kdat syp t&g porch floor? prep? care?

17 years ago

My wife and I are in the process of building a new house. The gardenweb forums have been invaluable in my research for materials to use. I have lurked here for the past 7-8 months in preparation and gathering info. Everything has been going smoothly thanks to the info I have found here.

But, I have finally hit the one thing that is killing my brain. I have read about Ipe/Ironwood/Brazilian walnut and how well suited it is for porches and decking. The problem is really the cost. I am building a 1360 sqft porch that goes around 3 and a half sides of my 2700 sqft house. That translates into about $14k for enough ipe to cover it in 4" T&G. However, I can get enough kiln-dried-after-treatment(KDAT)southern yellow pine T&G porch flooring (grade D?, very small knots) for about $3500 (1/4 the cost of ipe). I understand it won't last 40 years like ipe, but if we go with ipe, our budget (which we are already running a little over) is going to be majorly strained or maybe even blown.

So, my question boils down to this. I haven't seen much mention of KDAT on these forums, so has anyone out there used it, and if so what kind of prep do I need to do to it before installing and what sort of treatment and care regimen can I expect over it's lifetime? Paints? Stains? Sealers/TWP? Sanding necessary? Marine deck pains?

I live in NE Kentucky, if that helps in the determination of what I need.

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Comments (8)

john_hyatt
17 years ago
Going back in the kiln after treatment will remove more water, check the amount of chem in the product you want .40 or ground contact.The #1 material at my local lumber yard is kdat,it still has a lot of movement in it I cant tell the differance far as warping and movement goes from the #2 with no second drying.
How much ground clearance will your project have?
John
avidday
Original Author
17 years ago
We should have 18-24" min all around with lattice from porch to ground.
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john_hyatt
17 years ago
Sounds like plenty of ventalation. If your bound to use pt material fasten thru the toungue and use construstion adhesive.If you start out painting you will be painting from now on. J
avidday
Original Author
17 years ago
Would staining/treating the wood with TWP help anything? I don't really like the look of natural SYP and my wife really hates the idea of paint. What can we do to up the longevity of this wood and make the appearance more attractive?

My wife also thinks that if this kdat stuff lasts 7-10 years, we can replace it with ipe, since we really don't have the money now with the house going up and all. I know that will be a lot of work. If we use the construction adhesive, will that hurt the subframe when we try to remove the floor, or should we replace it with ipe structural members at the same time?
john_hyatt
17 years ago
The main thing to make that decking last is .40 sticker on it.TWP/sanding will make it look better.If your going for a temp fix with this brand new project dont use construstion adhesive,face nail with a trim gun,and use regular yellow pine..40 acq on the frame is normal you deffently could go with an ipe frame for a hmmmmm lot of money although I am not understnading building a brand new project while comtmeplating removing it even as its going down and then thinking about replacing the whole thing at a x5$ increse in cost on the bottom line.

But then I dont understand a lot of things. J
avidday
Original Author
17 years ago
Well, I kind of look at it this way. If we treat the kdat right, which we would have to do with ipe too, we can get probably 15 years out of it before we have to replace it, maybe more. We will probably have to replace the structure of the porch around that time anyway. At that time, we go with ipe for both the flooring and structure, because in 15 years my wife and I should be older, wiser, and hopefully making enough money to pay for it, which we can't do now. I would love to have ipe, but it comes down to $, which we don't have.

So, where are we...

1. .40 or ground contact treatment level
2. Fasten through tongue using galvanized nails or stainless steel rink shanked nails
3. Use construction adhesive
4. TWP will make it look better and hopefully last longer

Thanks for all the info John, is there anything else I need to know?
avidday
Original Author
17 years ago
Sorry for double posting, but for the construction adhesive, do I use it on the tongue and groove area or just between the boards and the frame?
john_hyatt
17 years ago
Dont clog up the T&G joint with anyting. The construciion adhesive goes between the decking and the frame. J

kdat syp t&g porch floor? prep? care?

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kdat syp t&g porch floor? prep? care?

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