Wood Decks: Treated Pine, Cedar & Hardwood

The frame commonly gives 15 to 25 years around here, and the walking surface 10 to 15, because it takes the sun and the water directly. Both figures assume a clean and a re-coat every two to three years, which is a job we come back and do. The treatment itself keeps resisting rot either way; the finish is what keeps the boards smooth and the color even.

Pine for the frame in nearly every case: it is stronger, cheaper and rated for ground contact. Cedar for the surface and the railings, where the warm color, the lighter weight and the softer feel underfoot are what you are paying for. A cedar surface over a pine frame is the most common combination we build and it is a sound one.

When it will take the stain, which is not the same as when it looks dry. Sprinkle water on a board: if it beads, the wood is still too wet and the stain will sit on top and peel. If it soaks in within a minute or two, you are ready. For new treated lumber that is usually somewhere between a month and a season depending on weather and exposure.

Treated pine weathers to a rougher surface over time, and it is one of the few deck problems that reverses completely. An orbital sander over the traffic areas takes a gray, splintery board back to new timber, which is something no synthetic surface can do at any price. We do that as its own job, and on a deck that gets it every few years the question never really arises.

Hot-dip galvanized or stainless, never electroplated. Modern copper-azole and ACQ treatments are corrosive to plain and electroplated steel, and a deck built with the wrong screws will have rust bleeding out of every hole within a couple of years and hangers losing capacity where nobody can see them.

Yes, and it is a reasonable way to stage the work. It only holds if the frame is built for composite from the start. The joist spacing has to suit the board you will eventually lay, which usually means 16 inches on center rather than the 24 a timber surface tolerates. Say so at design stage and the extra framing costs little, and the deck is ready for the swap whenever you want it.

If you want a timber deck that will outlast you, yes. Ipe is dense enough to shrug off dents, insects and rot with almost nothing done to it, and left alone it silvers to an even gray that needs no upkeep at all. It costs more to install because every fastener needs a pilot hole, so it makes the most sense where the look of real dense hardwood is the point, or on a smaller high-visibility deck where that cost is contained.