Thanks for the compliment. I agree that the wood probably wasn't the best out there. It was all bought from Home Depot so who knows where its from. I tore down what was rotted and am rebuilding it from there. It was too much work to do it all over again.

John totaly agrees. Cross ventalation is a vastley over looked feature in a lot of deck construstion. J.

Thanks for all the tips. There was some ventilation up front but when they poured the concrete for my pool it ate up all the space along the front of the deck. It looks nice but sealed it up tight.

Ventilation is important in preventing warpage, cupping and other deformities in the lumber.Wood properly pressure treated to ground contact standards should not rot, however, even with no ventilation. Wood like this is used and approved for foundations completely below grade - no ventilation there. Don't misunderstand - I agree ventilation is a good idea, but Joe's problems are/were with his wood, not anything he did or did not do in his construction.

We are forced to use mcq pt lumber most very place. This material,even stamped ground contact, is Not made to be in the ground if you read the fine print just ground contact. Tests results using mcq sticks showing rot in 18 months. The sticker leval reads 1.5 not .40 that has always been the standared.

Maine your thinking is flawed,uninformed and outdated. Using pt lumber for bottom plates under a house is completley different than joists/ decking exposed to the weather.

Ten years ago the business was changing from cca to acq a slight chance exists that material was cca however the box stores did not sell .40 lumber it was 2.5 not made for ground contact and very low quality. Its completley normal to get 10 years or much less building with this material on an outdoor project.

Cross ventilation could have extended the life of this deck to a slight degree but it was slated for a short life because of the penatration leval in the lumber and the chem used in the retort.

Air moving under the frame of any deck will limit movement in the decking , cut down on mold/mildew and extend its service.

John Hyatt www.deckmastersllc.com

John: I don't really see any area in which we disagree.

My knowledge really is outdated in regards to the newer types of pt lumber. So I'm curious. What is the present day equivalent of .40 cca? Are any wooden foundations still code compliant? If so, what product is used?

One more time, it hardley maters what they treat bottom plates for a building with most Folks use borax. They get very little exposure.

CCA is still being made its just against the law to use it on residential. There is no equivalent on the market.

This being what we have to live with because of the green mafia I have been retreating any lumber close to the ground with Cuprinol #10 green. Of course they outlawed that this year as well so I now use Jasco Termin #8.
J.

Well this is interesting discussion. I just learned one of my 4x4's in the fence behind in the photo above (which I also built) has rotted at the base and broken too. I've decided this lumber from ten years ago is garbage and not up to standard. I curse Home Depot. Not only do I have a deck that needs repairs I now have a fence thats about to fall down too .......

Its a bad deal Man.

But thats the deal we have. When you do rebuild try to find ground contact mcq lumber that will help a little and treat anything even close to the ground with Termin, its not all that easy to get either I had to order it from Sherwin willams. Call around to your local Pro paint stores it might pop up ya never know.

I hear you far as the box stores go they really cheep out with the pt lumber.

Hang in there Bro. J.

At a recent function at a decking supplier they had reps from the major distribitors in this area, one of which operates a treating plant down by Houston. I asked about why the stuff they stamp & sell as "ground contact" is only .l5 when the old cca lumber that was ground contact was .40 His explantion was that the new stuff being used for treating lumber did not need as much chemicals. I call that hogwash.

My understanding of what's allowed to be treated with cca was any dimension bigger than 2x6. I know when I do boatdock work at the coast the lumberyards there still carry a lot of cca lumber, mainly 4x4's, 2x10's, & 2x12's.
Who's to say if folks down there are using it on docks or at their house?

Belive me All I have thought more than a few times to put a call into Bayou City Lumber over Houston way and just get a couple of .60 cca units delivered over here and be done with it!!!! Re treating with Termin is pretty easy but it just pisses me Off to have to do it.

But most times I decide to do it I spend the money on my Harley or a trip to New Mexico. J.