Pressure Treated Decking Lumber

[Ken Krawford]

The longest flatbed truck my HD has is 10'. That would leave a 6' overhang which makes me uncomfortable. The longest box truck is 12' but I don't know if it can be driven with the doors open.

Doesn't your HD rent trucks? Buy longer boards and haul them in rented truck. As far as cupping, generally longer boards are cut from lower section of tree, which have less knots and less prone to cupping.

[Ken Krawford]

If it were my deck I'd consider composite but it's for my daughter's house. FWIW, composite is about 4 times the cost of pressure treated at Lowes & Home Depot.

Im all for trex but it will increase the budget. Make sure you crown your boards so that if it does anything it will have to warp past dead flat before warping. This also will allow water to run off. And as always avoid big box wood.

[Ken Krawford]

RE: doubling the joists at joints, could a 2x4 just be sistered to the existing joist since all you're looking for is a sure to screw the deck board into?
Not sure about joist tape. This deck is 22 yrs old. I'll see what kind of shape the joists are in when the decking is torn off.

[Ron Citerone]

I am redoing my 15’ deck top this spring. I am replacing them with 16 boards as I don’t want seams. If I was going the seam route I would alternate 6’ and 8’ so the seam is staggered.

I would double the joist at the seam. My 2 cents.

[Jim Becker]

A utility trailer might be a good way to get the longer material home...one that's an open flat bed so you can have overhang both front and back. That's how I carry long lumber on my 5x8 utility trailer, keeping it toward the centerline where I have more length available. That said, with a deck that long, I'd likely pay for delivery so that the "purveyor of fine pressure treated material" can place it near the work area with a Moffett forklift to cut down on the handling. That's a lesson I've learned over time...where the "line" is between doing the grunt work myself and paying a little to have someone else do it. Deliveries of larger quantities of stuff come under the latter.

[Bill Dufour]

FWIW, composite is about 4 times the cost of pressure treated at Lowes & Home Depot.

And if you use composites you will have to about double the number of joists as well.
Bill D

[Lee Schierer]

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And if you use composites you will have to about double the number of joists as well.
Bill D

Unless your joists are spaced farther apart than 16" centers no additional joists should be required. However, if you decide to put the the decking on a diagonal, then the spacing would need to be a maximum of 12" centers.

[Tom M King]

I built this dock in 1991 with one of my spec houses. The squares are 16' for the 32' square main part. I think it was in 2012 when the boards were turned over because the tops were getting splits in them, but the underside was still good. I think only about 8 boards needed to be replaced. This was a 16" centers frame with screws alternating sides of the boards from one joist to the next. This came out of a bundle of no.1 decking boards.

A few years ago they put that thick rubber like coating on it, and it's still in use.

[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.