Time to get wit it...

[riverrunner1984]

From what I hear, the composite material is the way to go. Think you need to use special screws and what not when installing correct?

What are you going to use as the base? Concrete posts?

[314joey]

That's the only way to go, natural wood is sooooooo much work keeping it looking nice, pics when you're done.

[2manymustangs]

GM Bruce...I'm sure it's way better than wood. I had a wood deck once and it was a pain keeping it Thompson'd and it still split on the ends. Does face drilling mean measuring and snapping lines? I agree that way you could flip it without having random holes.


CH3NO2

From what I hear, the composite material is the way to go. Think you need to use special screws and what not when installing correct?

What are you going to use as the base? Concrete posts?

Ya, drilling the face x2 on each of the boards at the joists of the raised deck frame... I dug/hand mixed piers and set steel on the piers and then used hangers at the house edge where the long runs of joists dead end into the house band board (if you can call it that)... The house is like 120 yrs old and it is framed on big half lap oak timbers…

Ran the joists 30' long parallel to the front of the house so that the deck boards could run away from the house (perpendicular) 8' like a traditional raised country porch...

The screws are special double threaded self drilling screws with what I would call a CHEESE head that takes a torx bit. When the head pulls through the board it pulls in all of the burs like a paper punch…

I will take some pics tomorrow, I’m beat... GN...

6" turned columns x 6 places (yes, this is a covered front porch) and the "in stock" colums (U.S. made to my surprise) are only 8' long and I needed nearly 9' so I had to get some clear 6" western cedar and cut extensions a big mortise (square pin) on my table saw to make the extensions... To custom order the colums in 9' are LITERALLY DOUBLE what the 8' columns cost... I will put a mitered trim around the top of the column where the extensions join together... The columns have a square hole through the length/center since they are made from mitered boards that are glued up into a long box and then turned (not solid or laminated)...

The tops of the columns will finish out kind of like this where the solid cedar extensions join on... (saved about $700 by going this route)