Goodbye Wood Deck Framing… Hello Steel Deck Framing

Chances are if you have a deck in your backyard–even if it’s a newer synthetic deck–the underlying support framing is pressure treated wood.

Pressure treated lumber is cheap, readily available and using it is a no brainer for the average contractor. “I’m going to build a deck, I’m going to use pressure treated wood” they automatically think to themselves. I’ve built hundreds of decks using pressure treated lumber, but I started getting increasingly frustrated by it.

The wood being harvested these days from forests is “new growth” wood for the most part. This means the trees are relatively young before they are cut down. There are barely growth rings on lumber we get these days (you know the number of rings a tree has is an indicator of its age, right?) and the more growth rings, the denser the board and the stronger and straighter it will be.

You can visibly see the growth rings in this tree however this is a young tree. The rings would be much denser in an older tree.

Older lumber was much denser than the lumber we get today and was generally of a higher quality. Trees can only grow so fast and demand is high, so we get what we can get at this point.

Aside from the wood being “young”, the pressure treating process has been changed significantly in the last 10 years and chemistry used in the treating process has been cleaned up to meet environmental concerns. The lumber mills will tell you the new processes are better than the old ones, but ask any carpenter and they’ll all agree the new lumber is terrible. Not a little worse…Absolutely terrible in comparison.

I got tired of dealing with the unpredictable characteristics of pressure treated lumber. Sometimes it comes soaking wet, sometimes it’s dry as a bone. Sometimes the boards shrink a little when they dry out. Sometimes they don’t shrink at all. Despite our best efforts to frame a precise pressure-treated frame, we simply cannot control what the wood will do as it seasons or dries out in it’s final position as part of deck.

Look at how the deck boards are ridging at the intersection (Click the photo to Zoom in). This is not sloppy craftsmanship but the result of three different underlying framing members shrinking and crowning different amounts. This was glass flat upon completion of the job, but the wood does what the wood wants to do!

This unpredictability means that a deck can develop dips and dives, and deck boards attached to the framing move out of plane creating raised and ugly joints. It’s frustrating to see a beautiful deck compromised by the irregularity of inconsistent framing lumber six months down the road.

In a quest to always provide the best product to my customers, I’ve completely abandoned pressure treated lumber in all of our new deck projects in lieu of light gauge steel framing (LGS). Just a few of the benefits of steel deck framing are:

• Lighter in weight but stronger than wood
• Wildly increased joist spans mean less beams and less footings. This is a really big deal on raised decks with patios underneath.
• More design flexibility. If I need a longer span I can change the parameters of joist from gauge, flange width, and web depth. With wood, we are stuck with 2×8 through 2x12s.
• Perfect material. Every joist is made by a machine so there are no inconsistences from joist to joist like wood. Sometimes two wood  2x10s can measure up to a half inch differently!
• Perfectly flat, level and square decks. The consistency of the material means that everything is extremely precise.
• No shrinking, warping, twisting or shape changing.
• Very little waste. All the steel is delivered to the job site pre-cut so it just has to be assembled.
• When completed, it’s nearly impossible to tell the framing is not wood.

This multi-level deck is looks different now, but look at the photo below to see it when it’s finished and  it looks no different from what you’d expect.

This deck surface is not just flat. It’s perfectly flat and will stay that way forever unlike wood which wouldn’t start or stay this flat.

This is a steel framed deck. Can you tell?

 

 

• Lack of knowledge or understanding of steel framing methods, materials and techniques
• Resistance to change because they are comfortable in their old ways
• Cost. Most think it’s more expensive than it is or too labor intensive. It can be more expensive and it can be more labor intensive in some circumstances but not all. Usually the minimal cost difference is well worth the value of the finished product.
• It’s not locally available. Nonsense! Light Gauge Steel framing is available everywhere. If there’s a commercial building in your town, you can bet it’s got LGS in it.

This is a steel frame deck, too.

Building a Pergola…Is there a Better Way than Wood?

Wood pergolas are traditional, but maintenance can be difficult.

Here’s a contractor asking a question to other contractors about replacing a wood pergola with a low maintenance alternative. This guy is a legitimate “all around” contractor, and he doesn’t even know, so you’re probably wondering too:

Gotta replace a rotted Pergola and wondered if there are any worthwhile alternative materials besides wood? Its rather large………probably 30 ft wide and 12 ft long and the rafters are attached to the house into pockets in the brick. Its supported by 3 round synthetic columns with 2 doubled 2 x 8′s for the beam. The rafters are 2 x 8 around 12 ft long. Cedar would be my lumber choice, but my customer wants to be informed about any synthetic alternatives that wont rot. It is painted to match the house color. I have read some about fiberglass Pergolas, but not sure about the details and availability. I dont think PVC(Azek or something similar) would be strong enough to span 12 ft like that. Any suggestions?

Wood Pergolas

Wood is the traditional choice for pergolas. Depending on your locale, the most common lumber species used are either cedar or redwood. The benefit of using wood to build a pergola is that it’s typically much less expensive than synthetic options and it’s relatively easy to customize on site. With wood, you can really do anything you could image design-wise.

The major downside of wood is that it requires maintenance in the form of both cleaning and staining or painting. Staining or painting a wood pergola is tedious work at best and it borders on something that even professional painters don’t like to do because it’s so time consuming to do. Unlike a deck with one surface to clean and finish, nearly every side of every piece of wood has to be addressed with a pergola so it’s slow going. Really slow going.

Vinyl

A vinyl pergola installed over a deck.

Vinyl pergolas are popular these days because they look good, are extremely easy to maintain, and are cost effective relative to custom fabricating a wood pergola. Vinyl pergolas come in kit form and are assembled quickly much like an erector set. Most kits come in a variety of sizes and are expandable or even customizable if need be.

Maintenance is simple,  just like a vinyl fence. Powerwash it with a good detergent as needed and you’re done.

The downside to vinyl is that you can have whatever color you like as long as it’s white. Color options for vinyl pergolas are limited to white and buff or almond for the most part. If you want a custom color, look for fiberglass models.

Fiberglass

Fiberglass can be painted to nearly any color.

Fiberglass pergolas are similar in all aspects to vinyl pergolas except they must be painted either before, during, or after installation. This is a benefit for some people as they’d like to match a color on there home or simulate a darker stained wood color in lieu of the standard white that vinyl provides.

Fiberglass pergola kits are typically more expensive than vinyl kits and are considered to be an upgrade from vinyl.

Pergolas are great outdoor structures and add a lot of character to any yard. My company, Bergen Decks, installs a fair amount of pergolas as they are becoming requested more and more by homeowners.

In fact, I was interviewed on a television show called HouseSmarts to discuss pergolas and popular options, so rather than read, you can watch! Check out the interview on YouTube here.