The Top Wood Types for Building Decks
Despite the popularity of composite decking, not everyone wants to go that way. Many potential deck owners simply like the look and feel of real wood. Others build wood decks for traditional reasons -- because their fathers, and their fathers before them used real wood. Often it's less expensive, especially in regions where trees are grown for timber.
Once you choose natural wood over composite decking, you'll quickly learn that no two woods are exactly alike. In fact, there's a multitude of woods that make excellent choices for decks.
Let's take a look at the names and types of deck woods available.
Selangan batu is a tropical hardwood
Brush Box
Grey Box, hardwood
A softwood
Atlantic City, the first beachside boardwalk in the United States, was first built with Atlantic white cedar.
Taxodium distichum
Where it Grows: A native of the Southern U.S., cypress trees can be found in wet, swampy regions along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Delaware to Florida, and west along the Gulf of Mexico to the border of Texas and Mexico. It also grows well in the Mississippi Valley from the Louisiana delta to southern Indiana.*
Cypress is also known as:
* Source: American Hardwood Information Center
includes
Liquidamber styracifua
Other names:
Where it Grows: Eastern hardwood forests and throughout the Southeastern U.S.
Also known as Tsuga, includes:
You've probably heard a lot about ipe, an exotic or tropical hardwood that looks and behaves similar to teak.
Hardwood
Grey Ironbark
Red Ironbark
•Many Choices of Wood for Decking
Once you choose natural wood over composite decking, you'll quickly learn that no two woods are exactly alike. In fact, there's a multitude of woods that make excellent choices for decks.
Let's take a look at the names and types of deck woods available.
•Balau
Selangan batu is a tropical hardwood
•Box
Brush Box
Grey Box, hardwood
•Cedar
A softwood
- Atlantic White Cedar
- Redwood
- Western Red Cedar (Redcedar)
Atlantic City, the first beachside boardwalk in the United States, was first built with Atlantic white cedar.
•Cypress
Taxodium distichum
Where it Grows: A native of the Southern U.S., cypress trees can be found in wet, swampy regions along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Delaware to Florida, and west along the Gulf of Mexico to the border of Texas and Mexico. It also grows well in the Mississippi Valley from the Louisiana delta to southern Indiana.*
Cypress is also known as:
- Arizona Cypress
- Hinoki Cypress
- Lawson's Cypress
- Mediterranean Cypress
- Southern or Bald Cypress
- Yellow Cypress
- Red Cypress
* Source: American Hardwood Information Center
•Fir
includes
- Douglas Fir
- Rocky Mountain Douglas fir
- Balsam firm
- Silver Fir
- Noble Fir
- Pacific Silver Fir
•Gum
Liquidamber styracifua
Other names:
- Sydney Blue Gum
- Redgum; Red Forest Gum; River Red Gum
- Sapum
- Sweetgum
- Grey Gum
- Rose Gum
- Spotted Gum
Where it Grows: Eastern hardwood forests and throughout the Southeastern U.S.
•Hemlock
Also known as Tsuga, includes:
- Eastern Hemlock
- Mountain Hemlock
- Western Hemlock
•Ipe
You've probably heard a lot about ipe, an exotic or tropical hardwood that looks and behaves similar to teak.
•Ironbark
Hardwood
Grey Ironbark
Red Ironbark
Source...