Whats the "coolest" decking material?

[Peter Schneider]

I'm looking for opinions on this. (posted on Building Science also)We're going to build a deck on sleepers above a "flat" roof. The concern my customers have is the surface temp of the deck, as it will get direct sunlight most of the day. At my own house I have composite deck boards around the pool which, even though they're light grey, get very hot. My customer also wants strictly a low maintenance deck, thus the consideration of composites. I'm thinking Port Orford Cedar with a light colored penetrating stain. Other thoughts?
Peter

[woody63]

Re: Whats the "coolest" decking material?

I would look into using "IPE'" wood, otherwise known as irowood, brazilian walnut. It is a sturdy, almost indestructable product that is more commonly used for sailboat decking. It will stay reasonably cool and last forever...

Woody63

[Peter Schneider]

Re: Whats the "coolest" decking material?

Thanks Woody. I've never used it before but I've walked on a couple of decks where the contractor used some type of hidden fastener to secure it. Nothin but squeak! How many LF per man hour to install it with easy access, a carpenter & helper crew, installed on sleepers, pre drilled & screwed?

[stormrider]

Re: Whats the "coolest" decking material?

Peter,
Ipe, pronounced ee-pay, is insanely expensive to install. I'm a lead for a small outfit in Southeastern NC, and we've installed 1000's of LF of 1x4 ipe decking.
It's gorgeous wood, but it's very heavy and difficult to work with. No bs, we've gone through several miter saw blades, router bits and easily more than 75 drill bits - regular and counter sink types (it must be pre-drilled and screwed with stainless).
It's extremely hard, and its saw dust is also irritating to the skin. We recently had to put one of our table saws and a miter saw in the shop after months of ipe abuse.
Also, as far as I know, exterior finishes won't stick to it, which probably isn't really a big deal.
Just wanted to let you know my experience with the stuff. Don't get me wrong, ipe, no doubt, is beautiful wood, just labor intensive.
.... real quick, the good stuff about ipe: it looks great (very rich in color and grain patterns), it lasts, insects don't want anything to do with it, it's consistently straight and it will have everyone in the neighborhood talking
later,
Todd

[David Meiland]

Re: Whats the "coolest" decking material?

I've used 5/4 x 6 ipe from two sources and it's never been that straight, so I've devised a few ways of using pipe clamps and shims to straighten it as I lay it. I recently did a 25' long deck with joists 16" OC, and could install a little more than 30 LF per hour: easy access, 2 #10x3 SS deck screws (get them from Manasquan), 1-2 butt joints per course, drilling a 3/8" plug hole and a 11/32" pilot hole in two operations (forstner bit first), coating all the ends with Anchorseal. That does NOT include the time to glue in the very expensive ipe plugs and sand them flush. I am just about to rent an orbital floor sander and sand the entire deck, because sanding just the plug areas does not cut it.... the mill marks on the rest of the deck suddenly show up.

Anyway, yeah, it's insanely expensive to do ipe but it looks muy fantastico and should last a long time. I flashed all the joists with Vycor to try to add to the lifetime.

The deck in question has a curve and an angle to it, a couple of nice stairways, and if I figured out the time and materials it would probably have to retail in the $75/SF range. It's on my own house, so I'm the one taking the abuse, but I doubt I could sell this to a customer unless they had already had a dock with a float plane moored, a 90' yacht, and a winter place in Maui too.

[ARKeathley]

Re: Whats the "coolest" decking material?

Timber Tech composite is the best I've experienced. Someone else said here once that it gets really hot. I'm not sure why he would say that because I have installed much of this stuff including two decks in my family which I get to enjoy periodically. One is right on the beach in Westbrook, CT and one is at a pool in central, CT I'm always in bare feet and have never noticed the deck being hot. I can even lay on it with no shirt on which I would never attempt with most surfaces.

Aaron