Lee Schierer
08-22-2005, 9:39 AM
Well, for now there will be no more hitting the deck around my house. I finished the remake of our front deck this weekend. Its been in progress for about 3 weeks now. So from now on there is no painting, power washing, sealing or staining on my front deck.
I resurfaced the deck with Veranda composite lumber from HD. We special ordered a redwood color to go better with the house. I used the Tiger Claw fastener system which hides all the fasteners from view. I also considered a biscuit type hidden fastener system, but they were more money and I would have needed to buy a plate jointer. In hindsight I think they would have been less labor to install. I ended up drilling pilot holes for each of the tiger claws, their method of pounding them in left a lot to be desired and was frustrating on long boards as you would get one end in work your way across only to find that the end you started with had worked out of place.
I covered all exposed surfaces with the Veranda material. They even have 1/2 X 10 material for covering the exposed joists. The steps have conventional stringers under them, but also have no exposed fasteners. The railings and lattice are 100% vinyl and all the screws I used were stainless steel. The posts are 4 X 4 treated lumber covered with vinyl jackets.
As you can see by the third photo, there are no visible fasteners in the deck surface. We elected to use the wood grain side of the decking so it at least looked like wood. The other side has afine ribbed pattern that looked a bit industrial.
The Veranda material worked easily with woodworking tools. I was able to rip, crosscut, route and joint pieces with no problems. It is more flexible than ordinary wood so you have to decrease the joist spacing to 12" maximum. My joists were on 16" center, but because I was running diagonally across them, I was able to put new joists in between and achieve the 12" or less span.
So now I will have more time for fishing and cabinet making. :D
I resurfaced the deck with Veranda composite lumber from HD. We special ordered a redwood color to go better with the house. I used the Tiger Claw fastener system which hides all the fasteners from view. I also considered a biscuit type hidden fastener system, but they were more money and I would have needed to buy a plate jointer. In hindsight I think they would have been less labor to install. I ended up drilling pilot holes for each of the tiger claws, their method of pounding them in left a lot to be desired and was frustrating on long boards as you would get one end in work your way across only to find that the end you started with had worked out of place.
I covered all exposed surfaces with the Veranda material. They even have 1/2 X 10 material for covering the exposed joists. The steps have conventional stringers under them, but also have no exposed fasteners. The railings and lattice are 100% vinyl and all the screws I used were stainless steel. The posts are 4 X 4 treated lumber covered with vinyl jackets.
As you can see by the third photo, there are no visible fasteners in the deck surface. We elected to use the wood grain side of the decking so it at least looked like wood. The other side has afine ribbed pattern that looked a bit industrial.
The Veranda material worked easily with woodworking tools. I was able to rip, crosscut, route and joint pieces with no problems. It is more flexible than ordinary wood so you have to decrease the joist spacing to 12" maximum. My joists were on 16" center, but because I was running diagonally across them, I was able to put new joists in between and achieve the 12" or less span.
So now I will have more time for fishing and cabinet making. :D