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Old 02-22-2017, 07:24 PM   #12
DickR
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On our new house, built 2010-11, we used Fiberon imitation IPE composite decking. It still looks new, and it's a good match to the house siding. It has a fairly tough shell over the core material and seems to stand up well to abuse, including snow shoveling with a plastic shovel. I suspect PT would suffer more abuse over time than the composite does, being a wood product. Plus, the PT would tend to present potential splinters to bare feet over time, whereas the composite will not. Long-term maintenance tilts in favor of composite. Bear in mind that labor to install either type of decking likely will be more than the material itself, so a lesser uptick for better material won't be as big a deal.

If you do go composite, as others have noted, make sure the joist spacing is close enough for the material, particularly if the decking is attached at 45 degrees, which may call for 12" OC joist spacing. Also, if composite decking is used, and it has grooves on the edges for the use of hidden fasteners, then lateral bracing of the framing will be required, since the use of those fasteners does not provide racking resistance.
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