Hello everyone. I just ran across this thread while doing a Google search looking to see if anyone other than us has had problems with "Last Deck" aluminum decks. I realize this is an old thread but hope others will find my comments about "Last Deck" decking. We live in Idaho, near Boise. We purchased the "Last Deck" decking material in 2012 and installed it the next summer in 2013. We bought it to replace the aging redwood planks on a 16' x 25' deck that I had previously built in 1990. The "Last Deck" installation process was straight forward and fairly simple and went down with no problems. However, the powder coating on the decking planks is absolutely terrible with extremely poor adhesion. I'm not for real sure it's even powder coated as claimed. I have a few other powder coated products that get much more abuse than our deck does and they show no problems at all. Our deck is attached to the N. side of the house foundation with lawn (grass and shrubs) on the N. and E. side of it with a large pavers patio on the W. side which situates the deck where no sand, gravel, or any course grit gets tracked onto it that could cause chips, scratches etc. Just the same, we have many, many, spots of what looked at first glance to be chips but when looked at closely, it's simply the powder coating that's basically just peeling up in several spots. A few of these are the size of a nickel and a couple are quarter size. The powder coating (which again, I almost think is just a paint and not a powder coating at all) also stains, even water from washing it will leave stains when the water dries in the sun. This summer we now have what looks like small scratches in several places but are actually small lines where the powder coating is simply coming off from poor to no adhesion. These chip looking spots started within the first summer of installation and started out as small and then continue to get larger. We have a table and 6 chairs on this deck as well and we put felt on the bottoms of the legs as soon as we finished the deck. My wife has called the Co. 3-4 different times describing the problems. We finally sent some photos of the problem areas as they requested. "Last Deck's" final response was that we tear off the decking material --20 foot and 5 foot-- lengths and send it back to them. They would then evaluate and possibly replace the material. This was not and is not an option as we live in Idaho and they are in Minn. The shipping alone makes this option prohibitive. Our only other option was to let then send us a bottle of touch-up paint. The deck looks worse by the month. Buying "Last Deck" decking has turned out to be a very expensive mistake. In hind site, the old redwood decking looked better than our new "Last Deck" decking does...! I would definitely NOT recommend "Last Deck" products to anyone unless you're very close to the Co. when replacement time comes. D. Walker

Wanted to thank everyone again. House is almost complete, just a few areas of touch up to be finalized. Here is a shot of it today. The door color is lighter than I wanted but DH really liked it and it’s something we can paint ourselves later on easily. new deck to be put in late summer/ early fall and update planting’s sometime after that.

Agreed to the silvering! Penofin or Messmer’s UV+ you can’t go wrong with, but everyone has their personal preference. Black locust is a great wood (the heartwood), but the sap wood will rot out in no time. Structurally dimensional black locust lumber (for any use beyond decking) meets no building codes and most suppliers won’t even sell it due to the liability risk. By purchasing tropical hardwoods you can actually help preserves the rainforest by putting an economic value on the timber and encouraging sustainable forestry. If the Forest has no value then ranchers and farmers will clear cut it for soybean fields and cattle ranching...., but this is better saved for a whole different thread!

The black locust can be stained using a Sikkins product. It comes un-oiled It will age to grey like your cypress if you look on their website you will see at the Apple Cupertino offices as well as boardwalks the world over that they have supplied the wood for. But if you don't want to wait Sikkins makes a lovely grey. c ps the company is headquartered in Pennsylvania so not far from you. It only took a few days for shipping but it takes 6 weeks after you order to then ship.