Hello All,

I'm replacing my deck this summer. And though it's small, about 8' x 16', what I'd like to do has a few fussy parts to it. I'd welcome some feedback on a couple of things. I've read through the forum archives, and can't find much that applies directly to my questions.

It's important to say at the outset that I'm in coastal British Columbia, which means a mild climate but a lot of rain. Rot is Enemy #1 here. Any place that water sits is where a deck or fence eventually fails. This location also means that cedar is king - it's local, the price is right, and the look is right. My deck will be cedar.

The joists will have plywood sheathing and a torch-on roof membrane, so as to keep the area underneath dry and usable. It will also keep my structure dry. The joists will slope away from the house, and the membrane will drain off to a gutter. On top of the membrane will be sleepers, tapered so that the deck surface is level, and the decking itself will be 2x cedar.

So what I'm trying to figure out is:

1/ Do my sleepers need to be pressure-treated material? Will cedar do the job? The membrane will have a positive slope, so this thing won't sit with its feet wet for long. I can also put down some extra small squares of the membrane under the sleepers.

2/ Can I successfully use a clip system like Ipe Clip Extreme with this type of construction? I'd really like to keep the deck surface free of fasteners, both for how it looks and of course to avoid places where water can pool. But I'm concerned about whether the whole thing will be rigid enough, since I wouldn't be screwing the boards down to a rigid structure, but only to sleepers sitting loose on the membrane. With only one connection point per joist, it seems like the whole assembly might move more easily than should.

3/ How does a system like Ipe Clip perform with 2x cedar? Their site says you can use it, but I don't personally know anyone who's done it. Most of the talk in the forum archives here is about tropical hardwood or composites. What I'm considering is getting good 2x4 or 2x6 material and routing the groove myself. Cedar is a heck of a lot softer that Ipe, but it's pretty dimensionally stable, so it seems like a decent candidate for use here. Does anyone have direct experience with this?

4/ And there's one thing I absolutely cannot understand. Why do some recommend using construction adhesive along with one of these clip systems? I don't get it. As I understand these systems, the whole idea is that you fix one edge of the deck board to the joist, and the other edge is free to expand or contract with the changing weather. Putting down glue along the edge that's supposed to be able to move defeats this. Why do it?

5/ Is squeaking a problem with Ipe Clip? I've read about a lot of squeaking problems with the early systems of hidden fasteners. What about today's products? Is squeaking the reason for #4, above?

Any thoughts are welcome.