Pressure Treated Vs. Cedar

Danno6102

I'm still green to the deck business & I have never dealt with cedar yet. Nor know much about it's positives & negatives. I have a homeowner I am meeting with Saturday that wants to discuss them. Can anyone provide me with a little comparative info pressure treated vs. cedar? I'm going to do some more research today, but your thoughts are very much appreciated.

Dan

Barry M

Cedar is a little softer wood so be easy with your pressure and chem strength. My methods are the same for PT and cedar and so are a few other guys I know. I've only used Wood Tux on cedar and it looks awesome but there are other sealers to choose from.

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Barry Maddox - Midwest Pro Wash
Pressure Washing Indiana
Deck Cleaning

neolitic

My experience around here is that the
cedar decking (I assume) has about ¼
the life of PT.
No matter how you seal it, it rots from
the bottom up, never dries where joist contacts.
If your supplier caries the new MicroPro PT,
it's a whole new deal. Doesn't really look
PT at all, and some of the stuff I've seen is a
surprisingly "clear" grade.
Of course all of the treaters have a different
name for it, and you need to do a little home work.
Anyway I've pulled up cedar failing after only
8 years.

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Danno6102

So it sounds like the only pro is looks. You still need to seal it every year & it doesn't last as long as PT. Kind of what I thought. Not to mention it's soft.

My local yard is carrying the lighter colored pressure treated. I've had a lot of people ask me if the lumber I was using was treated. I use only #1 for my decking boards & personally select them & they look great!

I think I am going to try to discourage them from Cedar unless they are dead set on it for looks. Which I don't think they are. I am going to try to push them to CorrectDeck CX, but we'll see what their budget can handle.

Thanks for the opinions guys.

neolitic

You're out by Greenfield, right?
What lumber yard?
84 is the only one I remember.

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RobertCDF

I like you... Have you done any CX yet? If not once you get the hang of it you should like it a lot. It does weather to a matte finish if they ask. If you have any questions about CD CX let me know. I will answer them if I can.

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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Custom Composite Decks

John Hyatt

Intersting, a poster on another site is asking the same question in simular language.

Preasure treated pine .40 acq is probley a long lasting choice,although none of us know it hasent been out long enough to know. The .25 acq sold at the box stores is a sure bet for failure. Same with the Many PT materials coming out latley, no one really knows just not enough time out there. It was a sad day when the green gangsters did away with CCA, now that stuff was a sure bet for 30 years or so.

Of course a person has to define failure,if splits,cracks,splinters,and warping are factured in pt pine has a real quick failure rate that cedar either western red (the second growth we use now) or incence cedar do not have. But of course Cedar all together is soft and prone to rot when used outside X 100 in fastened contact with other materials.....Like a Joist.

So its a trade off,,Do you want tunna that tastes good or tunna with good taste.

The best bet is not to use either one for decking/railing. John

par3144

My experience with Cedar has been great. Installed a 20 x 40 Western red cedar deck at my house in 1988 and still looks new. Cedar will last 100 years.
PT will dry out even if sealed and will tend to buckle and split. The downfall with cedar, it is soft so you have to be careful with maintenance and dropping objects that would indent it. (especially if you have kids)
Just my 2 cents worth.

Good Luck

John Hyatt

Big Diferance,,old growth cedar from way back then,and the stuff being sold now. Cedar all together used as decking/railing will defently not last 100 years. J.

neolitic

We tore one out 10 years ago
an architect built out of 2X6 red cedar
the same year you built yours.
His was so rotten one could stomp
a hole right through it.
He had always used solid
stains.....
no idea whether that has any bearing,
but I just don't see many with very
long life around here.

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