With all of the alternative decking products, such as Trex, on the market today, good old fashioned pressure-treated wood decking still has the majority of the market share nationwide.
Why not build a wood deck? If you want an authentic beautiful deck that is quite affordable, pressure-treated wood is a good answer. The key is how it is built and maintained. There are some quality differences in the wood that can affect the performance of the deck. Look for a #1 grade dried after treatment deck board if you want the best! There are different treatments on the market since arsenic was outlawed over 10 years ago. Today, ECOLIFE is a good alternative and is treated by Tucker Lumber here in North Carolina. We have been using it along with COX Lumber over the many years with good success.
If you are not going to maintain your deck regularly, perhaps you should consider a composite decking material, like Trex or Timber Tech. While these products are more expensive on the front end, the maintenance cost is no more than cleaning them off. There are several other advantages that composite deck boards have but this blog is about wood decking.
Pressure-treated wood often gets a bad rap. It warps, splits, curls, checks, splits, etc… All of that is true! If you start with a quality board and it is installed properly and maintained regularly, a wood deck can still be the best value! To see some wood deck design ideas, go to www.archadeckofcharlotte.com
