There is nothing like relaxing on the deck in the summer season. In the center of it all is your beautiful new deck crafted, in pressure treated, cedar, other hardwood like ipe, or even composite materials. Wood of course is the most popular and preferred decking material in Toronto. While new and different decking materials are available in the market place, nothing can beat the natural beauty of wood, including cedar, redwood, pressure treated southern yellow pine, teak, ipe and more. Next to pressure treated, cedar decks is the next most popular wood choice for Torontonians.
How to Choose the Best Material for Your Toronto Deck
Choosing the type of material to build your Toronto deck is a very personal one. There are pros and cons for each and every decking material. If you hire a Toronto deck builder, he will of course recommend the type of wood they work with and value more. Although, a range of wood is used for making decks in Toronto, Cedar and Ipe are the front runners for premium deck materials. Another popular but much more expensive decking option is composite decking materials (made of wood and certain recycled materials) in a variety of designs and colours. The biggest advantage that composite materials have is that they require very low maintenance. Finally, the deck material of choice in Toronto is pressure treated lumber due to its affordability and weather resistance chemical treatment.
Cedar Decks Toronto
Generally speaking, if you are looking for an elegant finish of wooden deck, you have to go for Western Red Cedar. The Western Red cedar has the best quality out of the species of cedar offered across the GTA and Canada. To preserve the natural beauty of your cedar deck, you can protect your cedar deck with a clear or semi-clear stain that comes in shades of reddish brown with some silver grey streaks and can be worked on easily. It is important for owners of Toronto cedar decks to preserve and protect the natural beauty of the cedar. Once protected with the appropriate stain, even cedar decks in Toronto can easily survive the extreme weather condition in Toronto, like extreme cold, rains, sun and snow.
The Western Red Cedar decking is lightweight, stable and does not have tendency of chapping. One of the exclusive features of cedar decks Toronto is a distinctly sweet organic aroma of Cedar. This natural characteristics of cedar r feature is resistance to pests. It is comparatively less expensive than Composite class of material.
Ipe Decks Toronto
Some higher-end and custom deck builders in Toronto love working on ipe deck wood because of its hardness. Ipe is an exotic hardwood from the Brazilian Rainforest. Ipe is loved for its natural durability. Ipe Decking is strong and scratch resistance is its great quality bedsides resistance to moisture absorption hence requires very little maintenance. Unlike cedar, re-staining within 5 years is sufficient to let the deck stay strong and neat looking one for over 20 years. Ipe is also resistant to fire, pest and mold resistance. Sounds great, right? Why isn’t every deck in Toronto made of ipe? The answer is the price. Ipe is more than 5 times pressure treated. A heavy premium that only homeowners with the most discriminating taste and budget is willing to splurge.
Composite Decking
Last but not least is composite decking. Most Toronto home owners chooses composite decking material because of its resistance against decay and virtually zero maintenance. The combination of wood and plastic substrate is processed together to create a well bonded form with a great finishing. Today’s composite decks in Toronto are much admired for their finishes and shades of colour. These decks are virtually maintenance free and sold with 20 years or more warranty.