Lumber choice for porch decking? Oak, Birch, SYP?

[Bert Pohl]

Hi,
I am wondering if others could weigh in here... I have a porch that needs re-covering (tongue & groove style), and have availability of (green) Birch @$0.25 a board foot, (green) Oak @$0.35 a board foot & (kiln dried) SYP @$1.00 a board foot. I have no idea the weatherability of Oak & Birch. I believe the previous owners used southern yellow pine for the previous covering... Project is a year away, so I should have time to air dry the green lumber.
I'd welcome any input. I'm planning on sealing the porch, but I'm sure moisture is going to leak...
thanks!

[John Lankers]

Those are incredible prices.
I personally would not use birch, it is not resistant to rot. Oak, especially white oak on the other hand, is very rot resistant. I'm not familiar with Southern Yellow Pine, only Northern varieties and they lack longevity and rot resistance. Other options, if available to you, are Western Red Cedar and Redwood.

[John Gustafson]

John L has pretty much covered it, but I would emphasize WHITE oak. Red oak is a different critter altogether in terms of rot resistance and does not survive well in exposed weather conditions. White oak on the other hand was a traditional shipbuilding material.

[Chris Hachet]

John L has pretty much covered it, but I would emphasize WHITE oak. Red oak is a different critter altogether in terms of rot resistance and does not survive well in exposed weather conditions. White oak on the other hand was a traditional shipbuilding material.


Agree completely on the white oak thing...

[Robert Engel]

I have a lot of experience using SYP treated decking. I would not recommend T&G on any outdoor deck. No matter how dry you think the wood is, if exposed to sun it will still shrink, leaving a gap that just collect debris.

The way I do it is but the boards tight and let them shrink on their own. If relatively dry, this will usually give a 1/8" gap.

I just redid my deck with composite decking.

No way it can compete cost wise, but aesthetically/maintenance wise it might be worth at least looking at. It will outperform wood in harsh environments.

For me, it was well worth it just for the fact I don't have to maintain it.

Good luck - don't forget to countersink those screws.

[glenn bradley]

Build a deck or a fence of wood, build it again. I changed to syntho. More expensive at the start but, way cheaper in the long run. Of course I prefer real wood but, for me and my lifestyle, building the deck once is enough.

[Bradley Gray]

For a roofed porch I would use KDAT (kiln dried after treating)southern yellow pine. A good lumber yard will have this in T&G.

So much work to redo so use good material for longevity.

[Bill Adamsen]

Like Robert, just redid my covered deck with composite. It is however much more expensive up-front. White oak should be a good choice though from past experience the maintenance effort, while not especially expensive, is labor intensive. To verify the type of oak, you might reference Louis Sauzedde's method ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6t2AZubF8U

[Mel Fulks]

I would probably use the pine but only if I could pick it myself and reject all of the pieces that are not run "bark side up".
Luck and operator ignorance usually make about 60 percent of t and g run the wrong way. That means "razor blades" up.

[Russell Smallwood]

This is an area in which I have some experience. Traditionally, in the south, T&G porch floors were made with Cypress according to my research. Unfortunately, the cypress available today is nothing like the cypress if old as most is young and grown for processing. Old growth cypress is only readily available in the form of reclaimed timbers and is very expensive.

I use cypress anyway and have had decent luck. It is easy to find T&G flooring in lengths suitible for the "front to back" orientation that porch flooring is traditionally laid.

I bought mine from Jimmy's Cypress in Texas somewhere. I would use them again.

No doubt oak would probably be a better choice in today's world, but I don't know how much luck you'll have finding white oak flooring in bundles of equal length that are sufficient to cover the depth of your porch. You might have to mill them yourself. But I haven't done the research.

The one thing I recommend regardless of species is to thoroughly prime ALL SIX SIDES of each board before installing. It will not interfere with the T&G fit, but will vastly improve the life of your porch.

In this part of the country, we have a saying; Southern porches are like ice sculptures, the minute you're finished with them they start melting.

One more tip. If you do lay your flooring in the traditional front to back orientation, consider using a breadboard to cap the ends.

[Bert Pohl]

wow, thanks so much for replies, much appreciated.

The deck is a traditional old style porch, not really a deck, which is the reason for the T&G (it was made about 1905 & the porch has been re-laid since then). Otherwise, yep, I would opt for decking with the gaps between. Sounds like quite a few votes for the white oak (I'll check that it's white). I am tempted to go with southern yellow pine (kiln dried), as that would match with the original wood, but I like the sound of $0.25 a board foot (oak) :-)

edited to add that yes, I'm planning on doing the milling myself...

[Bob Michaels]

In my area of upstate New York, older and historic homes sport porches with 3 1/4" wide fir t&g decking which is painted. When i built the traditional porch on our own house 7 years ago, I used 3 coats of west system epoxy on the exposed end grain along the front and oil primer with 2 coats finish paint. There are 150 & 200 year old porches in the village that are still in great shape and they didn't have the epoxy end grain. I realize that fir is not one of the species that you have access to at a great price, but it presents one more option.

[Mel Fulks]

Some of the porches were covered with painted canvas, pretty common in some places. Haven't done a whole porch but have used it on things like sills that were peeling from being installed heart side up. And I covered some old walk boards that the masons used. Old House Journal had a write up or two about painted canvas. Some stuff on you tube,too.

[Rick Malakoff]

Bob, if memory serves me correct the T&G boards were at right angles to the house so that if any water was collected it would not be trapped, theoretically.
Rick

[Bill Dufour]

Where in the world do you live. are those prices in US Dollars. Is snow and ice a issue or is heat and sun. It would help if we knew something about your climate. Lots of houses here in California have a cast concrete porch deck with a wooden support framed into the house.
Bill

[Dave Cav]

I'll put in another vote for synthetic. I had a cedar deck in the pacific northwest. As soon as the deck was finished, maintenance started. Pressure wash, stain, repeat annually, five years later, replace rotted boards. 15 years was enough; my new house has a Timber Tech front deck. Pressure washed it three times in 16 years and that's it.

[roger wiegand]

In New England the traditional standard is fir, installed with a slight slope away from the house (boards typically running perpendicular to the length of the porch, so the opposite of most modern deck construction). This seems to hold up quite well, with lifespans of many decades. Interestingly you can buy really nice fir decking with very tight growth rings even at the HD around here-- it's the best lumber they sell, I think. That said, if I were installing a new porch I'd use synthetic unless it were a house with historic significance.

I used KDAT SYP on a house in Missouri and it was terribly splintery, couldn't walk barefoot on it. Cedar was almost as bad.

[Jim Finn]

I have built decks made of "Trex" and would recommend it. I put the "boards" at a 45° diagonal to the house and it looked great!

[Bob Michaels]

Bob, if memory serves me correct the T&G boards were at right angles to the house so that if any water was collected it would not be trapped, theoretically.
Rick
Rick, that's correct. Floor joist run parallel to front of house and porch flooring runs perpendicular to fromt of house, for the reason you mention. BTW, I mistyped the width of the T&G fir decking...it is 2 1/4" wide.

[Randall J Cox]

I'm in central Calif and just bought some good quality white oak at $4.89 a board foot for some furniture projects. Of course it had to be shipped from across the country where it grows. Where are you located? Don't use redwood, to soft.

[Rick Malakoff]

Redwood, tight knot con common is all we ever used since I moved here in 1977. Just don't stain, paint or water prof them and they will last forever.
That's my story and I'm stickin to it!:rolleyes:
Rick

[John Gulick]

Cumaru, in the past 40 years I have tried just about everything. SouthAmerican teak gets my vote. You will never do it again

[Bert Pohl]

Where in the world do you live. are those prices in US Dollars. Is snow and ice a issue or is heat and sun. It would help if we knew something about your climate. Lots of houses here in California have a cast concrete porch deck with a wooden support framed into the house.
Bill

I'm situated in Arkansas, so quite a bit of heat/cold variation. We have quite a few mountain red-neck sawmills dotted about, hence the price. The (US)$0.35/board foot is for green oak timber thick enough to make decking boards... Main motivation at the moment is a low-ball budget. Present deck is rotted out & I figured I can start drying out the green lumber with the expectation of replacing it in a year. I agree that artificial boards would last the best, presently labor isn't an issue, price is. House foundation is a rough stone/mortar mix, joist supports are piles of layered rock, no mortar (!). House is over 100yrs old.

[Kelly Hanna]

I have built about a dozen in SYP. Common for covered porches in Texas. I would say if yours is not covered [most porches are] then I would opt for something other than T&G as others have stated. SYP works well if dried and holds up well as long as they are stained or painted before or right after installation. They make treated SYP flooring but it's not a good idea no matter if it's covered or not.

[Wayne Cannon]

I would strongly consider Ipe/ironwood. It is so dense that it doesn't splinter. It is so strong, you can use thinner boards (e.g., 5/4 instead of 8/4) and wider joist spacing (e.g., 24" instead of 16") and still have less flex than traditional materials -- ultimately making it very comparable in cost. I'm super happy my neighbor/contractor talked me into it.