Why is the floor plywood instead of decking boards?

Carrie, is the PVC flooring expensive?

Gracie01, the previous owner installed indoor outdoor carpet over the plywood.

Carrie, is PVC the same type of floor as LVT? Does it withstand freezing temperatures?

We have regular wood decking. It is painted with porch paint and has been down for 32 years. We paint it every few years. Rain and snow blow onto it without any problems. Our climate is quite like yours.

No, pvc is totally different and is made to be used outside.

Aeratis and koma harmony both both make pvc porch flooring. We have the koma tho I kind of wish we had gotten the aeratis.

Both can be painted but dont have have to be. I want to avoid the whole painting and repainting cycle so I am not going to paint.

It was more more expense than wood, but you save in labor as wood has to be treated on all sides, even the cuts, before it’s installed. This just goes down.

Plus it wont rot or be eaten by insects.

https://www.aeratis.com/porch-flooring/

http://www.komabuildingproducts.com/pvc-flooring-porches.cfml

My screen porch is 18 yrs old and has cedar decking that I stained one time. I'm in the same climate as you and get rain & snow. Cheaper than the PVC products.

Carrie, Why do you wish you went with Aeratis rather than Koma?

The koma gray color is more fake looking. The aeratis is a much more sophisticated and natural gray.

Also the koma holds dirt. You really have to scrub to get out any dirt or marks.

Here is an example of what I am talking about with the koma holding the dirt. Windex won’t clean it off. You have to scrub with soap to get it. These pics are just dirt, not oil or food or anything else.

Carrie. This thread is old, so not sure if you will see this. But, we are considering the Koma porch boards (they are about 1/2 price of Aeratis is out of budget). Any other cons with the Koma? Does it get hot if any part of it is hit by sunlight (our porch is mostly covered but some parts of it catch some sun at various times of day)? Have you had issues with expansion / shrink? Is it noisy or bouncy? Thanks!

Hi, overall I'm happy with it in the fact that no bugs get thru it and that I'll never have to paint it, or hopefully event ever have to replace it. I haven't noticed any swelling or anything. I'll check the heat thing. Nothing I've noticed tho I do have the light gray color.

Thank you! The manufacturing company sent us a sample and it seems a bit darker gray (although, there didn’t seem to be choices in gray color...just one option). Maybe they used to make a lighter option?!?. But we are in Atlanta and having a difficult time finding a place to purchase since there are no distributors in our area even though it’s made in AL. one state over. I think I can get from Len-Co in Buffalo NY which seems kind of crazy that I can’t find closer. The pic on Len-Co looks a little lighter so I’ll have to inquire to see if I can confirm which color they have. Here’s a pic of the sample boards we received (they are calling it Koma Celuka).

In bright sun the light gray warms up but definitely does not get hot.

CarrieHund thank you! I think we were finally able to get the flooring ordered through a local vendor. So we will likely be getting it installed before long.

I discovered Koma from this thread. How do you like it so far? We planned to install Aeratis on a screened porch, but the price still blows me away. I was hoping to Koma would provide the same look. Would you mind sharing pictures? How are the seams?

We are really pleased with the way it looks! We have only had it installed a couple of weeks so far. We aren’t sure if it may scuff / hold dirt easily but it seems easy to clean and use sandpaper to remove anything. We installed smooth side up (wood grain down) as suggested by the Koma rep because it’s easier to clean and sand if needed. The price was so much cheaper than Aeratis. Initially there was a little flex under foot

in a few areas as they were installing but we just had more cross beams installed and it helped. Also our existing framework did have some updates but our house is over 100 years old so given that, I think the install went well.

This is super helpful, there are no dealers in Louisiana. How did you manage to get the product? i think you mentioned that you were in the same situation. Did you have to pay freight to have it delivered? The grey in your pictures looks lighter than their website, we like the lighter color. i ordered a sample hope it arrives soon.

It was not easy to track it down to be honest. But the rep from Koma was able to give me the name of a couple of distributors in the area and I made many phone calls to try to track it down. I called one of the distributors and she gave me names of all of the dealers within about a 3 hours drive and I called all of them. I finally found a distributor who sold to a building company about 45 min away and we paid one price for everything, including shipping & delivery. I think it was around $22/board. That distributor had 109 boards in stock and we needed 106. You can get them directly from Koma but they only sell in bundles of 220 or something and it was about double what we needed and didn’t make sense to pay that much and we didn’t know anyone who may want to buy the other extra boards. And you’d have to pay to get the boards shipped from AL where they are located. I will look and see if I kept any of the info for the distributors (but they may not be same in your area I guess) but the Koma rep (info on their website to call them) may be able to help you.

I was also talking to Len-Co in Buffalo NY bc i found them online but I sorted out with the other company before Len-Co ever got back to me with shipping costs (they never did).

Thanks for all of the feedback. If my wife approves of the color I think we will go with it. Her only concern is why it’s so much more affordable than Aeratis. Also the manufacturer said we can arrange delivery!

Yes the color we have is the lighter color and it was the same color of the sample board we had sent. I didn’t get a sample of Aeratis so didn’t compare on that level to know the difference between but the Koma seems like it will be sturdy. Wallace Hardware out of Morristown, TN was the distributor where the lady gave me names of surrounding dealers and I was able to find one to purchase through.

best of luck!