Any decent alternative to pressure treated lumber is likely to be far more expensive although you should probably consider the total cost of ownership. Not to mention the less tangible "quality of life" issues - what's it worth to you not to have to spend a weekend every year maintaining your deck.

I also dislike treated decks. Our deck at our last place was cedar. It looked great, but of course required yearly maintenance to keep it looking fresh (I don't like the worn out grey look). And once you stain it, you lose the beautiful cedar smell! It was also a softer wood than I would have liked.

So, our new house that we just moved into, just had an Angelim Pedra deck put in. The wood is gorgeous. Smells a little interesting, but now that it's outside instead of in the garage, the smell isn't there. I'll be doing a sealer/stain made specifically for exotic hardwoods; it's a one coat system. And I'll be expecting to need to do it again next year but hope that it makes it 2 years. :) The cost was slightly less than composite and we used underside fasteners. The fasteners were also cheaper than the designated clips for the Rhino composite that we looked into, so overall the price got brought down additionally from composite. But, quite a bit pricier than pressure treated.

Alas, there is not a decking that is cheap, high quality, and low maintenance. It sounds like the latter 2 are important to you, so that means you'll have to ante up or deal with the ugly.

We chose garapa (the most affordable of the brazilian hardwoods). We countersunk face screws and then glued in wood plugs to make it seamless/hardware-less. Looks fantastic. It's 2 years old now and needs a stain refresher, but the quality of the wood is just like when we put it in. If you don't mind it going gray, there's no maintenance required at all.

Thanks for all the comments so far. I did look at the garapa and really like the looks of it and that you can use hidden fasteners. Someone know how dimensionally stable it is? Does it have any bad tendencies like splits/checking/warping? although I assume it is much better than PT. It would be more than double the cost of PT and I have a 500 sq ft deck, so thats a lot of extra cost. I could probably pay for PT maintenance for 25 years with it!

weedyacres - no maintenance at all for garapa? sounds too good to be true. why don't you post some pictures of your deck?

slayer,
Thanks for the info. I know that garapa, ipe, etc are better for decks than PT. But man the cost is so much more. Don't know if I can convince myself to go that route. I am going to at least research PT some more to see if there are higher grades available than what you can get at big box stores. Maybe if I get the highest grade I can find and maybe with some factory pretreated water repellant/moldicide, I can get something half decent. I know I will have to do yearly maintenance, but for several thousand dollars less than garagpa/ipe, the extra work is easier to swallow.

tworst: Don't forget the cost of replacing the PT down the road, when it's beyond salvagability. You won't have to do that with a Brazilian hardwood.

Two of my threads have photos: here's the building thread, though GW had a system issue last year sometime and lost the last month's worth of posts. I need to go back and at least post some finished photos.

And here's some photos after 2 winters showing the weathering of the stain. You can see the close-ups of the wood. There's one board, a vertical board around the bench, that I glued/finish nailed that is pulling away from the framing. I'm going to go back and screw it down. That's the only one I've noticed.

Hey Weed Folks !!!

In the old days of cca pt lumber a person could really put it down as decking and, with some work, have a good project lasting 40 years or so. This is not the case with the pt product in use now.

A person has to define failure in any case. Just how much twisting,warping,splinters has to happen before it involves failure.

South American lumber like ipe,garapa,masenranduba has no failure in our lifetime,installed corectley,this should be taken in before the decking choice is made.

JonMon

i did my deck with IPE nd used PT for framing and steps etc.
framing was fine BUT using PT for steps ,railings IS BIG MISTAKE.
any where PT lies flat it will warp/split like you have never seen before.

my sisters deck is all UNTREATED wood.
it is PINE and 30 years old.
it is PERFECT.
i stain it every 2 years with olympic stain in redwood, looks beautiful.

if it was ME, i would do my deck in PINE untreated not treated PT wood.
stain 1 side that is down ,then rest after you install it.
her deck is 1 ft off dirt too.

her deck wood looks better than my new PT wood which is 3 years old and hers is 30 years old.

something to think about.

30 years ago building was done with old growth lumber.

There were back then many types of wood that could fit into being called " Pine " as well.

Old growth Doug Fir could easely go 30 years under the right conditions with out any finish at all.

But times are not what they were back then, not even close.

J.

very true john.at lowes even untreated wood is twisted badly.so putting on deck floor may not work like 30 years ago wood.

PT wood is just awful.its shocking how bad it is.when it dries after you get it home, IT IS AWFUL.
my neighbor puts his PT wood in garage to dry for 1 year.
so far, it seems to be better than just buying wood and putting it down wet.

Commanche,
What's up chief? I saw your comment about using untreated pine - now thats something I never heard of before. I suspect it would not pass building codes, but you do have me thinking about it. Its just hard to beleive that stained untreated pine would hold up to any adverse weather/sun conditions. What stain did you use? Anybody else ever try this? On the other had, it does seem that the (questionable) protection from today pressure treating has the adverse effect of making the wood very high in moisture content when its bought and then it moves all over the place as it dries. If I did buy PT, I would prefer to sticker it and let it air dry for a year or so but I don't have that kind of time (or should have thought about that last year). Any one know where you can get PT wood that has been thoroughly dried down to a guranteed moister content? Factor applied water seal and moldicide would be even better. There is still a downside in that PT would often has that greenish color from the PT process and it does not look natural, or even looks like mold. Anyway, thanks again to all who have made suggestions. I am still researching my options and I am learning a lot form this forum.

PS - anybody use the CAMO Marksman hidden screw system. It has a screw alignment jig that angles the screw in the edge of the board at a 45 degree angle. I will see if I can find a thread on this. Link below.

http://www.protoolreviews.com/reviews/hardware/screws-nails/camo-marksman-pro-fastener

Here is a link that might be useful: CAMO hidden screw system

John's right about old growth timber, it's an entirely different animal than modern, farm grown timber. Combine that with the very high moisture content from the pressure treating process and it's a recipe for disaster. I want to say there is PT lumber available with a lower moisture content but I don't think you'll find it at any big box store.

Some years ago there was a company making silica impregnated wood. It was supposed to offer all the benefits of traditional pressure treating without the moisture issues. I don't think they're around any more.

There's heart cypress; really wonderful wood, lasts and lasts without any maintenance, and that aroma!! It has to be all heartwood, as you will discover that the sapwood rots away faster than wet newspaper.
Casey

It makes no differance how much water the pt lumber has or does not have. SYP laying flat to the sun is going to react the same no matter what its just the nature of the material.

Same with any other pt lumber. How this material is fastened or what its finished with makes no differance at all its going to do the same thing laying flat to the sun.

J.