Thank you.

Rick,

I used a 16d nail as a spacer between my deck boards. I'd probably use a smaller size nail next time.

Here's mine I built last summer

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1568947118.jpg

Here's an old photo of a deck I built for my neighbor a couple houses down from me. I like random.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1568948115.jpg

No, not the trash can guys

Beautiful!

Except for my house, I don't think I own any one thing as valuable as that deck. Teak? SS fasteners?

Red Balau, trade name Mangaris, harvested from Indonesia. Its just typical color coded trim head deck fastener. I always face screw my deck board making repairs easier in the future if a piece of decking needs to be replaced. Hidden fastener can be a PITA, but they look good though.

Thanks Paul I will also check with the lumber yard to see what they recommend .

Depends upon how dry/cured they are when you install them too...fresh from the saw or ???

No gap.
Pressure treated lumber shrinks a good bit.

^^^ A novice here....but that's what I'd do too.

don''t be boring, think outside of the "Box"

45 degree heringbone it

I hypothesized external the orb when doing my hardwood floor diagonally. A few nice butts on my deck are always welcome too :)

I spent an hour this morning measuring and getting a picture in my head. I am pretty sure I am going to do the picture frame setup . I will start with the blocking and get that in place . Then I will cut about 2 ' off the existing crappy deck boards so I can still walk/sit while installing the picture frame boards .

Then I will start pulling up boards and replace with 16 footers . I am a one man army so it will be a bit before it is done. Will take pics as I go along . Thanks for all the advice guys it has been very helpful .

I say keep it simple ;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1569008136.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1569008136.gif

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1569008136.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1569008136.jpg

Here is one I recently built. The customer originally wanted a diagonal or herrigbobe pattern. I talked them out of it because it would have been a a tremendous waste of decking material thst was very expensive. I always try to design and layout my decks to minimize material waste.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1569069151.jpg

That's beautiful, Vinny!

Vinman that is a beauty ! Being retired I am careful spending the $$$ and I just can't justify the cost of composite . So it will be standard pressure treated 5/4 x 6 boards screwed down no nails. Will let it " weather " over the fall/winter and then stain in the spring . Wife and I are discussing color scheme but we're thinking light grey for the deck and dark grey for posts/ballusters and handrails .

I will post the before pics today , the ballusters/posts will be retained as they are in good shape . The hand rail cap will be pulled and replaced .

Thanks guys! Appreciate it. Couldn't get the other pics to load for some reason. Yeah composite can be $$. That stuff was around $5.00 a linear ft. There are very cheap composites out there, but they look like doo doo. I personally like wood better myself. My own deck is wood. Sure it takes a bit of maintenance, but looks so much better than plastic...

I suspect by the time you add staining and sealing, composite is not much more.

Sorry to thread jack, but I've been looking to replace my front porch decking with something composite.

My main concerns is looks/durability. The porches face south and live a hard life: Sun, rain, sun, drought, repeat. The existing painted (unknown, but probably treated pine) wood decking swells, shrinks, cracks, peels, etc. They require regular maintenance (sand/caulk/repaint) and still look like crap.

Is composite the way to go? And is Azek the right composite?

While cost matters, looks, durability/low maintenance are more important. Total area isn't huge, ~5-600 sqft.

Thanks