I have a deck on the house that is currently nominal 2×4 of various species. (the previous owners had no taste). I want to replace the surface with Ipe wood. It comes as nominal 5/4 x 6 which is a better look IMO. The problem is how to make up for the smaller dimension?
- Seriously, is ripping a bunch of 1/2 inch strips the professional way to go?
- Would you paint the strips to keep moisture out?
- I suppose I could use some of the PT that we pull up to make this shim, right?
A few edits to address the questions in the comments.
- Yes i want the good wood called Ipe.
- no the concern is not the stability of the floor, the joists are 24" or less
- the concern is how it looks / behaves under the threshold of the slider doors and where the siding meets the deck.
- yes I have been formatting the paragraph to look / read better, but it just keeps clumping it all together. uurgh…
A couple things the past few days….
2x Ipe is cost prohibitive, double the cost of the 5/4 Ipe. However Ipe is the way to go. Therefore we're thinking of putting a 1/2 inch shim on joists or putting a 'sister' joist that is 1/2 inch proud. We need the decking level to be the same after the thinner board. If there were a gap or even a filler bit under the doors and siding it would look like a mistake. There are 12 doors that meet the decking.
One pro suggested rubber flashing to help hold the 1/2" shim in place and bonus shed the water. Explain again why you wouldn't do this? How else to support doors?
Best Answer
I would stay with 2 X lumber instead of 5/4 "decking". that will solve your dimension problem . Regular 2 X lumber is twice as strong, twice as stiff and lasts much longer, compared to 5/4 decking. My deck is 2 X 6 , 25 years old and I have made a few repairs. The community pool has some 5/4 decking ,it has been replaced twice in that same time and does not look so good right now. More objectively ,the strength is proportional to the cube of the thickness; that cube is 3.38 for 2 X lumber and for 5/4 the cube is 1.95, so not quite 2 : 1 difference. Update- I went to the pool today ,5/ 23, a new deck had been put on during the winter ,so 3 decks in about 25 years. But, this time someone got smart and put in 2 X lumber instead of 5/4.