April, 2008

Tips for Buying Deck Materials

Know what questions to ask to get the best products.

By Bob Heidenreich

Because I’m a deck builder, the new products that are related to the deck industry are really important to me. But just because they’re new doesn’t always mean that they’re well thought out or planned. We try to think through every product that we buy. We ask, ‘How can we use it? What can we do with it? What can possibly go wrong?’

For instance, I once ran across a new rail system at a show, and the salesman was very proud of it and was talking about how great the finish was, how great it all went together, and things like that. But they missed two really key points: We asked the vendor, ‘How do you apply this rail on a diagonal corner?’ And they said, ‘Well, most people don’t build decks with diagonal corners.’ Of course, that’s not true. They just hadn’t developed a system for using their product in diagonal corners.

The other part that manufacturer didn’t look at was that they just assumed, since their displays were on the ground, that everyone’s deck would be on the ground. But I knew that as soon as you put that deck rail over 6-ft. high, you see the bottom side of the rail. And all of the bottoms of their rails were unfinished and a totally different color. That didn’t catch their attention during manufacturing, so they went to all this work, but they missed one simple, practical thing that affects application.

In decking, you have to be careful that you’re not buying products that have been slammed through development. Some of the new products I’ve seen are very innovative and great, and some may need just a little bit more work.

I’m approached every day by deck manufacturers that want me to carry their products. Take composites: The first question I ask is, ‘Is your product code-approved and does it have an ESR report?’ Those are the formal instructions that building officials look at to make sure that you’re putting these products in correctly. (You can find ESR reports at the web site, www.icc-es.org.)

There are so many products on the market that there’s no possible way that any one person could know how they’re supposed to be installed. Just because a manufacturer has a printed set of directions doesn’t mean that they’re going to agree with the ESR. I’ve seen a product where the manufacturer’s directions say one thing and the ESR says another.

Next we look at the basic test on any composite decking: Is the product going to have problems with thermal retention and hold a lot of heat in the sunlight? Generally a solid composite is going to hold more heat, and a darker color is going to hold more heat, but there are things the manufacturer can do about that, like put in titanium dioxide, which is in paint and acts like a little reflector to reflect some of that heat from the sun.

I also want to know, ‘How do you fix this material if it scratches? Do you have to replace the whole board or can you simply brush out the surface?’ We don’t want materials that are easy to scratch because we’re not going to get a very good shelf life in storage, and you’re not going to be able to handle it with typical moving equipment.

And I want to know about fade. You have to understand that with composites, the color you’re buying isn’t necessarily the color you’re going to get in the future. If products only fade where the sun shines, we call that ‘memory,’ because your deck is going to remember where you put your table and your chairs last time! I want to know if any new product is going to fade only where the sun shines, or will it fade evenly across the whole surface? And I want to know if it will absorb stains if you spill greasy food on it. And how do you fasten it? Do you have to use the company’s fasteners or can you use any fasteners? The ESR report will tell you that, too. If I ask all those questions, I can start to narrow down what new products I’ll consider for my yard.

BOB HEIDENREICH is the owner of the 30- employee Deck and Door Co., in Apply Valley, Minn. He has been selling decking and home improvement projects for 26 years.