Fiberon has expanded two of its three product lines this year.  Their “Outdoor Flooring” series is the all-cellular PVC decking

Fiberon's Spanish Cedar

Fiberon's Jotoba (click to enlarge)

previously sold as Sensibuilt (Fiberon bought Sensibuilt in 2008).  Until this year, Fiberon’s PVC decking had only solid colors (Cedar, Driftwood, and Mocha), which competed directly against Azek.  This year Fiberon introduced two new colors: Jotoba and Spanish Cedar, and also added random, light-colored streaks to these colors. Do you like them?

Fiberon’s “Horizon” series imitates the look of tropical hardwoods.  Ipe and the popular Rosewood have been available for a few years.

Random color variations make each board unique and to many people’s eyes, more natural looking.  Early last year Fiberon changed the colors in Ipe from the reddish browns similar to Rosewood (indeed, the two were hard to distinguish) to light browns with dark grey highlights.  The newer Ipe is impossible to mistake;  it is dramatic:

Last Year's "New" Ipe

People either love or hate the look.  What do you think?  (And don’t tell me you’re luke-warm about it.)

But enough about last year.  What’s new this year?  Well, Tudor Brown and Castle Grey, that’s what.  Tudor Brown is a crisp, true brown, with dark, random streaks.

Tudor Brown (click to enlarge)

Castle Grey (click to enlarge)

And Castle Grey is distinctly different – a light grey with some dark coloring.  Overall, it is a light grey board that will look good against many houses.

If I weren’t trying to be Mr. Niceguy here, I’d ask Fiberon “What took you so long to give us this grey?”  Among the synthetic decking, grey is the most popular color of all, especially here in New England.

Of course, all these Horizon colors have edge grooves so you can hide the fasteners, embossed grain patterns for greater realism, and a 20-year warranty against various types of misbehavior (checking, splintering, delaminating, etc.).  The warranty here is a mixed bag, however.  Fiberon recently extended its warranty to include stain resistance and — here’s an industry first —  color fading.  Wow.  But the color fade warranty is limited:  it kicks in only if your Fiberon board fades more than “5 Delta E Hunter units.”  So you’re asking me exactly what is a “Delta E Hunter unit?”  And just how bad are 5 of them stacked together?  I could tell you that 5 Delta E’s is a very low level, and that the sun turns my skin 6 Delta E’s during the short time it takes David Ortiz to strike out.  Well,…the truth be known, this is bunk.  I couldn’t tell one Delta E Hunter unit from a Delta L sitting right next to it. And really: No one knows just what 5 Delta E units are.  The vinyl siding people think “…a good warranty will guarantee products will not fade in excess of 4 Delta E Hunter units.”  So you can trust some vinyl siding salesman or you could read an authoritative article that specifies all the “negative yellows”, “Delta L”s, and “Illuminant TL4”s you could ever hope for.  Just click here.  Or you could read about the history of Delta E and study some really cool formulas for measuring Empfindung along all three axes — by clicking here.   Either article will put you to sleep.  Guaranteed.

What about the warranty’s notorious fine print on stains?  It is better than reasonable:  it covers wine, coffee, tea, ketchup, mustard,… “and any other food or beverage related items that would typically be present on a residential deck.”  Really, it says that.  So, some dark Guinness Stout?  Yup.  Redneck Hot Pepper Sauce?  Yes, and even Alabama Red Lightnin’ Hot Chili Sauce.**  Hot grease from your grill?  It ain’t excluded, and I sure do expect to see a grill on your deck.  OK, I’m starting to like this warranty now.  And it gets better:  Fiberon gives you a week to clean up your mess.  Yeah, a week!!   You gotta love it!  A week is forever!  The Red Sox can lose 5 games before you need to clean up that ketchup.

Remember that “mixed bag” I mentioned?  Well, here’s the bad part: Fiberon prorates that 20 year warranty after 10 years.  Honest.  At 14 years, they’ll replace only 60% of a stained board.  And at 18 years, you get only 20% of that board.  What do they expect us to do with a 2 foot piece of decking?  Was that really necessary?  Fiberon had something good going here with that 20 year stuff, and then they let some  **?$%!  lawyer get involved.

OK, OK, getting back on track.  Put all the features of the new Fiberon Horizon together – hidden fasteners, embossed grain patterns, random streaks, new natural looking colors, and guarantees against splinters, rot, fading, and staining by a 20 year, quirky warranty – and you’ve got an attractive product.  Compare these features and Fiberon’s slightly lower price, and you just might choose Fiberon over the other guys.

Next week: One of those other guys.

Useful Links:

1. Fiberon’s official site:  http://www.fiberondecking.com/
2. For an explanation of just how low the new low maintenance decking is, see my prior post.

Semi-useful Links:

3. Listen to a vinyl siding salesman discuss Delta E fading: http://www.coverupconstruction.com/faqs.php

4. ** For an incomplete list of hot sauces that will not stain your deck (some with unprintable names) click here.

We at Archadeck of Suburban Boston offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website. To learn how we treat our clients, check our ratings on Angie’s List or read a recent article about us in Remodeling Magazine. For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding design and construction experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2011 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.

And the PT decking had that beautiful, light amber stain like this:

But you have not treated it for years and now it looks like this:

Or this:

Or even this:

What should you do?  Can you restore it?  And is it worth all that work?  Before you power wash your PT deck or re-treat it, examine it closely.  You may have other, more serious issues to contend with.

These issues fall into 3 categories:

1. Underlying structure: Is the framing underneath sound, and is your deck properly built?  Is it safe?  There’s no sense in spending six or ten hours or hundreds of dollars to beautify your deck if it may injure you or it may collapse.  You can determine quite a lot about your deck by examining it yourself – for guidance see my blog post about Deck Safety.  If you are unsure about its framing or suspect your deck may not be safe, get a professional inspection.  (For clients in northeastern Massachusetts, we offer a Deck Safety Inspection for a minimal charge.) Avoid a bad surprise:

2. Minor Problems: What are the floor boards like?  Are they flat and solidly fastened?  Or has the wood cupped or split?  Are there loose and protruding nails or sharp splinters that will catch bare feet?  Do the rails shake?  Do your stairs scare your guests?  These problems are usually fixable – by you or by a professional.

3. Appearance: If you’ve read this far, your deck has probably faded and may be stained with grease from a grill or have black mold stains.  Power washing and re-treating it can dramatically improve your deck’s appearance. But a  painted deck presents a greater challenge.

Overall, there are three alternatives for your deck:  Restore it, renovate it, or replace it entirely.

A. RESTORE IT.

If the deck’s structure really is sound, you can choose to fix minor issues and then restore much of its original glory.

• Among the minor issues, loose nails are easy.  They loosen when wood shrinks and swells with moisture changes or when the nails rust and become thinner.  Don’t waste your time pounding a loose nail back down.  The nail is loose because its hole is larger than the diameter of the nail.  Pounding it back down may seem good now, but Mother Nature is devious and persistent.  Pounding the nail down widens the hole more, and whatever force loosened the nail originally will return.  You must do just the opposite:  pull out the nail and discard it.  The solution here is a screw:  a hot-dipped galvanized screw, stainless steel screw or a coated screw guaranteed not to rust.  The screw’s shaft diameter must be as large as the nail hole and its threads must be larger.  I’m talking here about a 2 ½” long #9 or #10 screw, depending on the size of the original nail.  Use a power drill and watch the wondrous results:  as the screw tightens, it will suck the board flat.  If you use an impact driver, be careful;  they are so powerful you may just drive the screw through the deck board.

• Cupped boardsare more difficult.  If the cup is small and the raised edges are not too high, you can sand it down and use screws to further pull it flat — or you could just live with the small cup.  But floorboard edges that are raised high could trip someone.  Such seriously
  

  Clamp & screw down?

  cupped boards require serious tactics.  If you can clamp the raised edges down (as on a rail cap), do so, and then screw it flat.  Otherwise, consider flipping the board over.  The cup will now slope down, and the drying forces that previously cupped the board should now work to straighten your board.  The new top side may show significant discoloration that you’ll want to sand or perhaps power wash.  It may be easier here to just replace the offensive board.

• Splits in boards are problematic.  I do not recommend
  

  Click to enlarge

  filling splits with putty or wood fillers.  Despite manufacturers’ enticing claims, even “external wood fillers” will not endure outside with swings of 80% in humidity and 90 degrees in temperature.  Remember that “devious and persistent Mother Nature”?  Replace seriously cracked boards.  A note about splits vs. checks:  Splits extend all the way through a board and weaken it.  Checks extend only partially through the wood (1/3 or so).  In PT wood, checks are the normal result of the natural drying process.  They are most prevalent in larger dimension wood (4×4 rail posts, 6×6 support columns).  Despite their size, checks do not weaken the wood.

• You can sand small splinters.  For larger splinters at the side of a board, cut out the splinter with a knife at an angle and then sand it smooth.  The board will be imperfect, but will no longer be dangerous.

• Old, flaking paint can pose a real problem, especially if the paint is thick.   For example, cleaning a deck floor like this thoroughly enough for it to look good will take a tedious combination of scraping, chemical stripping, power washing, and sanding.  And even then, the results may not prove satisfactory.  Better to skip all that work and replace the flooring.

• If your deck surface is more benign — faded, mottled-looking with worn stain and minor roughness — you may want to sand your entire deck.  This can be a daunting task if your deck is large.  If you have limited experience with a sanding machine, I recommend using a random orbital sander.  Its slower speed offers greater control, and its random action eliminates noticeable scratch marks when you sand across the grain.  To the contrary, a belt sander is much faster, but its greater power can do more damage.  You must sand parallel to the grain, and if you are not very careful, you can gouge the wood deeply.  With either sander, the most critical step occurs before you pick up the sander.  All nails and screws must be counter-sunk below the surface – otherwise the protruding steel will tear up the machine’s sandpaper or even the machine itself.

Tired yet?  Take a break before you tackle the next step.

Click to enlarge

So, your deck is structurally sound, and you’ve fixed those troublesome boards and replaced all the loose nails with screws.  Your deck has weathered and discolored badly, has some grease stains from the grill and accumulated dirt.  Now it is time to clean off the deck floor and brighten the faded wood.  Chemical cleaners, a stiff brush, and your elbow grease can be effective.  But I’d recommend an alternative that uses plain water instead of harsh chemicals and that trades off scrubbing on your hands and knees for a careful use of a power washing machine from a standing position.  (OK, I admit my choice here is influenced by the age of my knees.)  You can rent a power washer for fairly short money or buy one for a few hundred dollars.  Proper technique is important however, and I’ve explained the process in detail in another blog post.  See step 7 in “Eight Tips for Maintaining Your Mahogany Deck.” The correct process is the same for pressure treated wood as for mahogany.  The results can be dramatic:

Click to enlarge

Your deck is now fixed, cleaned and ready for a preservative.  Treating your pressure treated deck is not difficult;  but again, technique is important.  First, select a good wood preservative.  I recommend one that includes a semi-transparent stain and is formulated for PT wood.  Do not use paint on your deck floor.  Let me re-phrase that, lest you misunderstand.  NEVER apply paint to an exterior deck floor. Paint is a film that will peel, chip, and flake off.  Remember that painted deck from above?

Click to enlarge

Like it?  Want it to be your deck in a few years?

Use a preservative stain — it will soak into the wood and will not flake.  I recommend using a semi-transparent rather than solid colored preservative stain.  Sure, solid stains come in a wider range of colors, but foot traffic on a deck floor will wear the solid colors unevenly and require more frequent (and complicated) maintenance.  Semi-transparent preservatives show the natural wood grain and age more gracefully.  The best preservative stain for PT decks that I’ve found over the years is TWP, which stands for “total wood protection”.  Use series 200 for PT wood.  It is available on the internet in 8 colors, although the “clear” version lacks pigments and thus will allow your deck to fade much faster.  I’d also suggest you avoid the “California Cedar” color, as it can leave uneven blotches on pressure treated pine.

Applying the preservative to your deck requires only a little technique:  see step 8 of that same blog post about maintaining mahogany.  Your deck must be totally dry before you treat it.

A. RENOVATE IT.

If your deck is structurally sound but all the repairs I’ve described seem like too much work, or if treating your deck every year seems like too much work, consider renovating it.  Remove the wood flooring and rails and install new, low maintenance materials.  Keep the frame.  The selection of PVC decking and rails available today is excellent.  The best products look very natural and are stain resistant, scratch resistant, and mildew resistant;  some even offer fade resistant guarantees.  Compare these samples — which one is synthetic?

I cheated:  only the last one is wood.  The first three are synthetic.

This beauty and low maintenance advantage comes at a price, however. The new synthetic decking and rail materials can be three times the cost of PT.  But you are re-using your existing deck frame, and the labor to install low maintenance materials is the same as installing high maintenance wood.  More importantly: what’s the value of your labor to repair and re-treat your wood deck every year?

B. REPLACE IT.

If your deck has serious structural flaws or you want to change its size or shape, then you’ll have to build a new deck.  Here your choice is fairly clear:  low maintenance decking, rails and trim at a higher initial price or wood with higher long term maintenance.  I’ve written some informative posts that can help you choose:

• For guidance on wood, see “Choices for Your Wood Deck.”
• To compare synthetics to wood, see “Wood vs. Low Maintenance Decking.”
• If you really prefer wood, but don’t like maintaining it, see “Low Maintenance Wood? Really?”.

Once you decide to replace your deck, you’re free to re-design it.  Think beyond the square box.  You can have angled corners, interesting shapes, and multi-levels.

To see more design ideas, visit our website.

When rebuilding your deck, be sure to choose a professional deck builder who will design what you need and build you a well-crafted, solid deck.  Don’t buy into another structural nightmare.

We at Archadeck of Suburban Boston offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website. To learn how we treat our clients, check our ratings on Angie’s List or read a recent article about us in Remodeling Magazine. For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding design and construction experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2011 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.

Ha!  Come shovel my driveway, Mr. Frost.  There are no “downy flakes” here.  Just mounds of heavy, wet, icy snow to strain my back.  And worse, that snow also covers my backyard deck.  When I finish clearing my driveway in 2 hours, must I then shovel off my deck?

Actually: No.

Really?  My aching back likes that answer.

♦ Don’t shovel your deck to avoid collapse. Building Codes require decks support more snow than most roofs.  A properly built deck is not likely to collapse from the weight of snow.  Read the engineering details in my blog post last month or just skip to the conclusion:  “Here’s a rule of thumb: Your deck rails are probably 36” high.  Don’t worry until the snow is above your rails (deeper than 3 feet.)  If you can see the rail tops, you’re OK — even with some rain.”

♦ Don’t shovel your deck to protect the wood. Water and snow are not nearly as harsh on wooden decks as some TV advertisers would have you believe.  Indeed, in the south many experts recommend cooling wood decks on very hot days with water – turn on the hose and spray away.  High summer temperatures and the drying sun cause deck boards to cup and misbehave.  If you are skeptical, consider wood’s natural state:  within trees, wood is moist or even wet and must be “seasoned” (dried out) before use.  And rot?  That’s why you built your deck of rot proof wood or plastic.

♦ Don’t shovel your deck to protect the synthetic decking. The plastic in these decks is impervious to snow.  Cold winter temperatures may shrink plastic, but it expands back once warmer temperatures return.

♦ Do clear the snow to provide an exit path from your house.  You should always have two separate exit paths from your house for safety.  Building codes require two.  If clearing that second exit path dictates you shovel some of your deck, then do it.  But all you need clear is a path 3ft wide;  no need to shovel the entire deck.  Pay particular attention to your stairs and the hand rails — the “banisters” or “grab rails” — you’ll need to grab those quickly if you slip.

♦ Do clear the snow to provide a path to your grill, if you cook during the winter, or to the bird feeder, to feed your winged friends.

♦ Do shovel the snow if you want the exercise. I guess you could call it exercise — if you are young.  But by middle age, I’d call it work.

Ok then, you’ve decided to clear that thick white menace from your deck.  How best to avoid damaging your deck?

Here are some TIPS:

1. Before it snows, make sure there are no nails or screws protruding from the flooring;  these can catch a shovel or a foot.

2. The best way to clear a little snow is with a broom.  A simple corn broom  is best. It works well if the snow is fairly light and only a few inches deep.  Light, fluffy snow is ideal, for you can sweep it under the rails;  and, more importantly, the broom will not scrape, scratch or gouge your deck.  And a corn broom will not catch on any protruding nails or screws.

3. When the snow is deep – say, over four inches – you’ll need a shovel.  Use a plastic shovel with a plastic blade.  A metal blade can easily scratch or gouge your deck.  Be especially gentle if your deck flooring is cedar or redwood;  they are soft woods and most vulnerable to damage.  Pressure treated pine is OK;  hard woods like mahogany and especially ipe will fare better, but all wood is vulnerable.  And so is composite decking, which is composed of wood and plastic.  The newer PVC decking (Azek, TimberTech XLM, Fiberon Horizon, etc) is scratch resistant and will survive a plastic shovel.  Note that the manufacturers here do not claim their decking is scratch proof, so some care is still needed.

4. Shovel parallel to the deck boards, not across    (perpendicular to) the deck boards.  Otherwise the front edge of your shovel will likely catch the edge of a deck board and cause damage.

5. Never chop ice on your deck, even with a plastic shovel.  You’re guaranteed to also chop your deck.  Instead, melt the ice with chemicals.  Use chemical power rather than muscle power.  There are numerous choices for wood and synthetic decks.  Rock salt or halite works by lowering the freezing temperature of water down to 15 degrees.  Calcium chloride* is more effective;  it interacts with ice and snow to create heat that melts ice down to 25 degrees below zero.  Synthetic decking manufacturers recommend both.  Happy Paws ™ snow melter claims to be safer than calcium chloride for pets and the environment.

So if you need to or want to, sweep or shovel that snow.  Just be careful not to scratch or damage your deck, and be especially careful walking on your deck afterward.  Ice has a way of creeping back for revenge.

NOTES:

* Calcium Chloride is sold under many brand names, including “Safe Step”, “Winter Heat”, “Safe-T-Power”, “Quick Joe” and is available during the winter at hardware stores, lumber yards, and even super markets.  More information about ice melting products is available at Cleanlink and Morton Salt.

We at Archadeck of Suburban Boston offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website. To learn how we treat our clients, check us on Angie’s List or read a recent article about us in Remodeling Magazine.
For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding design and construction experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2011 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.

Let’s begin with a quick safety check.  Even if you are not a deck expert, you can learn a lot about your deck with just your eyes and some common sense.

Decks are supported by a ledger at the house or by wood columns with concrete footings in the ground (or both).

1. Look under your deck.  Most likely a deck ledger (or “band joist”) connects
   

   Nailed ledger - Click to enlarge

   the deck to your house.  Is it properly attached to the house?  This long board typically supports half the weight of your deck – and anyone on it. Most deck failures – catastrophic failures that kill people – occur when the deck ledger gives way.  It should not be attached with just nails.  Nails are thin, have limited holding power and can easily rust.  Your deck ledger should be attached with larger hex bolts or ledger screws – probably two in each “bay” between joists.  Link to my Deck Safety post to learn more about proper deck ledger connections.

2. Are the columns straight and solid?
   

   Bad footings - Click to enlarge

   You can check with a level, or just look down the row of columns – are any misaligned?  Are they firmly attached to the concrete footings?  Do you even have concrete footings – or just some blocks or bricks or worse?  Your footings may be called upon to support 2,000 lbs or 3,000 lbs or more.

3. How solid are the rails – can you shake them easily with your arms?
4. Are the stairs wobbly?  Even solid stairs
   

   Sloping Treads - Click to enlarge

   can feel uncomfortable when the treads you walk on are not level and slope downward. Put snow on that sloping tread and it becomes very dangerous.

5. Do your stairs have a solid handrail or “banister”?  Anyone who slips on the snow will grab for that handrail. For a family member, a weak or poorly attached handrail is inconvenient, but for a guest it’s a lawsuit.
6. Do screws or nails stick up from the floor?  They could catch your snow shovel or trip someone.
7. Is any part of your deck rotting?  The deck frame should be built entirely of pressure treated wood and should never rot.

Overall, you’re looking for weak connections, misaligned components, rot, and shaky members.  As you walk around your deck, think about family or guests slipping on snow or ice.

Even if your deck seems solid, could it collapse under heavy snow? Probably not –

– If it was designed correctly to meet the building code;

– If it was built with properly sized components and has adequate fasteners; and

– If the structure and fasteners have not degraded over time.

Those are significant “ifs”.  Further, consider two facts:

1. The nationwide design standard for the weight a deck must support (beyond its own weight) is 60 pounds per square foot (psf).  This “live load” standard refers to the weight of people and furniture, but it also applies to snow on your deck.
2. Roof snow loads vary by state and area, but in the Northeast they are less than 60 psf south of New Hampshire and Vermont.

If your deck is built to code, then, it will still be standing after your roof has collapsed from snow.  Really.

Permit me one quick aside, here.  I live and build decks in Massachusetts, which used the nationwide 60 psf standard.  In 2007, however, MA lowered the deck standard to 40 psf – even though the snow load in much of the state is 50 psf.  Is it OK then for decks in the 50 psf zones to collapse?  Perhaps if I were a state official, I could understand this.  But I am just a deck builder, so I still build my decks to the 60 psf standard.

Let’s get back on track:  What does snow really weigh?

Light and fluffy, dense and wet — snow varies.  According to the authoritative American Society of Civil Engineers*, snow 36” deep has a design weight of 69 psf and an “Estimated Actual” weight of 36 to 54 psf.  At 42” deep, the design load increases to 90 psf, and the estimated actual weight becomes 42 to 63 psf.  Design loads are always conservative, so let’s use “actual” figures for our real world situation.  Add some rain (at 5.2 lbs per inch) to 3ft of snow and the weight threatens your deck.  Add even one inch of rain to 3 ½ ft of snow and the total load approaches 70 psf – a real danger to your deck.  It may not collapse because of the safety margin built into construction standards**, but you’d be on thin ice (sorry).

But enough engineering calculus.  Is my deck safe?

Here’s a rule of thumb: Your deck rails are probably 36” high.  Don’t worry until the snow is above your rails.  If you can see the rail tops, you’re OK — even with some rain.  And shovel the snow off your deck only if you want a more comfortable path.  Be careful not to slip!

For tips about clearing snow from your deck, see my recent blog post.

NOTES:

* From:  Journal of Light Construction, April 2008, referencing ASCE-7 from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

** Design Standards in construction have a “safety factor” of 2.5 to 1.  What does that mean?  If laboratory tests show that a deck component breaks at 150 lbs, then it is deemed “safe” up to 60 lbs.  This safety margin – between 60 and 150 lbs – protects us from real world issues:  loose nails, knotty wood, etc.  Your deck most likely will not collapse with 61 psf on it, but it definitely will collapse with 150 psf on it.

At Archadeck of Suburban Boston, we offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects, including more than 140 porches and sunrooms.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website.  To learn how we treat our clients, check us on Angie’s List or read a recent article about us in Remodeling Magazine.  For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2010 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.

To understand sunrooms, we need to start with their older sisters:  porches.  Porches are all about fresh air, cool breezes, and barefoot summer days.  Relax with iced tea in its shade on a hot day.  Cook in the kitchen, but eat with your family — on the porch.  Escape the nighttime summer heat by sleeping on your porch.  Open porches, screened porches, front porches – porches are part of your yard, brought into your house.  A porch brings the outside in.

A Sunroom brings the inside out.  It brings your warm comfortable living room into the backyard, into the sunlight.  Big windows on all sides flood the room with pastoral views — lawns, flowers, woods, meadows.  You’re in the backyard on a cold February day, enjoying nature, but you’re comfortably warm.

So what are the keys to designing such a space?

♦  Light. Lots of light – and lots of light means lots of glass.  A sunroom should feel unique, so the windows must be large – wide and tall.  Windows everywhere;  windows in all the walls, windows even in the roof – skylights.  Fixed or opening skylights, the difference is unimportant;  what is important is the additional light they provide.  Better still, add gable glass.  Glass in the gable end brings in more light, brings in larger views, and it also extends the height of the room.

♦  Space. A sunroom needs lots of space, so make it 12’x16’ or 14’x16’, or larger if you can.  Vertical space is also critical, and that means a tall ceiling.  Or, better, no ceiling.  A cathedral ceiling follows the roof lines;  it is created by eliminating the customary flat ceiling and attaching ceiling materials directly to the sloping roof rafters.

♦  Special Feeling.  To be so inviting and special, a sunroom must have a different feel.  The large windows and tall ceiling redefine the space, and sunroom details should further differentiate it from the other rooms.  The windows should not be ordinary, double hung windows.  They should be sliding windows — sliding windows that start low to the floor and rise high, so their vertical lines accentuate the room’s height.  And the windows should be close together, so the windows are the walls.  Transparent walls eliminate the enclosed feeling and pull the sunroom into the yard.

A sunroom is part of your house.  It is insulated and usually heated; and it has a finished interior floor and finished trim.  Put all that together – light, space, heat and a unique feeling – and you have a special room to enjoy in all seasons.

At Archadeck of Suburban Boston, we offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects, including more than 140 porches and sunrooms.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website.  To learn how we treat our clients, check us on Angie’s List or read a recent article about us in Remodeling Magazine.  For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2010 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.

Porches in America come in several categories.

An OPEN PORCH has a roof over a deck or a patio but has no screens.  Really, it is just a roof with support columns – it is totally open to breezes, but is also open to bugs and wind-blown rain.  Its shade lowers sunny summer temperatures inside by ten or fifteen degrees.  Would you and friends enjoy an afternoon relaxing on these open porches?

Put an open porch on the front of your house, and we’ll call it a FRONT PORCH.  Although some front porches in urban areas are enclosed, most front porches are open.

The roofs of smaller FRONT ENTRY Porches protect arriving guests from the weather, but the best Front Entries entice guests to your front door:

Click on any picture to enlarge.

In New England, our FARMER’S PORCHES are wide and inviting:

Grab a comfortable chair and relax with an iced tea and a good book. Watch the world go by.

Of all porches, the most popular is the SCREENED PORCH.  It is usually in the back yard and has a range of options:  kneewalls or rails;  cathedral or flat ceilings;  gable, shed or hip roofs;  skylights or not;  rustic beams or finished trim.

A Screened Porch is cool in the summer — but can you also enjoy it in late fall or early spring?  You can if you add sliding glass windows or removable acrylic panels.  Call it a 3 SEASON PORCH.  Extend its comfort even longer with insulation in the ceiling and the kneewalls.

To see more porches, link to our website gallery.

We also recommend some great porches in Kansas City.

EPILOG: So what do those foreign porch words mean anyway?

• Lanai (rhymes with “apply”)  Lanai is Hawaiian for “porch” — or it’s an open porch on the Hawaiian island of Lanai.  A lanai on Lania. (Sorry)

• Portico is the Latin origin of our word “porch”.  In Italian it refers to “a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls.” (Wikipedia, 2010)  That’s complicated. In simple American, a portico is our familiar front entry:

• Veranda.  The Oxford English Dictionary claims the term “veranda” originated in India, although it may instead come from the Spanish or Portuguese.  Either way, it refers to a “railing, balustrade, or balcony.” In 1873, a veranda in Macay, Australia looked like this:

• Loggia is 18^th century Italian for a “front corridor or arcade open to the air on at least one side.  A space within the body of a building but open to the air on one side, serving as an open-air room or as an entrance porch.” (From the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.)  Confused?  A photo or two may help:

Here’s an Italian loggia:

Here is Robert Loggia:

Let’s leave loggia to the Italians.  Both of them.

At Archadeck of Suburban Boston, we offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects, including more than 85 porches of various types.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website. To learn how we treat our clients, check us on Angie’s List, under “decks and porches,” or read about us in a recent article in Remodeling Magazine. For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2010 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.

There is a variety of answers here because there is a variety of decking products on the market.  Let’s start out simply.  What can happen to a deck that requires maintenance?  There are several threats:

Color Fading has almost disappeared (pardon the expression).  The sun’s Ultra-violet rays can bleach the color from wood and from the earlier, “first generation” composite decking.  But almost all manufacturers now make decking that is color-fast (2^nd and especially 3^rd generation).  Short of a manufacturing defect (and these do occur), any synthetic decking you install today will hold its color fairly well. You will not have to re-stain it ever.  Here’s the fading you can expect:

Mold or Mildew can grow on any surface.  Mildew spores are everywhere, and all they need, (beyond air) is reasonable temperature, a food source, and moisture.  Mold spores like the same temperature you like.  And they are not picky about their diet either.  Tiny amounts of almost any dead organic matter will do: dirt, wood fibers, paper, even paint.  Composite decking is composed of plastic and wood fibers, and when those wood fibers get wet, they provide a feast for mold.

Newer decking is all plastic, which, by itself, does not feed mold.  Still, wet dirt or pollen, etc. will entice mold to grow even on plastic decks.  So mold is a threat to any shaded deck that gets moisture.  Happily, the sun’s ultra-violet rays kill mold, so a deck in full sun all day can expect no mold.

Stains come from red wine, steak dropped from the grill, and wet oak leaves.  The sooner you remove the source, the better.  The porous wood fibers of composite decking soak up stains and are hard to clean.  Newer decking has a hard, all plastic coating that most stains cannot penetrate.

Someone drags a metal chair or drops a knife, or the umbrella table blows over – numerous things can scratch a deck.  Light scratches on wood can be fixed:  just sand, re-treat, and wipe off.  On synthetic decking, though, sanding just damages the decking further.  (One manufacturer claims that a stiff wire brush or a soldering iron will disguise a scratch. I’m skeptical.)  The hard coatings on all-plastic decking resist light scratches.  Deep gouges, from the sharp leg of a heavy grill, however, will deeply damage any decking.  Correct Deck® offers a “Care Kit” for its CX decking that includes an epoxy filler for “deep scratches”.  Otherwise, your only fix is to replace the deck board.

The introduction of Procell® several years ago dramatically changed synthetic decking.  Composed almost entirely of PVC plastic, Procell (now called Azek®) claims to resist stains, mildew and scratches.  It does.  Red wine does not penetrate it, minor events do not scratch it, and since it lacks an inherent food source, mildew has trouble getting started.  All the major manufacturers now offer plastic or plastic coated decking that greatly lowers maintenance.  Probably the most durable – hardest and most resistant – is Correct Deck CX®.  Its polypropolene plastic coating is harder than the polyethelene used by other manufacturers.  But its shiny, “all plastic” look has limited appeal.  Trex Transcend®, TimberTech® XLM, and Azek®’s ArborTM and HarvestTM series have more natural looking grain patterns and are more popular.

They all resist stains, mildew, and scratches fairly well.  So, drop a hamburger, spill red wine, or squirt some mustard on the deck.  If you clean it with soap and water within a day or so, it will leave no permanent stain.  Undoubtedly, there are some substances that will stain even hard plastic decking – perhaps concentrated rust, acidic leaves, droppings from a flock of birds who just consumed an entire blueberry patch.  These may need special attention.  And if you regularly grill on your deck, I’d advise using a non-rubber “grill mat” underneath to catch greasy drips.  In shady, moist sites, mildew can still grow, but you can blast it away with a strong garden hose.  If mildew grows unchecked for several months, you may have to lightly scrub your plastic deck with a mildewcide.

Are you afraid that “plastic” decking will be shiny and ugly?  Don’t be.  The newer, 3^rd generation synthetic decking looks quite good.  The best has random dark streaks that mimic real wood, or a life-like texture that looks like well-painted wood.

Click to enlarge

In summary, then, to avoid the maintenance that wood requires, you have two choices.

1. Older composite decking (“2^nd generation”) is reasonably color-fast and eliminates the yearly treatments of preservative that wood requires.  But composites are vulnerable to stains, scratches, and mildew.  Read the detailed instructions from two manufacturers to understand what care is required: Trex care:  (Select “Other Trex Products”) and TimberTech care.

Among composites, there are several popular decking choices:

• Fiberon® Premium Grain (aka CertainTeed EverNewTM or VerandaTM or PorticoTM)
• TimberTech® Twin Finish, Earthwood, and Reliaboard;
• Trex Accents®, Contours®, or Brazilia®;

OR

2. Newer plastic decking (“3^rd generation”) lowers maintenance further.  It resists stains, scratches and mildew.  But it is not “maintenance-free”:  at the very least you’ll have to wash the dirt, pollen, etc. off once or twice a year.  And it costs more than the older composites.  Plastic decking materials can cost 40% to 90% more than composites, but with the same framing lumber and the same labor costs, the net cost difference will be under 20%, and in some instances, only 10%.  The most popular of these 3^rd Generation products are:

• Azek® HarvestTM, ArborTM and TerraTM collections;
• Correct Deck CX®;
• Fiberon Horizon®.
• TimberTech® XLM;
• Trex® Transcend.

(In a moment of cowardice, I ordered these alphabetically.)

Two of these manufactures have specific warranties against stains and fading: Trex Transcend and Fiberon Horizon. Nice.

Do you feel better now?

At Archadeck of Suburban Boston, we offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects, including more than 85 low maintenance decks.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website.  To learn how we treat our clients, check us on Angie’s List or read about us in a recent article in Remodeling Magazine.  For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2010 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.

But really, you ask, What does a deck cost?

A good question, but not a simple question.  Before I answer, let me ask you a question:  What does dinner at a restaurant cost?  You can get a burger, fries, and a coke at McDonald’s for $5.49.  And you could also spend over $150.00 for a truly memorable dinner at that classy, gourmet restaurant in the city.  That’s a monster price range – over 2,700%.  Happily, decks are not as complex as dinner — or at least deck prices do not range as wildly as dinner prices.   Let’s take a careful look.

Five major factors affect the price of a deck.

♦  Size. In general, if you double the size of a deck, you double its price.  But sometimes enlarging it by just a few inches increases its cost disproportionately.  Those extra inches could require more footings.  (What’s a “footing”, you ask.  Don’t worry, you don’t need to know.  It’s just part of the structure that supports a deck.)  Worse, those extra inches could require larger joists or an extra girder and more columns.  (Enough!  No more talk about joists and girders.  This is a family blog.  Keep the language simple.  And cover up that deck!)   Sorry.

♦  Material. While the frame of every deck is (should be) made of Pressure Treated wood (called “PT” by those smug contractors), there are many choices for flooring, trim, stairs, rails, etc.  Pressure Treated pine is the least expensive, but it shrinks, splinters, and misbehaves over time.  Cedar and mahogany look and behave better, but they cost more and still require yearly treatment.  Synthetic materials – composites and PVC  – cost even more, but need very little care.  Consider rails for a moment.  Mahogany rails cost over twice as much as PT rails, and high-end vinyl rails cost four times as much.  So instead of paying $1,500 for rails, you’re suddenly paying $6,000.  Ouch!  The labor here is roughly the same.  So, that dramatic difference is all……material.

Click to enlarge

♦  Design Amenities can add to a deck’s cost.  Multiple floor levels, decorative flooring patterns, benches, lattice, pergolas all cost more.  (Hey! You promised to keep the language simple.  What’s a pergola anyway — isn’t it a big purple flower?  You know, “To celebrate the occasion, he put a  pergola in her hair.”)  Amenities can dress up a deck (like well-placed, colorful planters) and enhance its usefulness (a separate area for the grill) or even make it safer (a gate at the top of those long stairs).  But they increase the cost, as do appetizers and desert for dinner.

♦  Site Conditions impact cost as well.  How high is the deck off the ground?  Must the carpenters work off ladders?  Will it require long stairs?  Is there a septic system in the way?  Can a backhoe (think “big digging machine”) get into the backyard or must the carpenters dig those four-foot deep holes by hand?  Where is the gas line?  And just how rocky is your backyard?

♦  The Company you choose. Oh, you mean some companies just charge more.  No, I mean some companies actually do more.  Building a deck requires a Building Permit from your town.  Do you want to draw the detailed structural plans required for the permit?  Do you want to discuss Building Code issues with the Town Inspector when he arrives to examine your deck frame?  Or would you rather hire a company that acquires the building permit and deals directly with the Inspector?  A company that has licensed, professional crews, and an experienced construction manager.  A company that has written construction standards, that’s fully insured and provides a written warranty.  A company that will respect your property and will be around in the future to back up that warranty — and has a reputation in your community for quality work.  Be careful here — you could save many thousands of dollars by hiring “Joe Pickup” who just bought some tools and has read all about decks.  After all, he built your neighbor’s deck last month, and it has not collapsed…..yet.

What will your new deck cost?

The internet has many articles that tell you decks should cost “$10 to $16 per square foot” or “$13 a square foot” (yeah, in 1997), or “$35 per square foot.” Just search on “deck cost” and you can be misled in many different directions.  I suggest to you that a “per square foot” price is the least appropriate measure.  That’s like saying the cost of a dinner is determined by its calories.  There is much more to consider.

So, what do you do?

Remodeling Magazine offers perhaps the most professional answer.  Each year (for over 20 years) it researches and publishes a “Cost vs. Value” report that lists the cost of numerous home remodeling projects in different areas of the country.  It includes the cost of a Wood Deck, a Composite Deck, and an “Upscale” Composite Deck.  Click on the project name to view a brief description that identifies materials, some design elements and the amenities.

How should you choose a company to build your deck?  Skip over companies who will paint your house, re-shingle your roof, and also build you a deck.  Focus instead on companies that specialize in decks.  Check them out in the Better Business Bureau.  Better yet, read full evaluations written by consumers in Angie’s List.

One final thought.  If you buy a deck based on price alone, you’ll get what you pay for.  You choose:  Your deck can be an outdoor living room that expands your life, enhances the beauty of your home and increases its value.  Or it can rob your weekends by requiring frequent treatment and tricky repairs;  it can fade into a backyard eyesore;  and it can drag down the value of your home.

Oops!

We at Archadeck of Suburban Boston offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects, including more than 85 low maintenance decks.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website. To learn how we treat our clients, check us on Angie’s List. For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2010 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.

Would you want this backyard?

We initially spent two hours with them discussing their present deck, the geography of their yard, how they might use the space, and most importantly, what they wanted for their new backyard, both functionally and aesthetically.  We explored all this in great detail.  A safe area by the pool for the teenagers was paramount, but also important was an adjacent area where the adults could enjoy themselves – and still see the pool.  And they really wanted low maintenance materials.  “Let’s enjoy the pool this summer rather than constantly work on the deck.” This made sense to us, too.  They were eager to have us design some solutions, and we were eager begin creating.

After several hours working with our CAD program in the office, we had two design solutions.  Time to meet with our clients and get their reactions.  Our CAD program produces photo-like 3-D designs that we can rotate, zoom in, and change.  Our design meetings are always fun.  The black rails look good, but let’s see white rails.  Tan flooring blends with the yard, but is it the best color?  How many steps to the yard?  Should we move the steps to the right side?  Maybe lowering the teenagers’ deck area would bring it closer to the pool and separate it from the adult’s area.  How much would it cost to build the lattice in low maintenance PVC?

So here is the final design.  What do you think?

Click to enlarge

Our clients loved it.  They signed up and let us build their dream deck.  And here it is:

Now how about this in your backyard?

We at Archadeck of Suburban Boston offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects, including over 85 low maintenance decks.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website.  For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2010 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.

Collapsed Deck

Every year residential decks fail and collapse, killing or injuring homeowners, their family and friends.  Some say the rate of this tragedy is increasing.  Over the past eight years, deck collapses have killed over 30 people in the US* – and injured many more.  One spring afternoon last year a deck in Southborough, MA collapsed while a dozen people were enjoying a party.  The deck fell only about four feet, and luckily, no one was injured.  Shocked and dazed, but not hurt.

During winter snow can impose a significant load on a deck, but a properly built deck can survive most winters.  For a detailed look at deck snow loads, link here: “Is your deck ready for winter?”

How well is your deck attached?

Two primary causes of catastrophic deck failure are improper attachment to the house and inadequate footings.  When either of these fail, the entire deck can collapse.  Your deck may warn you it has problems. Let’s look briefly at deck structure.  Decks are attached to the house with a ledger – a long, horizontal piece of framing lumber which supports about half of the deck’s weight.  It is just below the deck floor.  Consider how each of these ledgers is attached:

Click on photo to enlarge.

The deck ledger on the left is firmly attached with galvanized bolts;  their large heads are clearly visible.  The deck on the right, however, is attached with only nails.  Nails are thin, they can rust, and they easily pull out.  Until three years ago, attaching a deck with just nails was legal in Massachusetts.  Half the decks I see use only nails for support and are vulnerable.  The good news here is that we can easily remedy this weakness by adding lag bolts – or better – by adding LedgerLok® screws to firmly fasten the ledger to your house.

How safe are your deck footings?

So the ledger supports half your deck, and the other half?  Footings support the other half.  Footings are those concrete bases, usually round, that support the deck columns at the ground.  Each deck will have several footings that extend into the ground.  The second major cause of deck failure is improper footings.  Footings are often too small for a deck’s weight, and can sink into the ground and pull the deck down.  And of course, footings fail only at the worst time – when loaded with your friends and family.  Over the past 17 years, I have examined several thousand decks.  One deck I saw last year in Lexington, MA had some of the worst footings.

More common than broken footings is small footings.  Several factors are relevant here, but in general, 8” diameter footings are almost certainly too small for anything larger than a landing.  If your deck footings are 10” in diameter, be wary.  Footings 12” wide or wider are probably OK, depending on their number and location.  Correcting inadequate footing problems is not easy.  Just determining the extent of the problem requires analysis by a professional.  And then enhancing your deck’s support, usually by adding more footings, columns, and supporting hardware, is labor-intensive, tricky work.

Other deck problems can be much less obvious but still deadly.

• The frame of your deck (the structure underneath) should be made of pressure treated wood; because “PT” is guaranteed not to rot.  If your deck was instead built with common pine or spruce or fir, it will rot – I guarantee it will rot and will slowly fall apart.  Test your deck for rot by poking it with a screwdriver;  it your tool sinks easily and deeply into the wood frame, then it’s rotting – and must be replaced.

• Decks with poor or totally absent flashing behind the deck ledger invite water that will rot your house. (Flashing is metal that directs water away from your house.)  Unfortunately, this problem is subtle:  flashing can be difficult to see and absent flashing is impossible to see.  Here what you don’t see will hurt you. But look at the results:  The deck here looked OK, but once we removed it, we found no metal flashing.  We looked further and found that the house wall was rotting away. Over several years, water leaked in and rotted the sill, the band and the wall studs below.  A little longer, and the house wall would collapse.

• Inadequately constructed rails can provide the illusion of safety, but betray you when you need them most.  Push on them vigorously.  If your rails wobble, they are dangerous.

• And stairs…Wow, stairs can fail in many ways, for many reasons.  Inadequate fasteners (nails), too few stringers (those large, saw-tooth shaped supports under the steps), poorly cut stringers, no intermediate supports under long stairs, no concrete pad at the bottom,  etc.  Stairs can be scary.

How safe is your deck?

So look carefully at your deck before you host that big party this summer.  If it shows some dangerous signs or if you’re not sure, call an expert.  Our office in Burlington, MA performs detailed safety inspections in our area at a very modest cost.  Call or e-mail us at subboston@archadeck.net.

References: * http://www.nadra.org/consumers/deck_safety_month.html.

We at Archadeck of Suburban Boston offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston.  Over the past 18 years we have designed and built over 500 projects.  We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, and sunrooms.  To view some of these projects, visit our website. To learn how we treat our clients, check us on Angie’s List or read a recent article about us in Remodeling Magazine. For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding design and construction experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, 781-273-3500.

© 2010 Advantage Design & Constr., Inc.