Seven or eight years ago, we built a deck and porch for homeowners in the Chimney Springs community in Marietta/Roswell. Do you remember the old Faberge shampoo ad “and they told 2 friends and they told 2 friends”? I may be dating myself but in this shampoo’s commercial, pictures of faces of women happily shampooing their hair multiplied as the ad continued the mantra “and they told 2 friends”. Now 8 years later, we are proud to have the Faberge effect in Chimney Springs as we’re on our 4th referral project in the neighborhood.

What’s so special?

We are honored that our design, service and workmanship lead to many referrals. But, we know materials are also a huge part of the equation. One of our most popular decking materials is Kiln dried paraffin enhanced pressure-treated pine.

Archadeck of Atlanta using Kiln Dried wood vs. Pressure Treated

About kiln drying:

Wood drying is very important. When originally cut, lumber has a high moisture content – as much as 50% of the wood’s weight. After being cut, the wood dries through a number of evaporation processes and techniques. Drying defects are the most common form of degrade in timber.

All wood will dry. When naturally dried, there will be significant degrading of the wood causing a number of problems including but not limited to warping, cupping, bowing, twisting, crooking, checking and other effects of degrading. Kiln drying controls the drying process of wood to mitigate any of these effects. Kiln drying can also have additional benefits including killing off fungi and insects in the wood. The wood we use is also paraffin enhanced. The paraffin wax saturates the wood thereby repelling water thus preventing future degradation.

How does it look?

When someone buys a custom deck, it’s because they want a beautiful and relaxing oasis to hang out, entertain, and enjoy time with friends and family. They want every aspect of their deck or porch to be beautiful from the furniture to the look of the wood itself. The look and performance of the kiln dried wood that we use are stellar.

What about the economics?

The economic story is a good one. The usable life of kiln dried wood is generally twice that of pressure treated wood. A kiln dried deck on average will need to be replaced every 20 years. Whereas, a pressure-treated wood deck on average will need to be replaced every 10 years. So now let’s look at maintenance. Regular pressure-treated wood needs to be treated every 12 months. With kiln dried wood, the recommended maintenance is every 3 years. Over a 20-year span, using the better wood material for your deck will cost you nearly 40% less.

A kiln dried wood deck really shouldn’t need to be replaced for 20 years?

In the beginning of this post, we noted that the original deck we built in Chimney Springs was almost 8 years ago. When owners kept telling their neighbors about Archadeck, the neighbors would go check out all of the Archadeck jobs on their street. They all said that even the oldest deck looked like it was just built.

If you want to start a trend in your neighborhood, give us a call for a free consultation. Call now at (770) 377 – 2900 or email us at greateratlanta@archadeck.net.

To learn more about some of the pictures featured above, please read our previous post about this Atlanta detached deck and covered patio. To see more deck photos, please visit our deck photo gallery. To see more pictures of porches, please visit our porches image gallery.