Have a client that has an older redwood deck.It is about 10 years old and was not maintained.
he needs a new deck off of anhter new doorway. He has asked us to (bid stage) come in and pressure wash the old deck and build the new deck, which adjoins with presure treated jooists etc, but plain doug fir deck surface boards and also replace a few old boards with regular 2×6 fir. then stain the hole deck in a semitransperent
his theory is that in about 10 years the rest of the old redwood will need replacemnt and then he will replace all the decks. that he should get 10 years out fo the fir if it is stained and kept stained
then he says the syntetics will be better and he will replace everyting with syntetics
he claims he will have no hard feeling to throw out the fir in 10 years, and does not want to come back in ten years and replace half a deck and have two differnt age decks. He cant afford to do all the decks now.
I dont think he will get 10 years out of the fir, new redwood is about 2x the price of fir
I dont like doing things half asped or short term and have always used cedar or redwood, but like to keep the work coming in
another contractor who is bidding it ( according to the owner) says the fir will hold up for 10 if stained every 3 years or so
in an area of lots of rain, Oregon
ideas????
Edited 6/1/2004 1:30 am ET by hammertime
Edited 6/1/2004 1:31 am ET by hammertime
Replies
Sounds like this maybe one to walk away from. If you decide to follow the home owners wishes, write your concerns into the contract and have him sign off on it.
MES
Be careful pressure washing redwood. On older boards, the softer wood will wash away and leave a rough surface where the hard parts of the grain remain intact.
The fir might make it for 10 years if the deck has enough slope so water doesn't stand on it.
Mixing deck boards might get interesting since they probably won't stain the same and the new boards will stand out like a sore thumb.
If it were me, I'd approach this one with caution and get all of your concerns in the contract as exclusions.
Thanks
my concerns will be spelled out and we probablly will walk from this one
I've had jobs like this go ahead after I told the customer that I wasn't really comfortable with their plan and why I was uncomfortable. Sometimes, that's what it takes to get them to understand that their plan isn't really very good. - lol