A Weather-Proof Deck

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Another caveat: the sappy heart wood of softwood lumber will not absorb much CCA. A post cut out of the sapwood center of a log can rot out on the inside, unseen and unsuspected despite the PT. So, when you go through the lumber stack selecting boards that are unwarped and that contain no open knots or cracks, don't choose any showing the small, tight circles and brownish tinge of a sapwood core either.

No preservative alone can keep water from soaking into the wood and gradually leaching away the protective chemicals and introducing rot organisms. When you pick up your lumber, buy enough waterproofer to treat the entire stack-all sides. Pros will chuckle if they see you at it. But you are adding years more service to your deck if you slap a good coat of waterproofer over b oth sides of each board and twice on each end before you put it into the deck. At least, waterproof insides of all joints (every place that one board touches another) before you fasten them.

You can skip this step (even if it costs 5 to 15 percent more) by investing in national brand names of PT that are premium boards impregnated with a wax waterproofer along with the CCA. The huge lumber firm Weyerhauser sells PT under its own name; a few other brand names that are reliably well made include Weathershield and Wolmanized Extra.

But no matter what kind of PT you use, make and enforce your own guarantee; apply a deck preservative and a waterproofer with a brand name you know for sure, and do it every year.

Fixtures and Fasteners

The PT frames of most decks these days are joined using a variety of steel brackets: joist hangers, post bases, and connector plates in T, L, and other shapes and angles. Needing only to be nailed or screwed on, they make the work go much faster and, if used with good, properly treated lumber, produce joints that are stronger and will last longer than old-style notched-wood joints or even elegant mortise-and-tenon joints. Select fixtures made from steel that's been hot-dip galvanized; it will have a rough, mottled metallic-silver finish, as compared to the uniform, smooth surface of conventional zinc plate. Do not drop or nick the galvanized fittings; the hot-dip can chip off, admitting rust. Unchipped, they'll last a lifetime or two. To buy yourself a decade and more of added rust preventative (that the pros will tell you is really overdoing it) spray fittings on all sides and in the screw holes with a rustproofing enamel paint before you fasten them on. Silver color lasts longest.

If you want to hammer your deck together, buy special deck nails. These are hot-dipped, so rough to the touch. But, most important, they are fatter and shorter than other nails, designed to hold tight in 2-by lumber without punching through to split and weaken the boards.

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