Pressure-Treated and Hardwood Decks in Gainesville

Longer than most people expect if the treatment ratings were right and the deck was allowed to dry, and much shorter if either was not. The frame is the part that decides it: posts and anything within reach of the soil need ground contact rated material, and where that was used the structure regularly outlives the surface boards. Where above-ground material was used at grade to save money, the base of the posts is usually the first thing to go soft. The boards themselves come and go on a cycle; the frame is the investment.

More often than the tin suggests, because the tin was not written for a climate with this much sun and this much humidity. A horizontal surface in full exposure takes the worst of it and typically wants attention on a shorter cycle than the rails and skirting. The practical test is water: when it stops beading and starts soaking in, the finish has stopped working. Cleaning first and re-coating a clean, dry deck matters more than the brand of stain.

Native subterranean termites occur throughout Florida, so the exposure is real everywhere in the state. Preservative treatment is specifically intended to protect against decay fungi and insect attack, which is a large part of why treated lumber is the standard here. The vulnerable spots are the ones where treatment is absent or has been cut through: field cuts that were never treated, untreated trim, and any place where wood contacts soil and stays wet. Keeping structural wood off the ground and off standing water does more for the deck than anything applied to the surface.

Cedar is more dimensionally stable, takes a finish well, and looks better doing it. It also costs more and is not naturally suited to soil contact, so posts and anything at grade are generally still treated material even on a cedar deck. Where cedar earns its money is a visible, walked-on surface on a deck people spend real time on. Where it does not is a large plain rectangle where the boards are mostly under furniture.

They are extremely dense, extremely durable, and expensive both in material and in labour, because the density means pre-drilling nearly every fastener and getting through saw blades. Left unfinished they weather to silver-grey; kept oiled they hold a deep brown. In a climate this hard on timber they perform very well. The reason they are not common on ordinary Gainesville decks is simply the number on the quote.