Wood looks great, weathers well, spans wide joist distances, and is easily available.
Pressure-Treated Wood Deck Boards
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Pressure-treated woodis the classic low-cost deck board.
But they are expensive and have short joist spans.
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All of this means that wood still holds a strong position as the decking floorboard of choice.
Pressure-treated wood boards are easy to obtain at your local home center or lumber yard.
you’re free to alsopaint the wood.
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Since these are soft woods, pressure-treated deck boards will eventually splinter and crack if not regularly maintained.
Precautions should be taken when cutting pressure-treated board due to the preservative content.
Cut ends of pressure-treated wood need to be individually daubed with preservative.
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One way to install pressure-treated wood decking is to side-fasten the boards with hidden deck fasterners.
Ipe is a gorgeous dark-brown wood that maintains its appearance with only minimal maintenance.
Ipe wood is very dense and hard, which makes it highly resistant to wear and tear.
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Ipe is resistant to moisture and UV light, and that mitigates fading and weathering.
Once installed, ipe has few disadvantages as a decking material.
Ipe is best installed by professional decking companies.
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Clips are necessary to fasten the boards to the joists, which drives up the cost.
When available, redwood is still an excellent choice for deck floorboards.
With redwood, heartwood costs about 25-percent more than the less desirable sapwood.
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No preservatives are required to maintain redwood.
Heartwood vs. Sapwood
Heartwood is the innermost part of a tree’s trunk.
Heartwood is darker and denser than the outer layers of wood, known as sapwood.
Redwood weathers to an attractive deep red color.
Redwood will begin to get splintery over time, making it unsuitable for walking on with bare feet.
Red cedar can be painted or stained, too, if desired.
Even untreated, red cedar will maintain its structural integrity for many years.
So, red cedar must be treated with a preservative if you do not want gray.
Most of the kiln-dried cedar is only available in 1-inch thicknesses.
Two-inch thickness kiln-dried cedar wood can be hard to find.
Red cedar wood’s excellent strength-to-weight ratio makes it a good choice for use as deck flooring.
Hem-fir is not a species cross-breed.
Hem-fir wood is known for its strength, durability, and versatility.
Except for pallet wood, untreated hem-fir is the lowest-cost wood decking board.
Because it is strong, it has a great joist distance span.
Preservation of hem-fir is difficult.
Initially, the wood must be quickly treated with a preservative.
Alternatively, the wood may be primed and painted.
Site-treated wood, as opposed to wood that is pressured-treated in a factory, needs constant maintenance.
Also, breaking up pallets for loosen the intended deck boards is difficult to do without cracking the wood.
