Mark- I live in Pacifica. My full time gig is in Menlo Park, but I work all over the area. I get almost all the outdoor wood from Empire Lumber in Belmont. Mike always gives me good prices and the pick of the stack. Hardwood and specialty ply- I buy from Aura in San Jose. You're right about the quality of all Redwood these days, It's nothing like the old growth stuff. I found an old 4x4 Redwood post the other day, and was cutting it for kindling. I couldn't believe the rings! They were too fine to even count. I polished the surface with a razor blade to bring out the grain. Then I got a magnifying glass and started counting. There are about 300 rings on that 4x4! There is a stretch in the middle that appears to represent a drought that lasted for over 100 years, with a pattern of 10 to 20 years of almost no growth interspersed with one or two years of significant growth. What an amazing record of natural history an old redwood tree holds! Compare that to a redwood 4x4 at a box store with only about 10 rings in the cross section. The new Redwood does not have anywhere close to the same rot resistance. The 4x4 with 300 rings will last about 30 times longer without rotting. I think tree farming is a waste of the environment just like cutting old growth. The wood is crap, the habitat is worthless, and the energy used to harvest the wood over and over is a bad deal on the environment. How many acres of tree farmed redwood does it take to equal one old growth tree? The tree farm land will never becaom a mature forest habitat. The 1,000 year old tree has wood that will last for 50 years or more. The tree farmed tree takes 30 years to grow, but the wood only lasts 10 years. I never source wood from Home Depot. Like I mentioned, sometimes I'll get onesies or twosies from the Home Depot Pro in Daly City, if we end up short. Most of the lumber and sheet goods there are a total joke.

A quick sanding w/ 60 grit on a RO takes away all the little Ipe splinters. Drilling the pilot holes into the PT frame will cause the boards to come loose. Using screws that are longer than necessary amplifies the effect of the head popping up as the joist shrinks. A 3.5" long screw embedded 3" into a 2x8 joist will pop out nearly twice as much as 2" long one with 1.5" embedment in the same joist. Use the shortest screw that will do the job, and do not drill the pilot hole into the joist. Use adhesive to hold the decking to the joist. Think of the screw as a clamp. After one day the adhesive is cured and the clamp can be loosened without losing the bond. Wood decks expand and shrink each season, a lot the first season and a bit less each year as the wood weathers. So the "clamp" gets constantly loosened and tightened a little bit. Retightening the screws one time after installation, or right before plugging may be a smart practice especially in dry climates. However I would not recommend continually retightening the screws manually. You will eventually strip or break the screws. if you overtighten them during the dry season, some may snap during the next wet season. Pressure treating reduces strength. Doug Fir (the wood available on the west coast) is not quite as strong as Southern Yellow Pine. PT Doug Fir 2x joists should be No. 1 structural grade. That is special order material you will not find on the shelf. It is easy to get but you have to pre-order a few days ahead. The 4x and up PT material is generally No. 1 but ask to make sure.

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

I am having a wood deck replaced as I type this comment. I chose the AZEK Redland Rose color (looks like redwood). I was very happy with the product they are putting down, until 2 days ago (the end of the second day of construction). Apparently overnight, some birds decided to grace the decking floor, and left quite a bit of 'deposit' on the material. Well, de-goit deck cleaner, dawn dish soap and gentle scrubbing with a plastic scrub brush and 2 days later -- the stain from the bird poop did NOT come off and appears to have eaten thrugh the finish. I read on the "This Old House" board concerning the problem with stains and AZEK -- unfortunately, I read about this after my contract was signed and they were 2 days into putting down the deck floor. Calls to the supplier were fruitkess -- he had no idea how to clean it. I am (5 days later and not much more progress on the deck) still waiting to hear from the distributor (via my contractor). The only solution they have at this point is to replace the bird-poop stained boards! OK for now -- but my deck is open and what do I do when a bird decides to relieve itself over my deck again? My deck is HUGE and this is quite costly. Anyone else have this problem? I am going to test scrap pieces with fats from cooking, wine, etc -- and see if it really comes clean. If not, someone PLEASE contact me. I will gladly go in on a class action suit if need be! megga@verizon.net