Jay's article

❱❱ The GreaT OuTdOOrs ❰❰

Building beside the ocean – or on the side of a

mountain – calls for some complicated

construction ❱❱

all hands On decK


40 renocontractor.ca | May/June 2012 Renovation Contractor

decKB Y P AT LY N C H


Renovation Contractor May/June 2012 | renocontractor.ca 41



There’s a hell of a view from the decks perched high on the hills of West Van. The city of Vancouver sparkles to the south over the waters of English Bay while the forested slopes of Vancouver Island loom to the west, separated from the mainland by the dark, churning waters of the Georgia Strait. Eagles

soar on wind currents that sweep up steep, rocky cliffs that plunge from the back doors of hillside mansions to the ocean below. It’s a nature-lover’s paradise, but views like this don’t come cheap.

“We just finished a job on a really beautiful house in West Vancouver,” says Jason Howell, owner of Maple Ridge-based Cedar Creek Decks. “We did an

oceanfront multi-level deck: curved railings, curved deck, composite...looks really sharp.”

You’d hope so, seeing as the deck cost the owner a mere, well, you know, $120,000.

Sometimes that's how it goes on the rugged West Coast, where there’s more

to slapping up a killer deck than laying the footings and banging together some boards. There’s often crazy issues with grade. Moisture. Geotechnical complica-tions. And, as in the case of this West Van beauty, access to the site can never be taken for granted.

Rise To the Top: While building his company, Cedar Creek Decks, Jason Howell has had to deal with mountain slopes, perpetual moisture, "geotechnical complication," and even the odd barge ride.

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“We actually had to barge in the materials from Horseshoe Bay,” says Howell. “That’s the kind of thing you need to build into the estimate.”

Putting together a realis-tic B.C. quote is something Howell’s learned quickly in the six years he’s been run-ning Cedar Creek Decks, a

small-crew operation that services the entire Lower Mainland.

“I know when I started out, doing a lot of the 40 per-cent grade stuff, the extra engineering costs that go with that kind of job would sometimes take me and the client by surprise,” says Howell. “It's always touchy



because it’s extra money, which you’ve gotta factor in right off the top and you’ve got to make it clear why it’s going to cost more.”

Add to this the slow-moving prospects of work-ing on a rock ledge, where your crew needs to be tied off with safety dowels drilled securely into good rock as an extra precaution. “Especially on the North Shore,” says Howell, of the region’s famously steep

terrain. “If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could get yourself into big trouble with any deck you try to build.”

Even in the more geo-graphically tame Lower Mainland areas serviced by Cedar Creek, places such as Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey, and Langley, geo-technical issues ranging from grade to soil type can slow down a job and add to its cost.

With more homeown-ers trying to avoid the maintenance hassles that come with natural wood decks, the choice of syn-thetic building materials is becoming increasingly popular. And while the prin-ciples of deck construction haven’t changed, contrac-tors may want to consider some minor adjustments when working with com-posite materials, at least until composite-specific tools become available.

Here’s a brief overview of what’s on the market, from the products to the tools you’ll need to work with them.

PlasTic FanTasTicComposite decking is made from wood flour and recycled plastics. While it is insect resistant, its tendency to retain water creates the potential for mould and mildew.

Capped composite gets its name from the fact that it is a composite core coated (capped) with PVC, polypropylene, or polyethylene, making it stain and scratch resistant. Like the composites, it tends to absorb moisture at the cut ends, so be sure to seal all cuts.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) decking is fast becoming

popular for deck and rail-ing systems. PVC decking is flexible and may require 12" o.c. joist spacing. Manufacturers proclaim PVC decking to be fade, scratch, and stain resistant.

alTernaTiVes schOOlIf you haven’t worked with synthetic decking before, it’s worth reading the instal-lation instructions – and maybe even checking out one of the video tutorials manufacturers post online.

Among the key tips you’ll pick up is the need to seal cut ends and to allow for expansion and contraction.

Edge-to-edge installation may require a ¼" to ⅜" gap; for end-to-end instal-lation, revise gap allow-ance to ¹⁄₁₆" to ⅛" based on the temperature difference of the date of installation and the hottest projected date of summer.

a cuT abOVeThe manufacturers of synthetic materials all claim their products cut the same as natural wood, and while some contractors are con-tent to use a circular saw, many have adopted the use of 10" or 12" mitre saws on mobile stands to ensure cutting accuracy.

They may look more like real wood than ever before, but working with composite decking requires unique techniques and tools

Getting copacetic With synthetics B y I a n H . B u R n s


“In terms of engineering, we often have to get holes dug out due to grade and have inspectors come in to test the soil,” says Howell. “Or we fi nd ourselves deal-ing with fi ve or six feet of topsoil that’s been backfi lled into a new yard to make a fl at kind of deck area. We can’t build there until we dig down to the load-bearing ground, so that’s another complication we often deal with out here.”

Moisture, which any con-tractor has to deal with on site, is an even bigger issue

on the wet, er, West Coast. “We’re living in a rain-

forest,” says Howell, half-joking. “A lot of the

workdays are going to be wet, so you need to plan for it.”

That goes beyond raingear.

In terms of actual deck construction, the moist

Vancouver environment begs for some subtle tweaks to the structure, particu-larly on ground-level decks. “You want to make sure you have cross-ventilation,” says Howell, “so you have to have at least two inches under all the sides so that air can fl ow underneath the deck and, of course, you want to gap out your deck boards more than you would normally: at least a good ¼". It’s not as much of a worry with composite,

Here is a selection of what we consider the best tools for working with composite decking materials:

MiTre saWs WiTh cOMPaTible sTands

Bosch GCM12SD 12" dual bevel saw with axial glide technology and the T4B gravity rise wheeled stand:An honourable mention in Renovation Contractor’s Nov/Dec 2011 Mitre Saw Tool Test. The T4B stand’s quick-release tool mounts are compatible with most mitre saws.

DeWalt DWS780 12" double bevel sliding compound mitre saw with the DWX723 stand: The Editors’ Choice from our 2011 Tool Test; though the stand doesn’t have wheels, it too comes with rapid tool release mounts, making it portable and easy to move.

circular saWs

SKIL MAG77-75 7¼" Worm Drive Saw: This 75th anni-versary model of “the saw

that built America” has a magnesium housing and comes with a 24-tooth car-bide blade.

Rigid 3202 6½" Compact Framing Saw: This 6 ½" circular saw can cut 2x4 material at 50 degrees, and a 4x4 in two passes. And it’s light, to boot.

bladesWhen cutting synthetic material, most manufacturers recommend using carbide-tipped blades with 40 teeth or less for crosscutting or ripping, and a 60-tooth blade for cutting railing stock. It’s also suggested that blades with a coated

fi nish will reduce heat and friction and perform best with composite materials.

Suggested blades:DeWalt Precision Line with Tough Coat Finish• DW3194 7 ¼" (40 tooth)• DW3196 7 ¼" (60 tooth)• DW3232 12" (80 tooth)

Freud Premier Fusion with Perma-Shield Coating• P410 10" (40 tooth)• P412 12" (48 tooth)

Freud is the only manu-facturer currently testing a composite-specifi c blade, promising it will be ready for market in fall 2012.

We can’t build there until we dig down to the

load-bearing ground.“ ”

bide blade.



but with the moisture cedar and pressure-treated will hold in, those ¼" gaps are going to shrink up to ⅛" come winter.”

Those kinds of West Coast winter considerations might make a guy like Jeremy Clay snicker. The owner of Clay Construction, a Langenburg, Sask., company that special-izes in homes but dabbles in decking on custom residences, Clay has more than board spacing to worry about come winter.

“We have 80-degree fluctuations in tempera-ture from summer to winter out here,” he says

of Langenburg, a town of 1,000 roughly 400 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. “The frost will

move your deck up and down, big time.” To coun-ter the harsh conditions, Clay buries pilings ¾"

below grade and insists on Sonotube to preserve the integrity of the footing. On a recent custom-home

job, Clay Construction built a two-storey monster using that technique and treated lumber, the mate-rial of choice in his region of the prairies.

“We’ve dabbled in cedar, and done a few compos-ite jobs but, in our area at least, there’s not a lot of people looking for that kind of thing,” says Clay. “Out here, people are look-ing for something where they can sit out on the weekend and drink a beer.”

We have 80-degree fluctuations in temperature from

summer to winter out here.“ ”



a deck for the ages

Make it last forever.No, that’s not the refrain of your long-suff ering lady

friend. But when it comes to dropping dosh on a deck, it’s what you’re likely going to hear from an increasing number of customers looking for a low-maintenance alternative to traditional materials.

Taking a page out of the Roman Empire’s architec-tural playbook, Paverdeck, billed by its manufacturer as a “maintenance-free lifetime deck option,” makes use of some of the concepts used to build the Colosseum, which, still standing after 1,900 years, is what you might call well-built. Instead of using wood, Paverdeck systems are comprised of a galvanized steel platform that takes any number of fi nish treatments, from stone to tile; it all depends what your customer likes and how much dough they’re ready to drop.

“We invented a lifetime galvanized undercarriage,” says Jon Naccarato, president of Sault St. Marie, Ont.-based Evolutiondeck Inc., the manufacturer of Paverdeck. “By itself it’s designed to last 60 years – with a set of anodes on it that are designed to be replaced every fi ve years, it can literally last a lifetime.”

Engineers with backgrounds in the automotive and steel industries, Naccarato and his business partner, Joe Sevirini, have been marketing their product for the past four years as an environmentally friendly alterna-tive to traditional decks – made with recycled steel, it comes with a 30-year structural warranty and side-steps the use of wood and chemical stains and sealants that are part of a wooden deck’s standard upkeep.

The heavy-duty undercarriage can be skinned for a more traditional look with exotic hardwoods such

as cumaru, garapa, jatoba, massaranduba, and tiger-wood, or for a longer-lasting deck with porcelain tile, and/or concrete/granite/travertine paver stones. (The Colosseum, by the way, was built of travertine stone held together by iron clamps, the essence of what’s going on here. Try selling that on your next bid.)

Naccarato concedes that a customer really has to want that concrete-paver look to be swayed by the Paverdeck’s pitch, but in a world where composites look increasingly more like the wood they’re masquer-ading as, so too are stone treatments. “We’re working with a company now to manufacture a concrete prod-uct that looks like a piece of cedar,” says Naccarato, “so they’ll be able to get the wood look but in a long-term, low-maintenance material.”

The system is actually an integrated platform dia-phragm that is extremely strong in terms of carrying a lot of load – up to 260 lbs./sq. ft. Priced compara-bly with combination pressure-treated/cedar decks, Paverdeck’s costs are contingent on the materials used for the surface (from concrete pavers at $2/sq. ft. all the way up to stone pavers at $12/sq. ft.). They come in standard kits (10' x 10' and 14' x 14') available at some Rona stores in the GTA, custom kits, and custom designs installed by one of Evolutiondeck’s partners.

And for contractors concerned about their crews being stymied by the installation process, Naccarato says, no worries: “The installation learning curve is very short. The deck system only goes together one way and is assembled using traditional tools. Carpenters have no problem adapting.”

The only question left is, will your customers? —PL

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As the name of his company suggests, Jason Howell, on the other hand, has by and large specialized in cedar decks since 2006, feeding a B.C. appetite for traditional wood, often with pergolas and arbour accents. But as more cus-tomers come to him look-ing for lower-maintenance options with added longev-ity, the domination of tree-based materials has begun to shift.

“Composites have really started to pick up for us,” he says, adding that the

Trex Transcend series is the composite he leans toward. “We’ll do three or four a year now, whereas we used to do maybe one. The cost factor has gotten more competitive in the last couple of years, so custom-ers are seeing the dollar value in the long run. You’re paying a bit more upfront, but you’re trading that off for the life of your deck and the low-maintenance.”

Even concrete, while less common (“We’ve done maybe three stamped con-crete decks, total,” he says),

has become a regular query from customers that simply don’t want to deal with the ongoing labour and costs of maintenance. “That West Van place? They'd spend $2,000 every year staining the thing if they hadn’t gone composite.”

And whether it’s a simple deck in the heartland or a $120,000 behemoth on the ocean, the notion of building something to last is every-where nowadays. (See, “A Deck for the Ages,” page 49.)

“You used to get your uncle or your cousin or

someone to build you a deck,” says Howell, with a laugh. “But we’re put-ting hot tubs on elevated decks now, so we’re talking three to four tonnes of load-bearing ability. These are extensions of people’s living rooms into their backyard. If you don’t get it right, it’s just not going to last.” RC

Pat lynch is an editor at The

Globe and Mail. In a previous

life he wielded a recip saw and

pushed a mean broom for a

Toronto-based contractor.

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