Walking All Over It

A deck can extend the living space of your home and give you a place where you can safely and comfortably spend time outside. When you are making plans for your deck, you have a lot of options for decking materials. Each of the choices has its benefits and drawbacks. Your contractor should be able to answer any questions you may have about the different materials and can give you suggestions as to what materials will work best for your situation. 

Wood

Wood is the material most people think about when they think about decks and what they can be made out of. If you decide to go with wood decking, there are still a lot of options. For example, you could go with something like cedar or redwood, which are very popular choices. They tend to be insect and rot-resistant, which is a good thing for a deck that is going to be exposed to all kinds of weather. They both weather to a nice shade as well. Redwood can be difficult to source, unless you live in places on the West Coast where it is native. You could also choose to go with a non-native hardwood, like Ipe or Cambara. You might be the only person in the neighborhood that has a deck made out of this material, but it can also be really expensive. 

Pressure Treated Wood

This product is still wood, but it has been treated, so it isn't usually under the same category as other woods. Pressure treated wood is made by putting the lumber into huge vacuum tanks. When the tank is sealed, all the air is sucked out. While under vacuum, a mix made up of things like chromium, arsenic, and copper is inserted into the wood. The vacuum makes it easier for the chemicals to get deep into the wood, coating each and every strand. Pressure treated wood tends to be more durable, and needs to have less maintenance, but the wood can be toxic, so if you are going to use it for your deck and you are building it yourself, you need to make sure that you are using some kind of breathing protection, like a dust mask, so that you aren't inhaling all the dust. You should also never burn pressure treated lumber because of the chemicals it contains. 

When you add a deck to your house, there are a number of decking materials that you can choose from. Talk to your contractor and ask them which one they would recommend for your particular deck. For more information on decking, contact a professional near you.