Wood alternatives for the deck
There's something deeply rooted in the Canadian character that dictates a deck must be made of wood.
I know because I'm prisoner to it, along with thousands of others who choose to park their barbecues on wood. Wood is still the real thing in my mind, the real thing in a world that gets more virtual all the time. After all, part of why you step out on to your deck in the first place is to get away from all that extruded, moulded, and manufactured stuff, isn't it?
But the reality of a wood deck has its price - a rigorous maintenance regime that would have been outlawed under the Geneva Convention if it weren't for the fact that it's self-imposed. Beautiful outdoor wood is as much about painstaking craftsmanship as it is about materials. And if you want to create and preserve good-looking wood you have to be prepared to work. There's no way around it.
Even if you use the best finishing products in ideal ways you'll still find yourself on hands and knees paying dues to the god of vanity at least every two or three years. I'm willing to pay this price (for the time being), but not everyone has the ability or inclination. And even if you do, it's getting harder to find wood that behaves itself outdoors without twisting and splintering. But there are alternatives.
If you're one of the esthetic radicals who can ignore the traditional imperative to relax outdoors on wood, freedom is within your grasp. Low-maintenance options are here to stay, and they're getting better all the time. I'm not here to sell anything, just to tell you about the strengths and weaknesses of three alternatives to wood deck surfaces, and direct you to where you can learn more.
Plastic lumber is one option that springs to mind whenever you think of low-maintenance decks, and it's something you've probably seen on park benches, fences and outdoor waste bins. Made of plastic diverted from landfills, it's coloured all the way through and completely resistant to rot, insect attack and breakdown from sunlight. I've cut, drilled and chiseled samples in my shop and it works well with all the usual tools.
On the down side, plastic lumber is heavy and it doesn't resist constant loads as well as wood, so it's not recommended for beams, joists and other structural applications. You're also stuck with the colour of plastic lumber as created in the factory because paints and stains can't stick to it.
But since it's completely non-porous, plastic lumber is easier to clean than some other low-maintenance options. Mopping with water is all it takes.
Plastival (514-629-5050) is one large Canadian manufacturer of plastic lumber; they also have a Web site, http://plastival.com. A piece of their tongue and groove material measuring three-quarter inch x 6 inches retails for just over $3 per running foot. They recommend this be applied over decks with joists spaced 12 on centre.
Trex is a wood and plastic hybrid made entirely of recycled material, too. You can sand, cut and drill it like regular wood, yet it doesn't rot, crack, warp or get eaten by insects.
Trex differ from 100 per cent plastic lumber? Left to the weather, new boards bleach from their original tan colour to a light grey, thanks to the wood fibres present in the mix. You can also paint it with certain deck finishes, if you want to shackle yourself back on to the maintenance chain gang. The porousness that allows Trex to hold a finish also means that it can harbour ground-in dirt, a fact that makes cleaning more involved than with regular plastic lumber. Old finishes can be sanded off and renewed, or Trex can be left to weather again if you want to go back to the low-maintenance lifestyle. You can tread on 2 kilometres of well-used Trex boardwalk along the western beaches in Toronto. You'll notice that it doesn't look much like plastic, an advantage I suspect even the hard-core, maintenance-averse deck tomatoes among us will appreciate.
Nicholson and Cates Ltd. (905-335-3366) is the Ontario distributor for Trex. You learn more online (www.trex.com). Material measuring 1 1/4 inches by 5 1/4 inches (called five-quarter by six in the trade) costs about $1.85 per running foot.
Duradek (416-289-6199) is a flexible, PVC-based sheet material designed to cover new or existing decks. Besides letting you hop completely off the maintenance treadmill, it also allows any deck to shed water like a roof, creating dry outdoor storage space in the bargain. Metal flashing woven into the siding of your house and overlapping the Duradek membrane keeps rain away from your basement, too.
The tradeoff is that Duradek looks the least like the traditional notion of a deck. It must also be installed by a licensed applicator since seams have to be heat-welded and the correct deck slope established to validate the five-year warranty. A maintenance-free aluminum railing system is also available if you want to go all out. Duradek costs $4.50 to $6 per square foot installed, with additional charges if changes to the deck slope are needed to encourage drainage.