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Wooden decking question

Scorp

Scorp

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My wife wants me to replace the boards on our backyard deck. I've got 2 questions:

#1. What decking boards should I be looking at? 5/4 pressure treated deck boards? The boards currently on it are wood and measure 1" x 5.5" x 12'. There are 51 of them. There are no tags on the boards to actually tell what they. It's pressure treated lumber I know. The boards are weather checking and beginning to split and a couple of them are beginning to cup and warp... the deck is around 10 years old so it's time to replace the deck boards. They're deck boards and will not be in ground contact.

#2. What should I fasten them with? Nails or screws? Square drive, star drive, philips drive... what's the best fastener to use?

I'm going to use wood so there won't be any Trex or composite decking. It's too much money. Should I be looking at 5/4 decking? Should I use something like a 16 penny nail for a spacer between the boards so there's good drainage for rain?

I'll be shopping at Home Depot so that limits my options.


I've replaced a couple of the boards in the past year or two. The replacement boards seem to be 1/8" thinner than the other deck boards...
 
AnthonyC said:
Pressure treated is fine.... I went with cedar. Use coated deck screws, use ten penny nail for spacing.
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Endorsed for correctness.
 
I think wood type depends on climate. Personally I prefer Redwood and the coated deck screws. I pressure wash it and seal it once a year.
 
coated deck screws cause the new way they treat wood will 'rust' out non coated nails or screws in a year according to my advisers,,, and I just built a screened in porch with 5/4s and put them as tight as I could,, and now 2 months later they have a gap in them as they dried and shrunk.
 
BroD said:
coated deck screws cause the new way they treat wood will 'rust' out non coated nails or screws in a year according to my advisers,,, and I just built a screened in porch with 5/4s and put them as tight as I could,, and now 2 months later they have a gap in them as they dried and shrunk.
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Most people will tell you to use a nail to space the boards, however, everyone who's done deck or fence work will tell you that you'll have spacing once the wood dries.
 
I went cedar with treated deck screws when I redid mine several years ago. My brother went with trex.... think the initial cost was way higher and his trex got faded by the sun. Cedar needs to be treated once a year, but I found it to be affordable and look much better.
 
Thanks y’all. I won’t worry about spacing since the wood will shrink as it dries
 
My deck guy went with treated wood and coated screws. His suggestion: buy the cheapest clear water repellent you can find and splash it on once a year. In a northern climate like ours, its held up well for 10 years. We had a stained deck and it didn't weather well. We just go with the look of the wood.
 
Good suggestion. My wife and I like the natural wood and aren't planning on staining the new deck boards. I'll wind up putting something on it other than Thompson's water seal because I've heard that sealant isn't very good.
 
There is Stain and sealant all in one. Pick your color and tint it like paint. As it dries the sealant starts its job
 
donny475 said:
There is Stain and sealant all in one. Pick your color and tint it like paint. As it dries the sealant starts its job
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Agreed. It's the stuff that goes on like paint that is useless. Peels off as winter beats on it, as shovels clear the deck of snow.
 
donny475 said:
There is Stain and sealant all in one. Pick your color and tint it like paint. As it dries the sealant starts its job
Click to expand...
uitar99 said:
Agreed. It's the stuff that goes on like paint that is useless. Peels off as winter beats on it, as shovels clear the deck of snow.
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Don't waste your money on the Thompson's; Go for the Valspar or Cabots and have it tinted for your looks, so many options out there for the all in one stain and sealer.
Building mine now, gonna do a picture frame in a darker over the lighter deck boards.
will post pics when i am done later this week. Having to do some work, spend time with the Bestest half, actually Work at the home office...help the Bestest half. She had foot surgery and has another week with no weight on foot....so hopefully done this weekend. Deck, furniture and new pergola on it
 
It'll just be water repelling sealant... one year we went with a tinted sealer.. that didn't work out too well and looked horrific when it had dried. It was splotchy and all around unpleasant to look at. It wasn't applied on an overly hot day, and I applied 2 coats like the directions stated. It wasn't thompson's. It was something else. I've still got a bottle of it in my shed I believe so I know to avoid that as well.
 
Scorpion12 said:
It'll just be water repelling sealant... one year we went with a tinted sealer.. that didn't work out too well and looked horrific when it had dried. It was splotchy and all around unpleasant to look at. It wasn't applied on an overly hot day, and I applied 2 coats like the directions stated. It wasn't thompson's. It was something else. I've still got a bottle of it in my shed I believe so I know to avoid that as well.
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Can happen, most mistakes with two coats is letting it dry in-between. Letting the first coat dry activates the sealer, second coat will not apply evenly. Because its sealed. I have done it and learned
 
It would almost be worth it to treat each board individually before it's screwed down I want to say. Sure it would take longer but then again, I doubt I'm going to finish that in one day.
 
Scorpion12 said:
It would almost be worth it to treat each board individually before it's screwed down I want to say. Sure it would take longer but then again, I doubt I'm going to finish that in one day.
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Some of the more exotic and expensive treatments recommend just that.
 
Reframmellator said:
Some of the more exotic and expensive treatments recommend just that.
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I would imagine. That's quite an investment there... but mine will be pressure treated pine. Maybe I'll splurge and try to get southern yellow pine if it's pressure treated.:LOL: Who am I kidding? It'll be whatever Home Depot has on hand that's 5/4 x 6" x 12'
 
Scorpion12 said:
I would imagine. That's quite an investment there... but mine will be pressure treated pine. Maybe I'll splurge and try to get southern yellow pine if it's pressure treated.:LOL: Who am I kidding? It'll be whatever Home Depot has on hand that's 5/4 x 6" x 12'
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It is true of the woods too, but I was thinking of some of the sealants. Cetol by Sikkens used to specifiy coating all sides of a board before installing on the deck.
 
donny475 said:
Don't waste your money on the Thompson's; Go for the Valspar or Cabots and have it tinted for your looks, so many options out there for the all in one stain and sealer.
Building mine now, gonna do a picture frame in a darker over the lighter deck boards.
will post pics when i am done later this week. Having to do some work, spend time with the Bestest half, actually Work at the home office...help the Bestest half. She had foot surgery and has another week with no weight on foot....so hopefully done this weekend. Deck, furniture and new pergola on it
Click to expand...
+1 on the Cabots!
 
Scorpion12 said:
It would almost be worth it to treat each board individually before it's screwed down I want to say. Sure it would take longer but then again, I doubt I'm going to finish that in one day.
Click to expand...
If you intend to use pressure treated I would not recommend staining/sealing until moisture content is reduced.... e.g., install it and wait a couple months for the decking to dry out. Typical PT southern yellow pine has 15-18% moisture content and sealing when this wet wood will not absorb much.
Also, what is the joist spacing on the sub-framing, 16” or 24” on center? If the latter, 5/4 decking will deflect under foot so you should consider 2X.... if 16” OC 5/4 is fine.
 
buckeyewalt said:
+1 on the Cabots!
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I was a confirmed Cabot's guy until New York's VOC regulations forced a reformulation that just didn't work for me any more. If you can still get the good oil based stuff, I agree.
 
Stemmy66 said:
If you intend to use pressure treated I would not recommend staining/sealing until moisture content is reduced.... e.g., install it and wait a couple months for the decking to dry out. Typical PT southern yellow pine has 15-18% moisture content and sealing when this wet wood will not absorb much.
Also, what is the joist spacing on the sub-framing, 16” or 24” on center? If the latter, 5/4 decking will deflect under foot so you should consider 2X.... if 16” OC 5/4 is fine.
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I'm almost positive the joists are 16" on center.

And yep. I'll wait a few weeks for the wood to dry before sealing.
 
Go with the longest deck boards you can get.

All natural wood boards have a slight crook here and there, and the longer boards can be tweaked a little easier as you screw them down.

I have been seeing some pretty big crooks in the synthetic Trex products believe it or not, and I have seen it sag as close as 12" OC.

If you are keeping the original joists, go another 1/2" to 3/4" longer than the original nails/screws.

I love square the square drive screw heads when I can find them, but will settle on torx with no problem
 
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