Thread: Help identifying hardwood decking

Have you considered composite decking? Fusion wood, other names.
137x23mm 5.4m colours that look similar to photos
Quite realistic in appearance.

it's very expensive but excellent material, cuts easily, hard, robust etc.
I've used it and seen a deck about 20? years old still looking like the proverbial new
Factor in screws.
Balance against real wood and future maintenance

I haven't considered Composite decking but will definitely have a look into it.
Thanks

I've also uploaded some photos. Have they come through?

You have 2 photos in your original post.

I looked up hardwood decking and its available if you want to pay!
Can't speak for new timber but my concern would be how long before it looks like your decking?
Maybe okay but quality timber is not your everyday occurrence these days.

So I've track the hardwood down to Merbau but
I am a little concerned that Merbau bleeds.

I'm replacing five to seven lengths scattered around the deck.
1 length is running parallel next/ over the swimming pool
1 length above a small render wall.

I've come across some northern box that supposedly doesn't bleed as bad.
It's the correct size to 140 X 22mm
Where the Merbau is 19mm thick

I have also noticed someone earlier on had replaced some of the decking boards with something different to Merbau.

Maybe I could get away with northern box?

Originally Posted by grguthrey

So I've track the hardwood down to Merbau but
I am a little concerned that Merbau bleeds.

I'm replacing five to seven lengths scattered around the deck.
1 length is running parallel next/ over the swimming pool
1 length above a small render wall.

I've come across some northern box that supposedly doesn't bleed as bad.
It's the correct size to 140 X 22mm
Where the Merbau is 19mm thick

I have also noticed someone earlier on had replaced some of the decking boards with something different to Merbau.

Maybe I could get away with northern box?

I don't think the majority of the deck is merbau. Merbau doesn't surface check like that. It's an Aussie hardwood but can't tell until you cut an end. There are some replacements in the photo that do look like merbau. You can get 140x22 merbau. If you're worried about staining, you can make a tub with a pine stud frame and polythene plastic and leach the critical ones in water for a week and then seal all round with your deck finish product. Merbau is superior to any number of Aussie hardwoods such as spotted gum, ironbark, mixed reds, though I have not used northern box that I know of.

The northern box you mention is also known as Pelawan, which may help with tracking it down. Very similar to Merbau, and yes, doesn't bleed.

I'd also say your deck has been stained dark, so just plan to stain it, adding coats until colour is close enough. It's a deck, doesn't need to be perfect . I'd recommend Cutek CD50 and their Colour Tone additives. Their support guys are very helpful too, give them a call

Thanks for that

Perfect, I'll give them a bit of research and get hold of them.

I've inspected some of the decking joists and have noticed some of the joist ends are in a pretty bad state and will need to be replaced and noggins as well.
It looks like it's all H3 timber pine joists; the majority of the deck joists are pretty good.

Would have to replace it with H3 as it's the only thing that comes in 70x45 but I was wondering what you guys use to protect it from the ground and water?

I was thinking of an in ground timber protection product like bitumen coating.

Hey guys I've just come across extreme joists H4.
Looks like it will do the job.

Originally Posted by grguthrey

Hey guys I've just come across extreme joists H4.
Looks like it will do the job.

You certainly need at least H4 if the timber is touching the ground

I would not use composite wood. It is easy to use and looks good, but can be uncomfortably hot to walk on.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

I would not use composite wood. It is easy to use and looks good, but can be uncomfortably hot to walk on.

I have both and can place a foot on both at the same time, and there is a small discernable difference in my experience (Pelawan timber and Modwood). One thing about composite (aka plastic blends) is that it loses heat far faster than anything else, including timber, stone and concrete. In fact, if you keep standing in the same spot on Modwood for a little longer than you think you can bear, your "shadow" under your feet starts to cool it down - that quickly! And when shade comes over, Modwood loses its heart immediately, where our stone pool coping alongside it will still be losing heat well into the evening

Fun fact - this is also why your plastics don't dry as well as your ceramics, glass, stone and steel in the dishwasher - the plastic doesn't hold heat energy for self-drying as well as the others do