I vote Moisture Shield if your going manmade for a lot of reasons.

You cant go wrong with ipe but its geting a little Spendy you might check out Garapa. J.

Thanks for the reply John. What are some of your reasons for going with Moisture Shield? I've begun to check out Garapa as you suggested. Nice looking wood as is Ipe.

Jack

The plant is in Springdale, Sales rep Kevin Williamson 800 951 5117 you might get a walk thru around the outfit to see for yourself.

MoistureShield was the first composite and still the best from my outlook. They have never had legal action brought against them, the product can be installed in the water if you want,there is no ground clearance requirements,They are constanley spending money on R&D to make the material better not just coming up with new untested product to make sales.

An example of the quality is the way they cool the boards down. They have a drying rack you will just have to see to understand what it is. About two stories high it rotates/raises/lowers the boards with blowers going thru them. It takes around 7 hr to cool the product slowley like that. This is in contrast to trex or t=junk they hit it with water and its on the truck in 15 min. tjunk also riped off everything from MS in the begining.

Anyway its good product,great outfit, and time tested. Its not one of my areas of choice but they are really " Green " as well.

John Hyatt www.deckmastersllc.com

Hi John,
Yes, the plant is just 10 miles from me. I do plan on calling them to see if I can get a tour. It's good to hear what the manufacturer has to say and see how the stuff is made. I much prefer though the opinion of someone such as you, someone who has actually built decks with it and has dealt with customers praise or complaints. YouÂre the guy in my opinion who really knows the product.

I see that it's not one of your areas of choice. What do you prefer, Ipe, Garapa or some other wood? The composite seems fine but I still lean towards real wood. What are most of the decks you build now constructed of?

Thanks again for your input John.

I have been puting down South American for hmmmmmm13 years or so. Naturaly I get a pretty good deal on it and I know all the little tricks

I am usually not a fan of the green thing for a lot of resons but it is a good point for MS material thats what I was saying.

I have a few MS / correct deck projects out doing very well including one multi story deal at a local condo that gets no care at all and a lot of traffic.

Its just that every time I bid a job that could go either way composite comes out higher,usually its the handrail that pushes it over, but the price per runing ft is higher as well at least for me. So most of my high end things are done with South American. J.

I ment choice / moisture shield sorry bout that. J.

I think my problem should I go with Ipe or something like it is finding someone who has experience working with it. Heck, I canÂt find anyone who specializes in decks in this area. There are lots of folks who want to build it for me but have little or no experience building decks much less designing one. IÂm sure IÂll find the right person if I look long enough.

Thanks again John

Jack

So your not far from Springdale. I helped Susan's Father do a pretty big ipe pool deck there right in the heart of Springdale. A famliy guy and his Son framed it and put down the decking I came in to put up the ipe rail and the copper balusters.

Your right its pretty basic over that way far as a lot of things go. I had to get Harlod into the presure treated Plant to get ground contact preasure treated lumber to frame with. If you want I could see if Denny is up to doing another on. The Man is good,real good, I could give the Family a call and check out a visit OK.

My phone is on the site. www.deckmastersllc.com

ThatÂs an interesting offer John. IÂm sure IÂll have lots of questions.

Let me think it over for a couple of days before I call.

Thanks

Sure.

Harold has a nice spread out there and the ipe pool deck is looking good. I called the Folks Denny is good for it and Shirley woudent mind at all showing you around.

Denny framed and trimed out their new house including a 24' round bathroom with a 12 & 12' pitch roof glass block walls and all. Let me know if I can help. J.