Deck board spacing question.everything i read is different.
Tuaryeb
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Laying kiln dried alaskan yellow cedar in the tacoma, wa area. No idea hiw long lumber sat in yard… But it has sat on site tarped, and on dunnage for 3-4 weeks during lots of rain. My understanding is that kipn dried should pretty much only grow at first and dont want them too close to buckle ajdnsuch but also dont want them any wider than needed. Seems the average annual humidity in the area is 87 high 62 low (i might recheck that seems off). I really need to get this job finished and any other info i can supply to get me a good safe distance i will. I assume less, but are these boards going to grow/shrink in length also? Allow a gap there as well? Board size is 5/4 2×6.
Thank you.
Replies
What are you asking?
Please reframe your thoughts. I can't make heads and tails out of what you are saying. The title is about deck board spacing. The lumber was (initially) kiln dried, but has sat on-site and wrapped, for quite a while, in humid conditions. You can expect the moisture in the wood to be higher than when it first arrived. There is only so far the wood can expand under moist conditions. It seems to me that the only thing the wood can now do is contract. And contraction is limited by the relatively moist conditions of your state. So...stay with the product-recommended expansion gap. Anywhere from 3/16- 1/4" should do. Should the wood dry the gap will slightly increase. You are unlikely to face a situation where the gap shrinks and buckling of boards happens.
Cedar is fairly stable across its length. Since the wood apparently has a relatively high moisture content (long storage under humid conditions), you can lay butt-joints fairly tight (I never lay boards very tight). In an ideal world this lumber would have been primed/sealed on ALL surfaces PRIOR TO storage. I would recommend priming/sealing even at this late stage.
Mel
Use a 16 penny nail as a spacer. You'lll be fine.