Vinyl vs. Wood Deck?

Fierce · by **Fierce** on Thu Jun 17, 2010 12:59 pm

Hi,

Has anyone recently replaced a deck and have an idea about the price difference between a wood deck and a vinyl one with railings? I am leaning toward vinyl with railings just because of the maintenance, I think it would be a lot easier than wood, but my husband wants wood. We're not doing it until next year so I don't want to go to the trouble of calling people out for quotes, just looking for a general idea of whether one costs significantly more than the other. TIA!

On purpose? · by **On purpose?** on Thu Jun 17, 2010 1:06 pm

I looked into this a couple years ago and cedar was way more then vinyl. Something to think about, with vinyl you would have waterproof storage under your deck.

Oh and another thing. When getting quotes see how much the company charges for the demo of your old deck. I had one company tell me $1000. Say whaa???!

Sunnygirl · by **Sunnygirl** on Thu Jun 17, 2010 6:59 pm

Cedar is definitely more than vinyl, but pressure treated not as expensive as cedar.

One big difference is with wood you need to restain every couple of years..(extra $ & time)...but with vinyl you have to keep washed regularly or it looks worse than the wood would if left unkept.

ander · by **ander** on Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:43 pm

I probably prefer the look of a wood deck but dh and I are SO not into maintenance and our deck is pretty huge and would be a nightmare to stain every few years so when we redid it 3 years ago, we went with vinyl and powder-coated aluminum railings. I don't love the look of skinny pickets so we went with the 'fat boy' style that looks more like wood railings to match the feel of our exterior. We've been very happy with our deck. Just needs a good wash each season.

by **Guest** on Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:51 pm

I looked into this before we did our deck. The issue from all the Carpenters that I talked to is that Vinyl doesn't have the stability of wood (it sags over time) and it is about 4x the price.

I called all the major suppliers and that was their POV too.

In the end we went with Sleggs Lumber and got the 2x6 pressure treated wood boards with the rounded edges.

The ONLY paint that can go on non-cured pressure treated wood (wood bought from the store and not let sit outside for a year) is sold at the Benjamin Moore Store on Keating Crossroads. It is called Sansil PTL http://www.sansin.com/ext_ptl.html It is the only stain that will stick. It has a great coverage though. We bought 3 cans and used only 1 for our 12x16 deck with stairs.

thebunny · by **thebunny** on Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:16 am

I did a wood deck with Plywood on top and now were fiberglassing the deck its about 2.50 a sq foot. And it will last about 15+ yrs.

I will take pics when its done.

woodsie · by **woodsie** on Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:29 am

We did alot of research as we just finished the design process and the decks will be built in mid to late July. We went with composite for the floor and cedar for the posts, unsure yet of rails or glass for the sides and top yet.
Althought the composite was quite a bit more, we figured by the time our contractor picked through the cedar to find straight pieces, stained and treated each piece, etc. it would be almost the same cost in labour as the difference in price. We bought Trex brand which is very durable - very thick and heavy, waterproof, insect repellent, low maintenance, made with recycled wood and plastic bags and we can walk around in our barefeet without worrying about splinters. It has a wood grain finish so it looks nice. I'll post pictures once the decks are done (late July hopefully)