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If you're building a deck
yourself, not only do you want the lumber to be
relatively easy to cut with normal hand or power tools,
but you need to consider if splitting may easily occur
when nailing, how easy it is to drive nails into the
wood, and how easy it is to obtain a smooth finish on
the surface of the decking.
The surface finish of course is
taken care of by the lumber mill. But even with the best
mills, for some exceptionally hard species you may
notice machining marks remaining on the surface or a
surface roughness due to lifting of the grain whilst
machining.
Cutting
Most durable hardwood species are
both dense and hard and should ideally be cut with a
carbide tipped saw. For softwood species, a handsaw can
be quite OK, but even in this case, a carbide tipped saw
makes the job a lot easier and quicker.
With some hardwood species such as
Teak and Turpentine, rapid blunting of cutting edges can
occur due to the presence of a higher than normal level
of silica. Ipe is another species which can cause
blunting of cutting edges and care also needs to be
taken when working with Ipe due to the fine yellow dust
produced when sawing or drilling, as it has been known
to cause dermatitis with some workers exposed to the
dust.
Nailing
Splitting when nailing is a common
problem and some species are more prone to splitting
than others. For many hardwood species, pre-drilling
will be virtually essential, although use of a nail gun
can overcome this requirement to some extent. Even with
some of the more brittle softwoods and in particular
cypress species, care needs be taken when nailing. If
nailing close to the end of the decking planks,
pre-drilling is always recommended to avoid stress in
the timber which may cause to cracks to develop at later
stage.
If using nails to fix the planks
to bearers and the deck is fully exposed to the weather,
standard iron nails should not be used as they will
rust. Instead you should use galvanized nails or nails
specifically designed for exterior use. Another point
to note is that some lumber species can corrode iron
fixings or fastenings due to the extractives in the
wood. Although this will only occur when the deck is
situated in exposed weather conditions, it can speed up
the corrosion of standard iron nails and cause them to
fail quite rapidly. Western Red Cedar is one such
species with extractives that can cause corrosion and
some other species which are slightly acidic such as
Kempas, can also cause corrosion with standard iron
nails.
Drilling
Similar precautions need to be
taken against corrosion if using screws rather than
nails to fix the planks to the bearers. Stainless steel
screws are certainly the best option, but plated screws
could be considered provided they are recommended for
exterior exposure. Remember that as the head of screw is
much larger than a nail, rust stains will be more of a
problem and can leave unsightly black marks around the
screw holes if inappropriate screws are used.
Alternative fixing devices
A number of alternative fixing
materials are also available which have the advantage of
leaving the surface free of nail holes or screw holes.
These systems generally rely on a fastening device which
is driven into the side of the planks and attached to
the bearers below. The only obvious drawback of this
system is that replacing a single plank if damaged or
decayed in any way can only be achieved by nailing or
screwing the replacement plank back in place in the
conventional manner.
Alternative wood decking
materials
If you don’t want to build a deck
yourself but just wish to cover an old patio with solid
wood decking, another quick and convenient option is to
use wood decking tiles. These tiles just click into
place on top of an existing deck or patio and eliminate
the need for cutting, drilling and nailing. You may need
to cut a few tiles to fit around pipes, posts etc but
that’s all. For further details see
http://www.deckingtiles.com. They can also be used
to repair an existing wood deck by just placing the
tiles over the top of the existing deck. |
