Time to re deck the deck

[rimshot]

The old deck needs a face lift.  That cracked and knotty supposedly pressure treated hemlock or jackpine deck floor lumber (5/4 X 6) did not hold well after 8 years.  Knots are popping an the sun and rain have take their toll.

I would like to re do the job with vinyl but that costs thousands.  With my sawmill and plenty of cedar 8' bolts I can save some bucks.

I know that Eastern White Cedar fails to hold a nail but thats ok.  I will screw through the cedar decking into a framework of yellow pine joists.  But, these joists are on 24" centers and that is two far for 1" rough boars (planed one side to 3/4" to span because it is just not very strong.  My solution will be to mill the needed DECK sheeting to 1 1/2 an then plane to 1 1/4"  Do you think the cedar surface will hold a stain and will not be too springy at 1 1/4.  I will be interested in your comments.

rimshot

[Tom the Sawyer]

In my area, decks with 24" spacing require minimum 1 1/2" thick deck boards and that is for PT pine.  I would think that cedar is somewhat weaker and would have to be at least that thick.  If I had gone with 16" spacing I could have used 5/4 deck boards.

[beenthere]

rimshot
Make a small test deck with some of your cedar boards and walk on it to see how it feels.
The quality of cedar you have available will enter into your test as well.

Tom has a good point.

[Kansas]

Rimshot, are you sure you want to plane the deck boards? That makes them slicker in rain and snow. I went with oak on mine, and cut with a bandsaw it is plenty smooth. There might be a good reason to plane them, but not sure what it is.

[Den-Den]

If you do plane them, only one side needs planing; you should end up with more than 1-1/4" thick.  You will likely have some deflection over 24" but not failure (unless the material is poor quality).

[47sawdust]

I have a white cedar deck.It is framed 24''o.c.with 11/2'' thick cedar.It can be problematic to stain.When I build decks or porches for customers using commercial western red cedar (11/4'') we always framed 16''o.c.

[rimshot]

An alternative that I considered is to double up on the joists.  With the original decking stripped, I could easily add a joist in the center of each existing. 

I thought I would plane the boards for displaying the beautiful cedar grain but I did not consider  a slippery surface.  Seems to me cedar fails to allow  semi transparent stain color  to soak in.  I think the stain ends up coating and is therefore subject to wearing off the surface.  Cedar without any stain ens up a miserable gray color.

rimshot