LESLIE: Caroline in Pennsylvania is looking to build a deck. What can we do for you today?
CAROLINE: Yeah, hi. We have an old house. It’s an old, brick house and we want to put a deck on the back of it and we’re shopping around for decking materials and there are these composites, there’s wood. You know, we’d like to make it as carefree and maintenance-free as possible since we have so much other work to do on this 100-year-old home.
And after looking at some of the material, we are just at a loss of what – where to start and what kind of material to build with. And we’re not particular about color and so, that’s what – well, that’s what we need help with; we need a little bit of help with what to make our deck out of.
TOM: Well, you’re stuck in analysis-paralysis. (Leslie chuckles) You’ve got too many decisions here, so let’s make it easier for you. First of all, composite is definitely the way to go today. Composites …
LESLIE: Especially for low maintenance.
TOM: Composites would be used on the deck surface and the railing. The structure would still be built out of pressure-treated lumber. Now Leslie, you just completed a composite deck with Fiberon; that’s great stuff.
LESLIE: We did. We used Fiberon decking materials for the top. We just resurfaced our existing deck. You know, we made sure that everything underneath that was made out of pressure-treated lumber was still in good shape and then just put the new Fiberon on top. It looks gorgeous. It comes in two sort of price points. They both look fantastic. You can really see that there is beautiful graining, so it looks like real wood. You will never have to paint it. You will never have to sand it or stain it.
If you go with wood, every two years you’re going to be putting something on it – refinishing, sanding something down. I mean, there is just a lot of maintenance with a wood deck and that’s OK, because some people really like that look and want that and are committed to the upkeep. But if you’re like me and you feel a little lazy and you just want to enjoy the deck and you don’t really want to do a lot of work, a composite is fantastic. They just need a little bit of cleaning every season, just to get the yuck off that’s been on it for the winter. Fiberon is a great one; check them out.
CAROLINE: (overlapping voices) OK.
TOM: I’ve never seen a product that looks more like natural wood.
TOM: Their website is FiberonDecking.com – F-i-b-e-r-o-n Decking.com.
CAROLINE: Got it.
LESLIE: We went with the Tropics line, in the mahogany. It’s beautiful.
TOM: Alright?
CAROLINE: Oh, mahogany sounds great because we have – our house is an old, red, clay, brick house and that sounds like that’ll match it pretty nicely. Thank you so much. I had one other question and it slipped my mind. Oh! (Leslie and Tom chuckle)
The one thing that I was concerned about – the wear on the stuff. Is it kind of like a – you know, like how fiberglass kind of chips away and the fiber starts coming up like on an old boat or whatever?
TOM: This is tough stuff. You should have no concerns about the wear and tear. It’s really very, very durable. It’s the perfect choice for your house.
CAROLINE: Thank you so much.
TOM: (overlapping voices) You’re welcome.
CAROLINE: (overlapping voices) You have a great day.
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