A couple of synthetic porches

Hi again,

Well we have had a pretty good winter with staying busy especially considering the economy here in Michigan. In this post I am going to review a couple of porch jobs we did on two different manufactured homes.

This first one we did back in the summer, and we used Timber Tech XLM sandridge.

Here is the design a simple 4x6 porch with one column and a 4x4 platform and steps.

The old porch was 3/4 plywood with outdoor carpet, and a square 4x4 column with steps to grade. The porch rotted out and once we tore all that off, we got started on installing the decking.

Here in the picture to the left you can see the vertical skirting style we like to use with deck boards tucked behind the tiered fascia, also notice how the fascia is under the picture frame border which acts as a drip edge for the deck, so water and debris will not be trapped in the fascia/rim joist gap.

Here to the right again you can see our preferred way of doing a solid skirting around a deck to enclose the under side of a deck.

Also this is our standard fascia detail on all of our composite and PVC decks, a two tiered fascia detail.

Here we are finishing up installing the Timber Tech Radiance rails on the porch. We also ran a deck board across the bottom of the skirting to follow the slope of the grade.

Here is our second similar porch that we just actually finished up today, but I thought both of the project would fit good together in this blog post because of how similar they are and how they show a verticial skirting detail.

On this porch we tore off Trex accents because of a carport that fell on the deck and damaged the deck. No one locally stocked the Trex Accents so we went with Timber Tech Reliaboard.

The old deck was built by a Trex pro gold contractor and I was not to crazy about their work, but then again it is so easy to pick apart someone else work so I should probably focus on what I can learn.

Here is the before picture

Notice how they ran the skirting horizontally and they just stacked the fascia down to make the skirting. The fascia is even with the decking so the water and debris build up in the fascia seam.

I have seen this before by homeowners, but by a deck specialist I am surprised. It is never a good idea to fasten deck boards with brad nails and I doubt that it is approved by the manufacture, so you can wave good bye to any warranty. It is always best to stick to the manufactures recommended installation instructions on synthetic products.

So here we have finished the demo of the Trex and we just installed the Timber Tech Reliaboard decking. I was impressed with the Reliaboard it is a better product than I thought it to be, it held up pretty well to abuse it took to build the deck. I have to say they have improved on the product.

Here we just installed the vertical skirting with the two tiered fascia detail. Notice again it is now under the decking so the facia/rim joist seam is covered and the picture frame border acts as a drip edge. Also I much prefer the vertical skirting over the horizontal.

Here we just finish installing the Timber Tech builders railing with white deckorators balusters

deck builders in Michigan

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New decking products part 3

Hello ... We are a reviewing some of the new decking product for the upcoming 2011 season. Only a few more weeks until spring is here in Michigan, and the Metro detroit area deck and patio building season will start up for another year. Hopefully old man winter will agree on there being only a couple more weeks.

Deckorators one of our favorite companies has introduced a real neat "Duo" baluster connector. Here it is pictured with their aluminum kit rail. The picture shows the "Duo" connectors only on the top rail, but they can be used on the top and bottom rails.

They can also be used with any type of railing,wood or synthetic. They have a arched version that is used with the Classic and Colonial balusters, pictured on the left:

There is also a square version that is used with the Estate balusters. See on the right:

We use Deckorators metal balusters on almost all of the decks we build so we are really excited about the

"Duo" baluster connectors.

Trex has introduced two new colors to their cap-layer composite decking line Transcends. The two new colors mimic the look of a tropical hardwood which has been the hot thing in decking for last few years. The new colors are Lava Rock and Spiced Rum. I cannot get any pictures from their site so here a link to their site - Trex Transcends Colors

Both Deckorators and Trex have came out with their own low voltage light lines. Which is another hot thing right now in outdoor living / deck construction.

Deckorators Lighting

Trex Lighting

We are deck & patio builders in Metro Detroit and throughout Southeastern Michigan.  Next week we will take a look a Azek products 

Thanks for reading !

New products for 2011

Hello again ... Well it is the first week in February and winter still has not let up and being a deck builder in Michigan we are looking forward to spring time and the construction season to begin. With that being said, spring is sure to be  busy so now while we have a little time we will review the 2011 new products 

Last week we reviewed the new line of decking from Timber Tech - Evolutions, this week we are going review the rest of the new products from Timber Tech.

Timber Tech Radiance rail will have two new colors this year, Traditional Walnut and Antique White. The walnut color looks like it will go with the new Evolutions line and the Antique white is a cream or off white color that could go with just about everything, It is not as bright as the original white Radiance rail color. I like both colors and I can see alot of homeowners liking the new colors.

Also new this year in the Radiance rail is the mix and match option, the Radiance rail balusters will be packaged separate from the top and bottom rails. This allows for two tone railing options or you can just buy the top and bottom rails and install you own balusters such as Deckorators or Fortress

Timber Tech has its own screw system out now called Toploc, Which is a screw system for the Reliaboard decking that is face screwed. They also have a unique fascia screw that comes with a countersink bit that allows for expansion and contraction of the fascia to prevent oil canning.

Timber Tech XLM has two new colors this year. Harvest Bronze which is actually a replacement for the original XLM Desert Bronze color, it is a light brown color with black streaking to look like a Tropical hardwood. Harbor Stone is the other new color that is a Grey weathered wood looking color with the black streaking. Rustic Bark is not a new color, it came out at the end of last year and it is a darker brown color. The XLM line is suppose to be coming out with another color sometime this season also.

I think that about covers it , Big thanks goes out to Timber Tech for all their hard work they put into product development.

Thanks for reading ... AutumnWood ~ Deck builders in Michigan