is with the resin plastic stuff.

Oh and the plastic stuff that I've looked at has a neat clip that you screw to the joist and then clip the board to it so you never see the screw heads.

This looks pretty good too - whole range of colours and textures. Might seem expensive but you'll only do it once.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hho8WVor1k

Edited by ColinM50 on Thursday 18th September 16:15

[blade runner]

Vron said:

That looks very nice. My house is similar - rendered with aluminium doors. Can't decide whether to have the same tiles carrying on through from the open plan area so when all the bifold doors are open it will look continuous or whether to have hardwood as I have planning permission to put some cedar or similar cladding on the house exterior.

If you go for cedar cladding, then maybe use cedar decking boards so the texture and colour of the timber will match? Cedar will have more texture than dense hardwoods like ipe and balau, but is widely used for decking in the US. Silva timber (already mentioned) sell good quality cedar boards. They will turn grey quite quickly though (the decking quicker than the cladding due to aspect).

[Chicken Chaser]

I've used softwood on my recently completed deck, by arbordeck so its not a bad product but like you all say, will need treatment to keep looking reasonable. On the other hand Trex composite looks the business and not plastic looking at all. Very good indeed. I'll probs treat my softwood with Liberon at the end of next summer and see how it looks then. I quite like the silvery look to aged deck but obviously not the completely dried out look!