# batu wood decks - good choice?



## merk (Dec 9, 2016)

Spoke to a contractor today about rebuilding a deck. He sounded very knowledgeable and appears to have been in this business for 20 years with no visible complaints on his record.

He suggested going with batu wood. never heard of it before. Looks pretty nice from the photos i've seen. Just wondering if anyone has an opinion? This would be replacing a sloppily done redwood deck.


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## havasu (Dec 10, 2016)

That is beautiful stuff. I'd like to know the difference in price from redwood?


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## merk (Dec 10, 2016)

havasu said:


> That is beautiful stuff. I'd like to know the difference in price from redwood?


He said it was very close in price, although i emailed him asking how much of a price difference it would be to use redwood or something else.

FYI, he quoted me a price over the phone of $11,200 to demo the existing deck and rebuild a new deck of approx 10x30 in size, with no railings or steps.


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## bud16415 (Dec 10, 2016)

Looks beautiful. Just doing a quick price comparison it looks to be about 3X what regular PT would be. That would be a little rich for my blood especially in our northern climate with shoveling snow off it and such. 

Have you thought about building your own? A simple deck design is a really fun project. 

How bad is the old deck? 2 years ago I salvaged a large deck from around a pool that looked rough. I flipped all the decking over and built a new deck and it looked great. There is value in the old material if you have the time to take it down without damaging it.


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## merk (Dec 10, 2016)

bud16415 said:


> Looks beautiful. Just doing a quick price comparison it looks to be about 3X what regular PT would be. That would be a little rich for my blood especially in our northern climate with shoveling snow off it and such.
> 
> Have you thought about building your own? A simple deck design is a really fun project.
> 
> How bad is the old deck? 2 years ago I salvaged a large deck from around a pool that looked rough. I flipped all the decking over and built a new deck and it looked great. There is value in the old material if you have the time to take it down without damaging it.



well the 'old' deck is less than a year old. I unfortunately hired a very shady contractor who sub'ed the work out to less than stellar subcontractors. If you're curious, you can read about it here: www.everlast-construction-sucks.com

Maybe it can be touched up instead of just scrapped completely. I'm having someone else come out tomorrow to look it over and give me a 2nd bid for repair or rebuild.


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## nealtw (Dec 11, 2016)

If I came to look at your deck, the last thing I would talk about is the decking and and the finish. I would be all over the deck that you have and what is wrong with it and what it would take to fix it. That the very least you would come away with a pretty good understanding of how the frame will be built and if the old deck has to be removed and tossed I would have told you to find a BUD in your hood that would come and take it for materials, saving you labour and dumping fees.


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## merk (Dec 11, 2016)

nealtw said:


> If I came to look at your deck, the last thing I would talk about is the decking and and the finish. I would be all over the deck that you have and what is wrong with it and what it would take to fix it. That the very least you would come away with a pretty good understanding of how the frame will be built and if the old deck has to be removed and tossed I would have told you to find a BUD in your hood that would come and take it for materials, saving you labour and dumping fees.



hadn't thought of being able to recycle/sell the old materials. Unfortunately i don't really know anyone and I'm not sure i want to have a pile of lumber sitting my yard for however long hoping someone on craigslist or whatever would want to buy it.

If it was just a matter of replacing the top of the deck, i'm pretty sure i could do that myself since i think i can manage to cut wood and put in some screws  but if the frame needs to go, i'd let someone who knows what they are doing handle that since i dont know building codes.


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## nealtw (Dec 11, 2016)

merk said:


> hadn't thought of being able to recycle/sell the old materials. Unfortunately i don't really know anyone and I'm not sure i want to have a pile of lumber sitting my yard for however long hoping someone on craigslist or whatever would want to buy it.
> 
> If it was just a matter of replacing the top of the deck, i'm pretty sure i could do that myself since i think i can manage to cut wood and put in some screws  but if the frame needs to go, i'd let someone who knows what they are doing handle that since i dont know building codes.



That is close, If you sell lumber  cheap enough, some one will remove for you.
I would be surprised if the framing couldn't be fixed up.
Almost anything can be fixed.
http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=20136


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