Friends newly installed deckboards (5/4 x 6″) have shrunk after installation to what is now almost a 1/2 gap. I’ve never seen that much shrinkage, and I suspect the problem was the 2 months of rain we had (I would have suspected the deckboards would have dried out in that time), and the relatively dry period now sucking out the absorbed moisture. Short of respacing the deckboards, I couldn’t come up with a solution for him, figured I would check here though. What is the max gap, is there a code value? Any ideas on fixing?
Replies
Sounds more like he put an 1/4" gap between the boards when he laid them. Now they shrunk another 1/4" Are you in the desert?
My neighbor built a deck last spring, he bought the Home Time deck building video and watched it 3 or 4 times. When he way laying out the 5/4 deck boards, I brought him a beer and BS'd with him for a few minutes (he never wanted anyones help, it was going to be "all his" project) He was spacing the boards with 16 penny nails to set the gap. I recommended he butt them together because they will be shrinking and he told me he was following to video directions. Ok, it's his deck. When he would drive in a screw, the green water would squirt in his face those boards were so wet!
Last weekend he unscrewed every board and moved them together because the gaps were so large his dog was getting his paws stuck in between. I LMAO! I told him to get a bigger dog. He had to add 2 more widths of deck boards to take up the space left behind when he moved them all together, still spaced with 16d nails.
Here on the Oregon coast, when laying undried decking, the practice is to butt the edges tight or use a 16d nail for initial spacing.
If the decking is KD and sealed, one can shoot for desired spacing, which for me is about 3/16 to 1/4."
Gapping over a 1/4" starts to become an issue if babes come over with spiked heels, but the gaps become easier to clean if you have trees around.
If my deck opened up 1/2" I'd probably reset the planks. (It will be a tolerable task if he screwed it down!)
I can't imagine any solution other than re-spacing the boards.
I generally lay the boards up tight, but allow small gaps to keep the layout straight.
Guess the most important question has been overlooked - Did he lay 'em bark side up, or bark side down ???........................(-:
It's not dying for a faith that's hard. It's living up to it.
You just made me go measure my gapping, I used 16d on my own deck, and have countless others like that, too. Gaps are 1/4" or smaller...I do have a butt joint (between two boards, ok <G>) that moves up to a half an inch, it's kinda cool... EliphIno!
Shrinkage from end to end or the sides of cedar decking usually means there was no oil based stain applied to the deck after it was intalled.
My deck is 8 years old and still looks like I installed it yesterday.
We always space our decking the thickness of a speed square to allow the moisture through and not to let it set on the deck.
Works for me but what do I know?"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
Bob
My deck is 8 years old and still looks like I installed it yesterday.
First of all I doubt it looks exactly the same, but I don't doubt it still looks stellar, but come on ----PRO-DEK----- if your deck didn't look better then anyone else's you would have to give up that name and start going by Amateur-Dek
;)Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
"My deck is 8 years old and still looks like I installed it yesterday."
Don't come in here trying to BS us man, were not a bunch of idiots! Theres no way those little white tags at the ends of the boards are still white like new.
LOL molten- I can still read those white tags cause I use a mild deck cleaner. "Rather be a hammer than a nail"
Bob
I guess stuck with taking up the boards and rescrewing them :-(
Not that he will do it. . .but I figured that was the only solution. The boards were KD, but before PT. . .
I do it that way too. two speed squares for spacers. If you lay a deck so that it is tight when it is wet where will the water go? You don't need drainage spaces when the deck is dry, only when it rains. Go ahead butt them all up tight and your customers will have to call you back to replace them. A deck is not a dance floor and high heels are not appropriate. my customers have tried to sell me that story but I'm not buying. If they want a tight spaced deck I will reccommend one of the tight butters here. (:-)
There is a difference though in tight laying a cedar deck and tight laying a CCA deck, the PT wood needs to be layed much tighter because it will shrink when it dries, like some one said above if the stuff is fresh from the lumber yard and you drive a screw in it, you can watch the water ooze out. So laying PT decking tight isn't a bad idea because it will create its own gapsNever be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
And you are personally, monetarily, and liability-wise responsible for laying how many decks? We can't count your parent's, ok<G>
You didn't exactly 'splain the difference 'tween cedar and pt yaller pine, and the spacing thereof, but I guess that's not in the Time/Life deck book. EliphIno!
Personally I've worked on and built somewhere between 2 dozen and 30 decks of varying sizes not including anything done for family or friends. Probably half and half cedar and PT lumber and one or two redwood.
Everyone of the PT decks were laid tight, everyone shrunk providing a gap large enough for drainage. I've seen numerous PT decks which were not laid tight and end up with 3/8-1/2 in gaps, a little big for my taste.
How many of those am I liable for? zero I don't own the company
If you have further advice or a correction to something I've stated please feel free.
I've never read a time life book, sorry to dissapoint.
Otherwise also feel free to shove your attitude where ever you wish.
Lovingly Yours Neil ;)Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
I have to agree, we laid my deck with 2x6 wet pt. We butted it up tight and now have more than enough for drainage. Bucksnort must have had a bad day, probably trying to get you some more in addition to stealing your coach. I believe he is in Chapel Hill.
Doode, Roy did matriculate here...and, his son went here to boot!
I had a Rasco work for me one time, are you still tying to get even<G>
And, I had a really good day...weird, huh? I just get tired of inexperienced knowitalls...go figure LOL EliphIno!
At the risk of having a board suddenly swell up and pinch my toes, let me step in between you two guys here.
First, I thunk you was a wee bittle brash to be challenging pro-deks statement when I read it too, knowing some of his techniques and recommendations for maintainance. So Bucksnort was doing OK to challenge you. If you'll go back and look at it tomorrow in the naked light of day, you'll see the humour in it. He's challenged statements of mine too, but only with reason.
But there is a reason why both of you all are right in your positions so I'll support your position too. In the arid westeern states, it is right to install tight because it will shrink further and stay shrunk farther and longer. But on the coasts, it won't ever shrink quite as much because of higher average moisture. Bucky is in a more humid location than you, so he needs to install with a gap. I don't doubt that a deck laid tight and wet in Arizona or even Kansas can shrink to almost a half inch. Here, they shrink about 5/16" average.
BTW, Mine is PO Cedar and I laid it with a 16d spacer. It is now a good 3/16" which suits me fine because of the pine tree droppings.
More common on my jobs is CVG Fir 1x4 ( becoming replaced with Ipe`) and spaced close. It is a more stable wood and the standard placement that is popular here is using an 8d finish nail to space it. It holds pretty close to that tjhrough the seasons but in some locations it will fill up with grit and I will see rot in the edges when I work on it because of held moisture in that drainage channel.
.
Excellence is its own reward!
Good evening fine sir,
I wasn't arguing Pro-Deks position, Bob was talking Cedar I am talking PT'd we are talking about two different woods, cedar which I said or thought I said is not laid tight
PT CCA is another animal, and I wasn't posturing it will shrink a half inch, but if you gap it a 1/4 to begin with and it dries you can end up with as much as a 1/2 in.
as to the 5/16 average, I think we're talking RCH's here, either that or you really do know way to much ;)
Unless your saying I was brash about challanging Pro-Dek's deck in which case I was just being a smartazs and not actually saying his deck didn't look as good as he claimed.
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
Edited 7/4/2003 12:23:21 AM ET by CAG
It was the latter, smartaxe
;).
Excellence is its own reward!
one of the reasons I hate this type of "conversation", I can either be 100% serious all the time, and have no personality, or I can joke around and occasionaly have it taken in away it was not meant...
anyway twas just joking around and it was taken different then intended. so I is sorry for the failure to communicate ;)
but I still ain't putting no space between fresh PT'd decking, least in KSNever be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
Since '63 I've layed around 275 decks, I even had a deck biz for a while, but I am no where on a par with Bob, he's the deck meister. I've done about 50 cedar, 20 mahogany, 8 fir, 6 Ipe, and the balance has been CCA treated southern yellow pine. CCA can treat anything, not just pine ( since you seemed to include all PT stuff in that category) .
I can also get primo stuff (SYP) that has been CCA treated and then kiln dried...
I've also been the one paying mouthy yahoos like you for the last 20 years for labor, you are a laborer, right? I know a guy like you oughta be in charge, but you're not, are you? I guarantee all our work, and I am responsible for any failures. I have actually studied this sheet, and not in theory or on a Hometime video.
You've got precocious posts here on every building phase there is( I have yet to see anything you don't know everything about). I see 'em as a wannbe pro. You ain't there yet, it's pretty obvious (actually you seem to have a very good grasp of the obvious, but who doesn't?)....post about stuff you have really done, and save the bandwidth for the real pros...
as far shoving my my attitude wherever I wish...are you bending over? <G> EliphIno!
don't think I ever claimed to know everything about anything, as for a wanna be pro, yeah I won't deny that.
on every building phase hunh?
yep, I sure dive deep into concrete work, plumbing, electrical, HVAC etc etc...
post about stuff that I've done, sure like I said I have laid decking, you don't like it, you don't believe it, so sorry, so sad, to bad.
Personally I'm a bit tired of the older guys like you riding younger guys, do we know everything, no, does that mean we have nothing to contribute, I doubt that.
bending over? sure you first.Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
ALRIGHT! PINCH FIGHT!
I love when everyone gets riled up over spacing a board. I'm digging back there in the cavern of my brain for a memory file from a few years ago about spacing, and I believe Pro-Dek didn't recomend spacing PT lumber. I maybe wrong, but his theory was the same as yours. And based on that I stopped spacing PT and I've been better off. Based on everything I've read onTrex I'm never using PT again anyway.Who Dares Wins.
If I had my choice I wouldn't use it either, I'll admit my main reason for this is not any great knowledge of why it is an inferior product other then it looks ugly and seems to check and spilt more then cedar or redwood in my opinion.
But as Buck so eloquently pointed out, I'm not in charge of making decisions or attempting to guide customers towards a different choice. So until such time as I can make those decisions I'll keep putting down what ever is spec'dNever be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
sure you are.... and one coat of deck stain on a bad PT deck will pay for the difference between PT & a product like Trex... really..the customer can't afford PTMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
now just go convince my boss.......Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
Caggy>>> "Personally I'm a bit tired of the older guys like you riding younger guys".
:-), but why is it so much fun, and so easy? And fyi, I don't discriminate, I will pick on anyone.
Cheer up kid, you were the first one to point out the thread maybe was about pt decking, and should be layed tight. You have to be aware that a pile that has been sitting will have some boards on top that have begun to dry out, and you will have to deal with them, as opposed to being a trained monkey. Also, all syp pt is not created equal, there is actually some of it that isn't too bad, but I refuse to work with any of it. Well... I get conned into "helping" friends and such.
Way back when, for this dump I wrecked wood to build, redwood was in style locally. #1-2 frame, and vg 1x4 deck. A little soft for dog claws, but it has held up for 14 years, doncha think? I should hose the mud off and coat it again. That will make the third re-coat, but it is covered on the north side. I forget how I spaced it, Ha, if you wanna know how to space it a couple of names come to mind. I probably used my brain, that is pretty small.
Ps, you coming out this way? Shoot me a mail, I'll dopeslap you in person if you buy the beer. I'm good like that. Hey, buy enough beer and we can get kicked out of a town, or be chased out. Oh ya, happy family site, I forgot. So we can do tea, and ummm, I dunno...
I'm in boston now, leaving monday.
Buck, I'd argue, but it would be "wasting bandwith" to argue with a closed minded old goat :0Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
sheesh!
As crabby as an old goat, lately!
Travelin' must be hard on ya, eh?
.
Excellence is its own reward!
I've been wondering what put the burr under his saddle...
and Notch,
No burr under my saddle per se, just not taking to much crap anymore.
If I've said something wrong, by all means correct it, but if you're not going to correct it then why bother to say anything.
or Maybe I've been hanging around with Matt and his brashness has been rubbing off :)
either way I'm not in a bad mood or pissed at all, just stating how I feelNever be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
Good for you little toughy. Now put on your big boy pants and come join me for a sasparilo in the tavern.
hehe sorry couldn't help it. Who Dares Wins.
I'd prefer a Shirley temple with an extra cherry, oh and can you get that telephone book from the pay phone, I want to feel taller.Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
I was actually wondering if maybe you got in the habit of throwing sparks from hanging out with the Bobcat and then forgot to turn the afterburners off, letting the 'tude carry over. LOL
Or maybe the girlfriend is still back in Kansas and we all know how it is for a young man...
;)
way back when I stepped into this thread, I was trying to make peace 'twixt you guys by showing how you were both at least half right. If you both wana be all right, somebody's gonna be wrong.
now, as I 'member, you and Qtrmeg tangled once and now yer best O buddies. What Matt had to say was same thing that Bucky is saying.
Now that I've pointed that out, you guys go ahead and butt heads, or butts, or shake hands, or heads, or whatever...
I'll sit here and watch. It'll be fun either way..
Excellence is its own reward!
Or maybe the girlfriend is still back in Kansas and we all know how it is for a young man...
this much is true... ;)
Thing with Larry is probably also partly true...
Doesn't matter to me how it ends, prefer to get over it shake hands and move on, if not...well then... oh well...
Difference between this and last time with qtrmeg is I believe I am right, I believe a pt deck should be spaced tight providing the wood is wet which is usually the case.
Is my own regional ignorance a part in this, yeah probably, I've never worked outside the midwest.
sure there is a lot more then goes into it then just that, but lets see a home owner built a deck for himself and they are shrinking at an absorbent rate... chances are this is not high quality PT'd wood, probably not clear cedar, probably not Ipe. I'm betting the wood came from a HD or Lowes and when he was driving the screws in it was squirting back at him.
So in my mind the deck should have been laid tight.
So if "you"(people in general) want to go and try to complicate matters further by trying to add in a bunch of variables that are unknown then I guess.. by all means feel free, but lets look at the overall thread so far, I'm not going to go back and get exact numbers, but It's at least 50/50 between those who say a PT'd deck should be laid tight and those who say it shouldn't. Either way it's a stupid argument to begin with. Does a RCH difference in the final spacing of deck matter? No I really doubt it.
http://www.wolmanizedwood.com/faqs.htm#10
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
Edited 7/6/2003 12:17:20 AM ET by CAG
The guy at home depot told me to butt the boards together. CAG must be right if HD agrees with him.
Does a RCH difference in the final spacing of deck matter?
Darn tootin it matters!
I got banned from this website about two years ago arguing about space or no space, then telling someone to fill the space between their ears, arguing that all decking should be spaced.
We apologized by E-mail and openly on this forum but that is what makes this forum fun.We all have our own opinions right or wrong.
So I'll say it again..................
Space it!
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
Bob
well I will yield to you, and will not argue ;)
But going to keep my own opinion as well.Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
LOL- You can argue with me all you want but I WILL have the last word..................:-)"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
Bob
I ain't arguing ;)Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
So how do you explain what happened in my first post? 32342.3 Had he butted them together, he never would have re-done that decking. Some of his gaps were over 1/2"...that's too much. I have yet to buy PT lumber at the big box her in MI that wasn't dripping wet, so why space them if you know they're going to shrink?
I think Piffin explained it best.............In the arid westeern states, it is right to install tight because it will shrink further and stay shrunk farther and longer. But on the coasts, it won't ever shrink quite as much because of higher average moisture. Bucky is in a more humid location than you, so he needs to install with a gap. I don't doubt that a deck laid tight and wet in Arizona or even Kansas can shrink to almost a half inch. Here, they shrink about 5/16" average. "Rather be a hammer than a nail"
Bob
Actually, what I was tryin' to show in thoses pics, was that PT SYP here swells up! I space with 16d nails, and now I can't get a nail between most of the boards. It's not even an opinion, it's a fact<G> and, after a couple hundred apartment/condo decks, even an old codger catches on...we'll ask the pipsqueaks after they've paid their dues LOL. EliphIno!
Billy
I lived in the midwest, just north of CAG, and we always put down PT syp tight. I have never seen it do anything but shrink up and leave a gap of anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2".
I thought that it never got anymore humid than it does in Iowa. Only saying that because it just seemed so damn humid all the time.
I would never suggest that I know all there is to deck building, only did about 100 of the damn things, Pro-deck probably does that by the middle of June each year.
Are you getting your treated wood already dry?
Just trying to figure all this out, I know that its always wet in the northwest but I wasnt aware that it was that way in the Carolinas.
Im sure if you put it down with a gap and it tightens up than you are getting more moisture in it than we did in Iowa. Just seems odd. Definitly not suggesting your wrong. Although compared to you I am young. :)
Doug
I've been in business for myself for 29 yrs. I installed my first PT deck in '83. I've probably done 120 plus, and I've never had one swell up after installation, ever. They have all shrunk. Before that I only built redwood or cedar decks. I had my home made spacer jig (5/16") that I used for these decks, and I used it for the first three years of PT decks. Over the next three years, as I came back to do other work, or service these decks, it was apparent what was happening. The spacing in the summer would be 1/2" to 5/8". And several boards on every deck would shrink in lenght from 1/4" to 5/8". From then on I've run them tight.
Now, the spacing in the wet weather (say Nov. thru April) would be slightly less than the summer, but it would never return to the original spacing.
Now I'm not young, I'm not inexperienced, I don't post here all that much, but I do read here a lot. I'm curious to know what your explaination is as to why your experience with this wood is so different from mine. Climate? I'm in northeast Ohio. Species? All the PT deck lumber here is SYP. Frankly I'm stumped.
John Svenson, Builder, Remodeler, NE Ohio (Formerly posted as JRS)
Edited 7/7/2003 7:26:55 PM ET by Svenny
I would like to echo Svenny's points.
I have done about 50 decks, with about 85% being PT SYP. The locations have been in the midwest (Chicago metro area), the Carolina's (Greenville, SC), and what I would call the coastal area (Fredericksburg VA, 30 miles from the Chesapeake bay, and about 50 miles from the Atlantic ocean). I have always laid PT tight. I looked at several past decks just today, and the gaps ranged from 3/16" to 3/8".
But, I must admit, I'm young and only liable for about two thirds of the above number of decks.
Jon Blakemore
and Doug, I want to see some ID...
I'm thinking both you guys are really young, and the boards know it<G>
It doesn't get more humid than the NC piedmont in the summer,well unless you're in Va, Ga, SC, MD, Pa, oka!
I'm talking about Lowe's Contractor Yard, actually any lumber store, Wolmanized PT. Depends where they store it, if it squirts back when you poke it with a nail.
I'm measuring a 16d galvy right now, a fat 1/8", or is that a regional thing, too?
Dang, now I guess I'll have to go the collitch and find answers, I just thought swelling PT was a fact of life.
Why would anybody want to live where it's so dry? Gapping is so much easier<G>
and, by the way, "Just Gap It"
PS, seriously, I will check it out... EliphIno!
"Why would anybody want to live where it's so dry? Gapping is so much easier<G> "
Not if you get a Bo-Wrench. I would rather lay tight with that tool than mess with gaps.
But that's me.
Jon Blakemore
Billy
Thanks for the response, here all this time I thought the most humid place was where I was at!
As for the age thing, I said I was younger than you, not how much younger! And you aint getting to see my I.D.
Maybe the PT that we were using was right off the truck, hell I dont know, Maybe a different grade of lumber, I believe you, just cant finger it out, not that its that important for me to figure out.
Doug
Gapping is easier. But angry customers are a b*tch! They get mad when stuff falls through those big old gaps.
My guess is your long humid summers and mild winters are responsible.
I would also guess that the prolonged combination of high humidity and heat in the Southeast would make it the exception rather than the rule across the USA.
John Svenson, Builder, Remodeler, NE Ohio (Formerly posted as JRS)
Easier? I've got to keep up with all those nails<G>
And, it does sound like a regional thing, East Coast and West Coast vs The Crazy Heartlanders LOL.
The way it's been explained to me, and from my bespectacled observations, wood is ALIVE! Even dried out, it's kinda plastic...I think it's cells are always moving due to water and temperature, among other things.
If an interior floor is laid right and not too tight at the walls, the boards seem to expand and contract pretty evenly. I've seen an oak floor that was laid tight to the walls before the house was totally dried in. Got wet, swelled up, and all the edges pushed up. After the house was dried in, and the oak calmed down, there were major gaps between the boards. As the floor finisher was paste filling the place, he said he'd seen it a lot and thought it was because the cells got crushed at the edges. No more elasticity.
Yellow pine is much more unstable than oak, I've fixed decks laid tight that buckled so much the nails popped up. I laid 'em, so I took notes<G>
None the less, I still like SYP PT decking better than the "real" plastic stuff<G> EliphIno!
Personally, I have nothing against young posters, I am a bit tired of any posters who constantly waste thread space with rookie answers. They way I see it, it's just a coincidence that you're young on top that<G>
Now, here's some pics: both PT decks were laid with galvanized16d spacing, first one's under a covered porch, second one's a deck out in the open with a southern exposure.
And, yes those are galvanized spiral siding nails that aren't staining!
Third pic is some real fine deck building, my front steps. Every once in a while, a good deck board does go bad<G> EliphIno!
Bob, as the holder of all knowledge on the wet coast for decks, I ask for some species-specific knowledge.
My customers have decided on a deck of Angeleum Pedra, 5/4.
I am laying 2x4 PT sleepers on a roof deck @ 12" centres and Pedra on top. The deck is 900 Sq Ft, plus all the handrails and fences, sides etc.
The finish will be 2 coats of Penefin before laying it out (24 hrs between coats).
Do you know this product at all? It is not quite as hard as Ipe, and the salesman suggested any end coating, even marine varithane on the ends to stop checking. That does not seem right to me, and you may sggest a better product.
This stuff comes in dried, but I plan to leave a 3/16" edge gap anyway. Double screws into each sleeper and he may decide to ask for plugs. (I'm buying a new tablesaw.)Should I get a moisture tester?
Any helpful hints?
By the way, asking Bob for advice does not mean I will not welcome Neil, Piffin or anyone else of you fine craftsmen from joining in.Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada
Sorry Aaron, but I am not familiar with that specific product. I have only worked with the multitudes of man made composites, cedar, and Ironwood.
We apply a white waxy sealer to the ends of IPE.It has to be brushed on carefully after each cut so it will not inhibit stain penetration. I forget the proper name for it but will find out and let you know. I'll also ask about the pedra."Rather be a hammer than a nail"
Bob
a lot of the problem is including PT in the same discussion as any other decking material.. PT is just not a viable decking material.... especially in those parts of the country where PT is typically SYP...
it will move, cup, shrink, check and splinter... we haven't laid a PT SYP deck in 15 years...Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike, Piffin and CAG
I am from the midwest, as Neil is and PT syp is the standard deck material, probably 95 out of 100 decks are built with it.
We always put the decking down tight, withing a couple of weeks you will have a gap, within a couple months you will have a gap 1/4 to 1/2",depending on how wet it was when you put it down.
Neil you are right in how you do it bassed on where you live and what material you are using, as to the problem with your smartazzed coments, your on your own, I kinda like the smartazzed coments, keeps things a little light.
As Andy whould say, be less thin skinned
Doug
I agree with all who say to lay PT tight. I have done decks in Chicago, Greenville SC, and the DC metro area. Always laid them tight, and I never had any problems with buckling. I agree with Mike, that SYP is not a good deck material. It never looks good after a few years of exposure.
Jon Blakemore
Jon
I agree that the syp after a couple years looks bad, but its still afordable and thats probably why its still used as much as it is.
If I was going to build a deck for myself I would not use it, so generic looking anymore. I always hate to see an old house where the front porch has gone bad, HO replaces it with a PT syp deck, gawd-oful-ugly.
Doug
In Ohio, lay SYP pressure treated tight, the gaps will soon open. Cedar and redwood, gap to your desire. it'll pretty much stay put where you leave it.
Mike, around here PT is like the weather. Everyone complains about it, no one does anything about it. But it's a tough sell for even a cedar upgrade, let alone redwood or Ipe. It's easiest to sell the upgrades to someone who's had a treated deck for the last 10-15 years. They're ready to yell uncle by that time.
I have seen a few treated decks that looked good over the long haul, but only with that rare homeowner who is willing to refinish every other year
John Svenson, Builder, Remodeler, NE Ohio (Formerly posted as JRS)
Thanks for the reply. A source of information, among many, is http://www.brazilwoods.com/BrazilWoods_showroom_wood.htm but you can find lots in a Google search.
I cannot get onto the Anchor web site as of last night, http://www.uccoatings.com
so I have no idea if there is any distributor for the Anchor sealant here in this area. I agree about coating the ends carefully, it's just if I cannot get the Anchor product, is there an acceptable substiture? I remember from one of your posts a long time ago you use a "wood" something, but I can't remember it it was as a coating, or an end sealant.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada
Just laid a 5/4 x 6" Thompson Sealed last week. It's been in the upper 80's and 90's. Last week they were tight fit, today 8 days later, 1/4" to 3/8" gaps. We've used Thompson because they were always drier than standard CCA. As with many things in this business, I told the owner it was a natural product which is sometimes inconsistent.
If you try to let this stuff dry down too much, it gets so crooked, it useless. Screw it and forget it, I say.