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Margaret Phillips I put in a deck using Trek decking system three years ago. It looks fabulous and I love the piece of mind that comes from maintenance free deck life.

mikehansma Thanks for ur advice. Does ur deck made from trex not split over time from rain and sun?? I know someone that had that issue but maybe there is different qualities??

Margaret Phillips No the deck is still perfect. The dirt, leaves and soil come but they all wash away. I have a PVC/vinyl railing which I'm glad to have used with it as well. It has been more than three years. I had not heard about splitting. I suppose there are all different types. I know several people with Trek or similar product theirs are all older than mine, no one has had any trouble. I was able to get mine at a discount retailer that carries discontinued colors. The colors unless outlandish never vary too much, tan, beige, reddish. Mine is a heavy tan beige.

mikehansma Well thanks so much! That helps a lot in our decision. Hopefully we can find a discount retailer as well!

Architectural Elements I like Ipe (ironwood) and tiger wood. I am not a fan of wood and plastic composites.
ArchEle.com

Metro Interiors This house is deffinintly calling for a ceder gizabo!

mikehansma I know nothing about ironwood other than it burns awesome in our fireplace. It's not commonly used around here for anything. Is it pricey?

broccoli10 I would use wood to make the deck because your house is made of wood:)

Wood Railing Ipe/ironwood is expensive. It is imported from South America.
Cedar is a good alternative that is from North America, so the price, even for premium quality lumber, will be much more reasonable. Composite is also a good alternative and there are many good manufacturers.
AND...
This house is a perfect match for Mountain Laurel Handrails http://awoodrailing.com

AFC inc Ipe , Mahogany , Tigar Wood , Jarah are expensive .These woods looks impressive and can last many decades but all of them need maintenance as well as the cedar. Composite materials maintenance free but has own disadvantages .

mikehansma If you mix and match composite with cedar will it blend together? Can u find a wide array of colors in composite? eg... Composite deck with cedar gazebo

Wood Railing When using different products like composite and cedar, I would try to contrast them as opposed to trying to blend them together.

Margaret Phillips If you look at Trek's website they have some amazing colors.

michigammemom Please google Trex and research some product problems prior to making your decision. We used it for our deck and within a year it was spotted with unsightly black mold/mildew. It is hardly the low maintenance product we were hoping for.

RNW Construction From our experience with Trex, it seems to weather well. Just keep in mind that it will still have certain characterics in common with wood. The one issue that we have seen happen is from having the boards transition from one substrate to another. As an example, if you were to have a length of board mounted to both wood framing and concrete just be aware that the Trex will move differently over each of them. This is due to normal expansion and contraction conditions of each substrate. This would happen whether you use Trex or regular lumber.

mikehansma Thanks for your input:)

Joseph I. Mycyk Architects, Inc. Just curious, but where you are planning to locate the deck, does the grade slope down? If not, and your first floor is not too high off of finish grade as your front elevation indicates, would you consider a stone or paver patio instead? Less maintenance, no fading of color, etc.

apennameandthata Why would you not use the same materials the house is going to be built from? By definition, decks are made of wood. Wood in sunlight will last about 10 minutes, but. Wood under cover will last well.

apennameandthata Is that really your house? I bet $10 it aint. So, why post it and have people respond as if it is? The reason I ask is that if that is your house, then what to make your deck out of will be pretty obvious. No vinyl for you.

mikehansma Well u can send 10$ via PayPal. I am picking up blueprints today. I smell jealousy!

mikehansma The proposed deck is on the back side of the house. We will have a walk out basement. Deck will b about 9-10 feet off the ground.

mikehansma Here is floor plan

mikehansma Here is front elev. will post rear elev later today

creeser I would go with the trex. We used wood for the deck at our lake house and have fought it since. It cups and warps. Wish we had invested in the trex to begin with, but will definitely replace with it.

apennameandthata I didn't read the top of the post. That isn't your house, that is a photo of a house with the same design.... If that was your ACTUAL house, and you had manicured it to infinity, then it would be clear which materials to use: either the wood that the house was made from or the stone that surrounds the house. My point: you don't have your house manicured THAT much without an intense sense of what is aesthetic. If your actual house looked like that then touching vinyl or (choke) aluminium would give your a rash. If your house ACUTALLY looked like the one in the photo, then you would have a covered deck because someone so obsessive about the appearance of a house would be careful to have a deck in the same architectual style as the house: that might be why someone suggested a cedar gazebo. But, if you had mentioned that the deck would be 8' off the ground you would not have wasted their time.


So, you actually owe me $10, but I'll forgive your debt because I should have read the start of the post! If you want to have the last laugh, then post in 2 years with your house looking just like the one in the photo! If I were jealous, then I would have stopped looking at Houzz a long time ago. Most of the houses on here are owned by people with real money, the 0.1% ers.

The house in the plans is not the same house as in the photo. Sigh. It's bigger. But you already knew that. The reason for the rant is that people are all the time posting questions with photos off the net that they imply are from their house. The surrounds of a house and the colours and textures of the house inform the readers about the big picture. If your ACTUAL house was in a more industrial area, or had more industrial colours, then you might be more happy with steel, for example. If you had concrete driveway, then you might be more happy with concrete columns.

People who ask questions seem to forget this or not realise that people need lots of info to help. When you put misleading photos, you mislead the people who reply and wast their time. A classic example is when people ask what colours to paint their walls but don't say what colour their floor is - but people who ask this question usually post ACTUAL photos of the space. You also didn't say (not that I saw) whether or not the deck was to be covered. If wood is covered it will not rot. If wood is not covered, it will rot. See: you cave too little information, and the information you did give was misleading.

michigammemom Take a look at this quick review of Trex from Ehow. It describes the mold/mildew problem I experienced. http://www.ehow.com/about_5544772_problems-trex-decking.html

mikehansma This is the same house other than a couple of slight changes. Colors are exactly what I'm using and so on! By the way, this house will be built with real money. Thanks

Peter Maguire beautiful future home, congrats. As a pro exotic wood dealer, who buys and sells millions of bd.ft. of Teak, Mahogany, purpleheart, ironwood, zebrawood.., trust me., while these woods are the ultimate, they are serious overkill and expensive beyond words (Phillipine Mahogany the possible exception). My advice, your house, use the best grade local to your area ?? redwood, cedar, etc. just maintain it every couple of years and it will last longer than you, with real beauty of age. Something that composites can never duplicate. It's your house, but in my view, composite decking is great for high end condo developments, not a home of this character. If you can afford this home, you can afford $200 every 2 or 3 years for upkeep.

mikehansma I'm leaning towards cedar. Thanks for your honest input!

mikehansma If you have so much doubt on this house then why waste your time posting negative comments? After all you are the last person I would ever take advice from!! Put your time and effort into something someone actually cares about

Wood Railing I see the trolls have come to Houzz.