Pressure Treated Decking Lumber

[Ken Krawford]

I'm in the Atlanta, GA area.

Climate is the most impostant IMO
Where are you and the deck located.

[Earl McLain]

Redid my deck last spring, used Menard's thick decking--pretty consistent 1 1/8" thick. For a 30' wide deck, i ordered all 16' lumber and happily had them deliver-delivery cost was around $110, and i'm about 15 miles from the store. Didn't have a single board that wasn't usable--some warp but at 16' it's easier to "convince" to a good gap than 8',or 10' would be. Cupping was minimal, an i laid all with cup up (end grain "frowning"). I don't know if Menard's has stores in your area, if not i'd sure look around for the thick decking. Price for me was even with Lowe's standard 5/4 decking. Local lumber yard was 2x the money--i'd have liked to support them, but not at the spread we had!!

Used Camo edge screws, and they recommend no screws within 1" of the end, so i doubled joists where the joints fell--probably could have used sistered 2 x 4's next to the 2 x8's, instead i just doubled up the joists, and used double hangers. Hardest part was remembering to put the edge of the doubled joist on the 16" mark--instead of centering that joist (really--remembering to put the double hangers in the right places!! the joists drop into the hanger pockets)

Now that we're seeing spring and some wild temp swings (54 degrees in 12 hours a few days ago--i'm pleased with how flat the whole thing is. Used Kreg blind screws on a smaller (12' x 8') deck about 8 years ago and those are still flat as well. Kreg's were a bit more expensive than Camo for the big deck, plus really need to be pre-drilled where the Camo's were jig & drive with no drilling. HUGE time difference with no drilling and purchased direct from Camo (through Amazon), they shipped quick.

[Ken Krawford]

The Camo screws are an interesting option. I had considered Trex type fasteners and cutting a slot on the edge of the board but the Camo option is considerable cheaper.

[Thomas L Carpenter]

Joist tape is new to me. Haven't built a deck in nearly 30 years. What's it's purpose?

[Bill Howatt]

Joist tape is new to me. Haven't built a deck in nearly 30 years. What's it's purpose?

For decks it goes over the top of the joist and the decking board is fastened on top of it. It is exposed in the gap between boards but is usually an unnoticeable dark color. It keeps the rain water from collecting between the boards and thus reduces rotting. It can also be used for other areas such as wood/flashing interfaces. As I said in an earlier post, I've heard of cutting strips of roof ice-guard material and using it. Probably a very similar product.