Types of Decking Wood. Best Rot and Bug Resistance Lumbers
Wooden decks are used for extending outdoor living spaces as well as for garden landscaping. Wood lumbers are laid instead of stone, concrete, brick and mosaic pavers.
Outdoor inground or above ground swimming pools are constructed around solid-wood deck boards for adding elegant beauty in patios, lawns and gardens. For making outdoor living space functional, decking seats are building by use wood other materials.
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Types of Decking Wood
You might be wondering as what type of decking wood is good for building outdoor landscaping floors, steps and railings. There are several different of wood available these days, however, you need to choose the one which is not only visually appealing to add outdoor garden but is also healthy enough to resist pesticides. Some hardwood lumbers are very durable in nature, they resist rot for year to come. So if you are choose a good wood for deck construction make sure it can resist and repel pests. Most common material for outdoor floors are made with pressure treated pine and Ipe.
- Ipe
- Western Red Cedar
- Red Wood
- Mahogany
- Tigerwood
- Pressure treated lumber
Ipe Deckboards
Ipe is known to be the best and most magical hardwood available these days for outdoor landscaping in garden and patios heor porches. Ipe deck boards marked as best because they repel bugs and they are also naturally a very good rot-resistance, it is usually because density of Ipe is very hard. Some also compare strength of this wood with rocks and concrete. Ipe wood decking can create beautiful outdoor space if it is paired up with stone, marble, and concrete pavers outdoor. It can also be installed for construction of above ground pools and hot bath tubs. However, make sure to pick up best harvested ipe for architectural projects. Though this wood is perfect for making small and big decks outdoor, but make sure to either stain or paint them to protect them for weather damage and hazards.
Western Red Cedar
Cedar decking is famous all over the world for its best quality. Fortunately, cedar has natural healing properties which makes is excellent for all sorts of outdoor garden and porch landscaping projects. It has natural ability to stand against decay for years once it is installed on the floors. Natural tone of Red cedar decks is reddish brown, as the time passes the color may change to dark gray. Good thing about western red cedar deckboards is that harsh weather can’t wreak havoc on this wood because it can hold its good quality/shape under constant rainfall, snowfall, hails, and even when it is exposed to extreme heat of sunlight. You can paint red cedar decking when it turns gray, oil or resin paint can highlight natural wood textures and rejuvenate it appearance.
Redwood Deckboards
Just like above mentioned choices, redwood is another best quality soft-wood available for making modern and contemporary style deckboards for gardens and porches. The quality of redwood decking is that it can very well resist rot and repel pesticides as well as bugs. However, the only drawback of installing redwood decks is that they may change their color from gray to very black color. The color may not look pleasant after a few ears as the moisture keeps locking into the grooves of the lumbers. You must use a clear sealer to keep the boards from cracking and splitting to maintain its quality. It is recommendation that you either stain pr pain redwood; staining the wood for highlighting its natural element, texture and beauty.
Mahagony Deckboards
Mahogany is considered the best tropical hardwood for constructing durable decksboards for outdoor projects. The quality of Mahogany decks is that they are good repellent to pests.The only drawback of using Mahogany is that it may suffer some tear and wear with time and it also changes color like Cedar wood. If you want your decks to stand the test of time then make sure that Mahogany wood you intend to use that make sure it is harvested with responsibility.
Tigerwood Deckboards
Tigerwood is very gentle and visually pleasant South American wood available for making doors, deck boards, and indoor floors. The color of one deck board may never match another one, it is because of different wood grains in the layers. The quality of board depends on the thickness and hardness, however, the same board may have both the hardness and softness in its layers. Most architect designers believe that tigerwood is not comfortable to work with because of different board patterns. There are several names of this wood such as Brazilian Koa wood or Brazilian Tigerwood, however, this wood is nothing like famous Zebrawood which features nice and very refined stripe patterns on the wood surface.
Pressure Treated Lumber and Wood Deckboards
Green-tinted pressure treated lumber or wood decks are still considered best in terms of quality because they are right according to latest technologies.
PT or pressure-treated limber is very affordable wood, it can be installed easy. Most homeowners also use this wood for DIY outdoor projects such as for making decking seats, DIY wooden benches, and Lumber sheds, DIY deck railings. PT decking is processed chemically so it could resist rot and infestations. Good quality pressure-treated wood decking can also repel all sorts of wood-boring bugs and fungus.
Quality of Good Wood Material
It does not matter which wood you have chosen for your deck, railing and garden floor construction, make sure to check out some of these points before spending money.
Hardness/thickness
It does not matter whether you have chosen hardwood or softwood lumber, it should be thick in density and hard enough to fight off yearly wears and tears. Wood decking would never last more than a few years until you have chosen lumber of heavy hardness and thickness.
Strength
we all know that strength of decking depends on the wood, it should have natural ability to resist rot and hold well against changing weather conditions. Besides wood lumbers should be strong enough to put up with heavy loads and foot traffic.
Toughess
When decks are constructed with great quality wood lumbers they can resist shocks caused by earthquakes and vibrations due to foot traffic.
Durability
The durability of wooden decking depends on the material you have used for its construction.
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