Real Estate Topics Forum :: View topic - What's the "Coolest" deck surface material?

PeteSch · Guest

What's the "Coolest" deck surface material?

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I'm looking for opinions on this. 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

Bill La · Guest

Re: What's the "Coolest" deck surface material?

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I've heard that Veka Deck stays cool in sun exposure. It's a PVC type material. Not sure about the performance of the product since I haven't sold any yet, but that's what the sales crap says about it.
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HenryP · Guest

Re: What's the "Coolest" deck surface material?

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Peter:
You might want to look at Timbertech also.
Henry

Verl Kau · Guest

Re: What's the "Coolest" deck surface material?

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I have a Timber Tech deck and it gets very hot. Your best bet is PVC. It will stay cool in direct sunlight, because it doesn't absorb the sun rays. If I had it to do over, I would use the PVC. I have built a number of decks using the Brock Deck systems(www.royalcrownltd.com). They have a light gray that I use for the floors, rather than the white(less reflection) and white for the railing system. They do have some other colors available. They have a lot of railing options and different styles of decking. In their photo gallery, two of the photos are of projects I built(2nd row 3rd photo & 9th row 2nd photo.) Its not an inexpensive decking system, but worth the money.

J Wood · Guest

Re: What's the "Coolest" deck surface material?

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Ipe is very cool on de feet after it goes silver.

PeteSch · Guest

Re: What's the "Coolest" deck surface material?

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Thanks guys for the quick responses!
I've tried Timbertech and was not impressed. It scratched too easily and the way it goes together is almost too precise. We had a joist with a small crown in it and when siting down the joint between deck boards, the tight joint greatly accentuated the "hump" in the joist.
Verl, do you remember the approx cost per LF of that Brock Deck material? Also, how involved s the installation? (Im' talking deck boards only) I've never built a deck with IPE, but i've walked on a couple assembled with hidden fasteners. Squeak, Squeak, Squeak. That scared me away from trying it.

Verl Kau · Guest

Re: What's the "Coolest" deck surface material?

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Contractor cost is approx. $6 sq.ft.($3 running ft.), it lays 6". Basic installation is pretty easy on a deck with no angles. You *beep* down an aluminum clip assembly first, which automatically sets your board spacing. Once their down, you use a dead blow mallot to install the planking. Using this system allows the planking to expand and contract and no visible anchoring. Properly done, there will be very little if any squeaks.
Your going to ask me the approx. labor for installation. I'm not sure, because the times I have used it, there has been all kinds of angles. The last one I built was a step down gazebo connected to an angle deck. I installed the gazebo deck in an octagon pie shape. They cut my brackets to fit the 22.5° angles. Time consuming, but looked great when it was finished.
Did you check to see if there are any dealers in your area?