On Deck

A Deck Tip You Won’t Get Anywhere Else

There are some decking contractors who might cringe out there knowing that I shared decking secrets.  And early on, I generally kept to myself on the tricks of the trade. But I learned somewhere along the way to share my knowledge with others in the belief that “what comes around goes around”.  Plus, to be honest, there are so many tips and ways of building decks that I doubt many would be interested in soaking them all up.  Anyway, since the last post talked about maintenance, I thought I’d share something I learned along the way.

In Atlanta during the mid-spring to early-fall, temperatures are typically in the mid-nineties. When building decks in this hot temperature, pressure treated decking seems to “check” a lot more than if you had built the deck in cooler weather.  (“Checking” is where small surface cracks develop due to expansion and contraction.)  Contractors commonly purchase pressure treated wood with moisture content of 30% or more. When this wood is used during the hot season, the warm temperatures dry the wood out which causes the decking to contract all at once…and where checking occurs.

The trick that I’ve learned is to soak the deck down with water every evening before we leave. This replenishes the evaporated moisture. The follow up is to apply an oil base preservative about two weeks after completion. So we soak the deck down every evening during the project and for two weeks afterwards...then apply the oil base preservative. At around the two week mark, we skip a night of soaking to allow the deck to dry before applying the preservative. On that night, we’ll clean the deck with a deck brightener in anticipation of the preservative. The common mistake is to wait for 9-12 months before applying the preservative. That’s a fallacy in the deck building world as the wood is vulnerable (and damaged) for 9 months!

Want more decking tips?  Call us and let’s talk about how we're going to build yours!

What Do I Love Even More than Posting to my Deck Blog?

Sure, I know I haven’t posted recently. And sure, I miss it. But I have to admit there’s one thing that holds more interest for me than banging away on my keyboard…and that’s banging away with a hammer as we're building decks! Ha!

Levity aside, it looks like things are starting to pick up around Atlanta. During the first few months, we were really concentrating on deck restorations and smaller projects. Lately I’ve been out on quite a few appointments as well as to get out in that beautiful Georgia weather.  We just finished a $15k deck and started another one about the same size. We have an $80k project after that. It finally looks like the bigger jobs are starting to come through.

But this year’s events have reinforced my appreciation for restoration and maintenance.  Tailor Decks, since its inception in 1994, has always cleaned and treated projects upon completion (as well as offered followup maintenance).  Not only do we make it available but we remind our customer base about every quarter about our commitment. Sure, we make a little money to get by…but more importantly, our decks are preserved. From my perspective, this is quite unique in this market. My guess is that if you went looking for maintenance, Tailor Decks would be the most responsive. Give us a try and find out! ;)

Deck Composite Problems

I think I've been pretty vocal about my cautionary perspective on using composite for deck jobs.  If a customer for some reason insists, then we will do it for them.  But you can be sure that I'll pass on all my concerns to them. Not only does the material not look quite right, but it doesn't seem to hold up as promised by the manufacturers.

Here's a case in point.  Louisiana-Pacific (LP), a large composite manufacturer, recently recalled their composite products.  You may recognize LP through their brand "Veranda", sold in Home Depot stores.  The recall had to do with 37 reports of composite decks breaking...resulting in 14 injuries.  Click below to learn more-

Composite Decks Recalled by Lousiana-Pacific

After reports like this, it just doesn't make much sense to me to use composite...particularly when there are so many other great options.  What has been your experience of composite material?  I'd love to get some feedback.

The Burden of Quality

With the seemingly endless number of products and services in any service industry, I know how hard it is to tell the difference of one over another.  That’s why it’s particularly frustrating looking at this problem from the other (vendor’s) side.  From my perspective, it’s easy to see that some of my competitors spend a lot of money on the marketing side of the business and a minimal amount on operations and service quality.  To see a prospect go with a competitor based mostly on marketing tactics truly breaks my heart.  Particularly when I know we would have done a much better job.

So I frequently debate with myself on whether to proceed as we have been or to take money we use to invest in operations and spend more on marketing.  As someone who is very quality-conscious, this puts a pretty significant weight on me.  We don’t neglect either, but I’d really prefer to continue with reinvestment into better processes.  It would be nice if prospects would do a little more information-gathering before making decisions.  My hunch is that if they spent more time at it, they would see the long-term value of the higher price…and Tailor Decks would get the business.  I can’t assume that they’ll do that however, and will continue to reinvest the best way we know how.

Decking Trend - A Time that Tries Men's Souls

Someone once said that “these are the times that try men’s souls”.  I think we’re living in such a time again.  Economic events are such that contractors are switching industries in order to make a living.  We’ve felt this shift in the decking/remodeling industry as many contractors in the “new construction” area have migrated over in search of work.  But the inherent problem is that new construction contractors aren’t remodelers!  So what we’re already seeing are prices being driven down (good for the consumer).  But something that is all too predictable is that somewhere down the road, the dirt-cheap work will start to bend, brake, crack and fade…leading the consumers to have to spend even more on replacement (bad for the consumer in the long run).

This is really the driving reason why we’ve done less work than last year.  Our marketing has actually improved, but the available work has largely been eaten up by a tsunami of new “remodelers”.  And while I can’t blame them for trying to feed their families, I must attempt to educate consumers on what’s going on.  Fortunately, due to the good relationship we’ve built with our past customers, we still have some work.  I credit the close relationship with them to a couple of things.  First, we’ve made a big effort to maintain all originally-built Tailor Decks since the company’s inception back in 1994.  And second, we’re prompt with maintenance and/or warranty issues.  Our commitment to stay close has meant (in addition to a phone call from time to time), mailers that are sent two to three times a year telling our past customers (or new “inherited” deck owners) what’s going on.

As far as new business, lowering prices to compete with the new contractors is a no-win situation.  The truth is that someone else is always willing to go out of business faster than you.  So, we at Tailor Decks will not compete when it comes to losing money or building an inferior product.  We have the most competitive pricing we’ve ever offered but still have a minimum cost line that we must adhere to (including cost of materials, workers comp, insurance, taxes, etc.).  Unfortunately, we’ve have to watch the spectacle of competitors pricing themselves out of the market and consumers “getting what they pay for” from the sidelines.  It’s a time of real evaluation for all.

Exotic Hardwoods

I’ve written some posts on composite decking but haven’t yet touched on the “elegant” stuff, namely the exotic hardwoods.  Needless to say, you can find some very beautiful wood in the exotic group.  But as with most things, there are down sides.

I’m going to here on Ipe (pronounced EE-pay), the most popular of the exotics.  Ipe has been around for a long time (it’s wood after all, ha) but has really become popular in the decking/remodeling world for the last five years or so due to heavy marketing.  I was first introduced to this beautiful wood at a home show at the World Congress Center back in 1989 as it really caught my attention way back then.  (I typically tell people it’s like Thomasville Furniture.)  The contractor who introduced me to the wood was using it as an alternative to cedar and pressure treated pine.

We’ve had the opportunity to build several decks using Ipe around Atlanta.  My evaluation is that it’s probably the most beautiful material you can build with.  The biggest problem though with the wood is its density / inflexibility.  The density prevents it from absorbing stain necessary to shield it from inclement weather.  This translates into checking and cupping of the material.  (“Checking” refers to small surface cracks that are developed due to weather change.)  And this all leads to more frequent maintenance having to be performed.  I recommend (at least) two maintenance sessions a year if the wood is in the sun.

The inflexibility comes into play when it comes time for deck railing.  Because of its density, Ipe is very hard to work with (cut).  This is why most Ipe flooring contractors use a different material for the railing.  The problem is that even when trying to stain other material to match the Ipe below, it never really looks the same…and falls short.  Bottom line…if money is no object, go with the Ipe.  I think there’s better value though using other material.

Tailor Decks on Kudzu!

Just like Kudzu around Atlanta, our name continues to spread!  Are you familiar with Kudzu.com?  It's a website that allows visitor's to critique (or applaud) vendors around town.  That is, you can go in and find your favorite restaurant and let people know your opinion of them.  That way, when others are looking for a good restaurant and see your positive review, they'll be more likely to give it a try.  We recently had a video built (to the left) for the site that explains what we do.

For those of you who are reading this post and have a positive review of Tailor Decks, we would really appreciate it if you would take a couple of minutes to give us a recommendation there.  It will let others know that we build good decks.  Here's the link to that.  It will require you to register with them.  Then after that, you'll be able to add a review of anyone you want!

Built-in Enthusiasm

I must say I’ve been doing the deck thing for a long time now.  If it wasn’t something I was born to do (it is), then I would have given it up long ago.  But even in challenging times, I (practically) dance out of bed in the morning.  I hope everyone has the chance to feel the same about the vocation they choose.

That aside though...times are making it difficult right now. When I first opened Tailor Decks 15 years ago, I was handling virtually every aspect…including sales. Back then, I remember building during the day and introducing our services during the evenings or weekends. I did the accounting and payroll on Thursday nights. (I’ve worn so many hats my hair has started to wear thin!) The sales hat has never been a favorite of mine.

I don’t think I’ve ever regarded myself as much of a "salesman". I think most of the work we’ve gotten has been due to the fact that we’ve had great customers who have passed the word.  If I said that I have great "technique", I think I’d be flattering myself.  But there are a couple things that I’ve maintained and communicate with prospects even today that I think are valuable.  Those things include a pretty large knowledge base about decks…along with enthusiasm.  Someone told me once that sales is just the transference of enthusiasm…and I believe that. Fortunately, enthusiasm about decks for me isn't contrived...it's pretty automatic.

Some things have definitely changed over the years.  Technology through emailing and websites (along with the really newfangled stuff like Twitter) has helped us communicate better.  But with the increase in competition, more products, an economic contraction, and legal considerations, it’s really more challenging to put up a deck than ever.  If you let it get to you it will.  I just keep thinking about the transfer of enthusiasm…and that gets me through any storm.

Atlanta Decks

As I’ve posted before, I happen to think that Atlanta provides the best setting for decks in the world…the climate, foliage and culture all provide us with a wonderfully natural backdrop for beautiful decks.  And I think this is one of the reasons the composite material has had such a hard time here.

Many homeowners aren’t aware that most of the decks produced in Atlanta are built with wood as opposed to composite.  But this isn’t the case around the rest of the country where composite is pretty popular.  Atlanta is really a “hold-out” city in terms of composite use…and I believe that, in the long-run, we will reverse the national trend back to wood.

Composites have been around now for about fifteen years.  Back when the material was first getting some serious press, I remember being shown a bench that had been made of composite before the popular Trex brand came around.  The benches looked pretty good but when I went to sit on one, I was  surprised by how spongy it felt. My friend’s take was that the sponginess was good as it “had some give to it”. 

As I look back on that along with many composite experiences since, I’ve developed a pretty “rigid” perspective on it.  My take on it today (in addition to others I’ve asked) is that I prefer structures like these to be solid and sound.  When I sit on a bench, I expect it be solid without much “give”.  Further, when I walk on a deck, I expect it to be strong and supportive.  And while composites have come a ways in terms of aesthetics, it’s still miles away from the true natural look that wood provides.  The bottom line is that composites really have a “natural” disadvantage as a building material.  My prediction for Atlanta decks and decks around the country is that we’ll continue to see advances on wood treatment (such as our TailorWood) that will cushion the long-term lead of wood over composite.  What are your thoughts on this?

Atlanta Decks and Screened Porches

The very first deck I ever built was in 1987 in a suburb outside of Louisville, Kentucky. I was attending a building construction school nearby and working with a classmate who needed some help on a remodeling project he was working on.  The project consisted of the removal of an exterior wall and an addition to the house which had French doors leading out to large deck.

The deck on this house was pretty awesome. It was approximately 12’ x 20’ and had the outside bayed which gave it a great look. The flooring was 5/4” board pressure treat pine with rounded edges. The railing consisted of 2” x 2” wood pickets that were nailed into the side deck bands… and sandwiched in by 2x4’s on each side at the top and a 5/4 board piece of decking for the railcap.

Twenty two years later, when I look back at this first project, I find it amazing the difference in the work we did on that deck and the work we do today. The Atlanta decks and screened porches that are put up today are simply incredible.  The materials, the technology, the processes, everything…seems to have progressed in leaps and bounds over the years.

And Atlanta, being in my opinion the “hotbed” of decking, is such a great place to create them.  The weather is nice 9 months out of the year.  And people just want to live outside and enjoy their yards which are so beautifully landscaped.  While economic times may be challenging, it’s hard to deny that we’re practically living in a decking fantasyland.