wood/plastic composite for deck

[james]

so i have this deck that over the last 10 years i've had to spend an inordinate amount of time maintaining and fixing, and replacing boards on the base just to keep it from falling apart because it was originally built with untreated shit wood and cheap-ass weatherguard (not my doing).

in addition to sanding it completely and refinishing with xyladecor a few times, a couple of years ago i also had to re-level and replace two of the support beams since the originals were two pieces of wood screwed together that nicely held water between them to accelerate rot. the new(er) support beams are solid 10cm x 10cm on the cross-section and stuff is held together with angle brackets instead of cheap-ass nails hammered in diagonally through three boards in some places.

here's the redone support frame circa july 2008:



i'll be checking soon to see how it's held up.

base, after refinishing:



more of it has started rotting and i'm seriously considering replacing all of the base panels now with wood-plastic composite.

questions - what is this stuff called in japanese and where's an affordable / reputable place can i get it online? i'm out in the sticks and have never seen this stuff in the home centres anywhere.

[Coligny]

questions - what is this stuff called in japanese and where's an affordable / reputable place can i get it online? i'm out in the sticks and have never seen this stuff in the home centres anywhere.

Ain't that vitrified wood ? http://goo.gl/9HgNc

Or you can use polyurethan vitrificant.

here's the redone support frame circa july 2008:



i'll be checking soon to see how it's held up.

You're joking ? Angle bracket of this size are barely good enough for furniture... and the narrow one on the left... maybe for shelving of medium span (up to 50 cm) For decking there are special brackets adapted to the dimension of japanese 2 x 4s with special long reach screws. See there:

http://www.yht.co.jp/simpson/simpson.htm

http://www.yht.co.jp/simpson/parts_b.htm

[Bucky]

Maybe this would be useful

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[Greji]

so i have this deck that over the last 10 years i've had to spend an inordinate amount of time maintaining and fixing, and replacing boards on the base

James,
I did a DIY and made the same mistake with untreated wood. I did use max coats of redwood stain, which I think gave me a couple of extra years, before it started rotting and falling apart. Looking at your flicks it would appear the wood on your base foundation is good, which is a major plus.

This site used to be good for decking. I've never delt with them directly, but just used the site to identify what I wanted to use and then went to the usual joints, DoIto and a myriad of Home Centers, to find the right stuff....
Cheers

[BigInJapan]

[Russell]

Borneo ironwood (ulin) lasts at least 30 years, but it changes its color to gray after being a few months in the outer, and it is extremely hard and heavy, making it difficult to work with. Stock of it can be found at the Konan Pro home center near Maya Interchange in Kobe:
http://www.hc-kohnan.com/shop/map_408.html

On a different note, in Europe and the US they sell non-hard wood that has been treated with chemical preservatives under high pressure:
http://www.strongtie.com/productuse/ptwoodfaqs.html
This supposedly increases its lifetime to that of hardwoods. I want to build a fence with this stuff, but could not find it yet. Anybody know where it can be bought in Japan?

[james]

Ain't that vitrified wood ? http://goo.gl/9HgNc

Or you can use polyurethan vitrificant.



You're joking ? Angle bracket of this size are barely good enough for furniture... and the narrow one on the left... maybe for shelving of medium span (up to 50 cm) For decking there are special brackets adapted to the dimension of japanese 2 x 4s with special long reach screws. See there:

http://www.yht.co.jp/simpson/simpson.htm

http://www.yht.co.jp/simpson/parts_b.htm

thanks! this was my first time rebuilding anything of signifcance so, yeah, i guess the angle brackets are a little small. i'll be adding some reinforcing brackets between the two main beams and replacing the angle brackets with something a little heftier.

overall, things have held up better than i thought they would but it's still going to need some work.

[james]

James,
I did a DIY and made the same mistake with untreated wood. I did use max coats of redwood stain, which I think gave me a couple of extra years, before it started rotting and falling apart. Looking at your flicks it would appear the wood on your base foundation is good, which is a major plus.

the deck was originally put in by a subcontractor when the place was built and from the outset it's been a headache. the first time i took it apart and refinished it, i found that there was basically nothing in the way of weatherguard or stain on the underside and in this humidity it didn't take long for the moisture to start seeping up from under as well.

[dimwit]

James why are the board sections not all oriented in the same direction? It would seem to me that the way you have them oriented collects and retains water rather than allowing it to run off.

[james]

James why are the board sections not all oriented in the same direction? It would seem to me that the way you have them oriented collects and retains water rather than allowing it to run off.

mostly because that was how it was originally built, i'm guessing for aesthetics more than anything else. it doesn't seem to affect too much one way or the other how much and where the water runs off.

[Coligny]

James why are the board sections not all oriented in the same direction? It would seem to me that the way you have them oriented collects and retains water rather than allowing it to run off.

Usually the slats are spaced and water fall between them (as well as keys, coins, or any precious thing you didn't want to lose there).