Sawing for a deck project

[Strangewoods]

So I'm planning to build a lean to style covered deck off the back of my house. Not enclosed just a steel roof overhead. It's going to be 8 or 10' by 24' I'm not sure yet. Anyhow I have some cedar , popple, white and black spruce logs piled up. 

I don't have enough cedar to frame it and do the decking. I'm wondering here. What would a wise man do. frame it with popple or spruce then deck it w 1 1/4" cedar ?  Or frame it with cedar and buy treated deck boards. Being covered will help but it's not fully protected from the elements.. 

[arky217]

So I'm planning to build a lean to style covered deck off the back of my house. Not enclosed just a steel roof overhead. It's going to be 8 or 10' by 24' I'm not sure yet. Anyhow I have some cedar , popple, white and black spruce logs piled up.

I don't have enough cedar to frame it and do the decking. I'm wondering here. What would a wise man do. frame it with popple or spruce then deck it w 1 1/4" cedar ?  Or frame it with cedar and buy treated deck boards. Being covered will help but it's not fully protected from the elements..

Have you checked the price of lumber lately ?

[Southside]

I would frame it with the spruce and deck it with the cedar, after I water sealed the cedar on all sides. 

[Strangewoods]

Yeah I've seen the prices! Haha I just don't know spruce or popple qualities at all. I mean in the woods they seem to rot very fast. Though it will be mostly covered, I wouldn't want to have to replace it after 5-10 yrs type thing. 

I think I do have enough to do all cedar minus the rafters and headers so perhaps that will be spruce. I'll seal everything up good. Thanks for the tip. 

[Sauna freak]

I'm assuming by the species mix you have White Cedar.  It is very poor structural lumber, but good for rot resistance.

Spruce is an excellent framing lumber, and decently rot resistant if it is in a location where it can dry.  I've got 20 year old deerstands and rafter tails that are still rock solid, built with Black Spruce, up in the air where it dries quickly after getting wet.  Avoid it for contact points such as rim joists or deck plates, but you could get by with it likely for joists.  A good penetrating stain will help your cause here.  It is my preferred wood for rafters, studs and headers due to high strength to weight ratio.  Also not a lot of taper, so you get good yield from thicker logs and good grain flow through the lumber for added strength.

Popple has no utility for exterior or framing construction.  Low strength, low rot resistance.

I would spend the money for green treat for the deck plate and rim joists, as these are hard to keep dry and tend to catch water in the crevises and rot even with cedar.

[Iwawoodwork]

If the white cedar is the same specie as the Port Orford white cedar here on the NW coast then it can be very rot resistant if old enough but if it is young second growth , not so much but would still make good deck boards and posts also beams if spans were shorter than fir. look at the DonP wood calculator tables on the front page of the forum that will give good info on the different wood.