Have 3 quotes to build a new deck out of redwood. Am I correct bee grade and con common are the same? Also, one builder refers to te redwood as grain redwood. Is this also the same or do I need to know if it’s vertical grain etc? Just need to understand if the main decking is being quoted comparably. Any input will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Doug
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B grade is clear redwood, with heart and (alot these days) sap wood. Con common is a lower grade heart and sap wood with knots. They also have Con Heart, all heart with knots.
I'd never use Con common, when using redwood I usually go with Con Hrt. If I'm using B I usually have to go thru the whole stack to find the all heart boards.
You know, redwood is a very poor choice for the floor material as it's so soft and the quality these days is awful, with growth rings sometimes 3/8" wide as you can see in these pics.
Thanks for the response, photos, and for clarifying the difference. I'm going to look into the price difference to move up to B heartwood and the con hrt you mentioned as well. I do recognize the softness issue with redwood - our current deck lasted over 20 years in the strong sun of Colorado and the redwood still looks good. It was definitely not heartwood. Anyway, we're having a roof built to cover the entire deck which will certainly help as compared to being in the strong sun. I built another deck about 10 years ago on a lower level oup of IPE which as you would imagine is still looking great. I'd certainly love to have this one also constructed with IPE but the material costs / added labor costs are prohibitive. Thanks again for the info - very helpful!
Doug