In a market flooded with composite and PVC decking, new products and technologies make wood an attractive back-to-basics decking option.
New to the wood decking world is Perennial Wood, a chemical- and heat-modified acetylated wood product. TruLast technology from parent company Eastman helps molecularly strengthen the southern yellow pine. The result is decking that resists water absorption, making it three times less susceptible to shrinking and swelling, according to the maker.
Also helping break down stereotypes about working with wood, the California Redwood Association announced the completion of a third-party life-cycle assessment for redwood decking.
Funded by the California Redwood Association, the independent Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM) collected data on characteristics from raw material production, through final product disposal, as well as water use, packaging, and byproducts. The study concluded that redwood uses as much as 98% less energy to produce than composites.
For a fun take on promoting wood decks, Ecolife from Viance recently launched a contest to promote wood and outdoor living. During the year-long Ecolife Fish-More Deck Challenge, deck builders and homeowners can build and enter an Ecolife deck and be in the running to win monthly prizes or the Grand Prize of a new fishing boat for the deck builder and $2,500 cash for the homeowner.
With the low maintenance of treated wood, Viance marketing director Chris Kollwitz says, “the Fish-More Deck Challenge promotes the idea that deck builders and homeowners can take back their weekends.”
—Lauren Hunter, associate editor, REMODELING.
