Porch Decking wood species

[TexasRed]

I've been noticing that mitered perimeter trim, along the edge of porches and steps, is rarely used any more. Wicking is inhibited and repair is easier if one is dealing with a piece of trim rather than the full-length boards. Porch Trim Band

Olson you are right - I don't see porches trimmed that way anymore but I remember them. I LOVE this idea because, as you mention, it is the outside ends that suffer the most from rot problems.

If only I could figure out how to apply this method on the round corner of the wrap around porch. Hmm... Is it possible?

[Olson185]

I've been noticing that mitered perimeter trim, along the edge of porches and steps, is rarely used any more. Wicking is inhibited and repair is easier if one is dealing with a piece of trim rather than the full-length boards. Porch Trim Band

Olson you are right - I don't see porches trimmed that way anymore but I remember them. I LOVE this idea because, as you mention, it is the outside ends that suffer the most from rot problems.

If only I could figure out how to apply this method on the round corner of the wrap around porch. Hmm... Is it possible?

Is it possible? Absolutely. Doing it is not currently among my skills or experience (I avoid curves though it looks easy...but time consuming... to do). I have a couple of projects in which bending a curve will improve its aesthetics (rather than cutting curved pieces from a board and gluing their ends together). My fb feed recently included a video of a guy making the curved bow of a boat (I mention because several curved pieces were being curved together prior to being glued and pegged...a tougher feat than bending a single piece of trim).

I have back issues of Family Handyman and Popular Woodworking which describe the process for various types of projects. For the approx. 1-1/2" wide porch trim I would expect one to use steam or soaking rather than the cold bending used for built-up thinner strips. I see a number of methods and applications on YouTube but I'd take a 1"x, cut into 1-1/2" strips about 3'0" long, and perform some experiments; starting with soaking.

In your case, you'll need a bending jig which duplicates the radius of your corner. Ignoring everything else, this video is a good example of a basic bending jig: porch railing bending jig

[phil]

ifyou want ot try bending you can stick a 1x1 inside a piece of 2" pipe and apply steam, a kettle would work if you keep refilling it. let is steam a few hours and then have a form ready and you can bend it around the form. I'd make the form a little overbent to allow for the thing to wanto straighten out a little when you release it. or you can sort of make it octagon shaped with wide boards, maybe 2x12';s and then trim the edge rounded with a jigsaw or sawzall or whatever you have. you can stick your router on a piece of rod or a stick and pin the end down so you can swing the router in an arc and cut the board that way too. maybe do a roundover as a second pass.

you can glue up and laminate stuff but on a porch I'd just look for wide boards and trim the outside edge round. then it'll be easier to fit the boards inside the edging as you wont' be fitting to something rounded and then need to cut them to suit. if you were to laminate some strips you could play with contrasting wood types and that might look nice and it might fall apart too. little pieces of wood glued up might not fare well outside although you can encase them in epoxy and things. eventually the weather always wins.

if you see the edge you could bulk it up. like maybe with 2" or even 3" cedar. it would look sturdy and last well if you can take the price of 3" cedar. if you want cheaper I'd consider pressure treated lumber. dry it well, use preservative anywhere you cut it, paint it and it'll be Ok for quite a while without springing for fancy fir and maybe painting it anyway.

if you go for nice wood I'd also look at how you can keep the water off the structure as it wont' be fun to tear up the nice flooring to repair the structure.

another way to "cheat" you can throw down plywood, then cheap vinyl flooring or even torch on roofing , then you go ahead and make a bunch of square frames using something like 1x2 for the outside edge with your flooring boards cut to fit the size of the frames. then just drop them in until you fill all the space. you could make the frames a foot or so square or quite a bit larger or smaller.

If you want you can then lift out any section and repair it and just drop it back in. the cheap flooring has to seal, slope and drain but you wont' see what's underneath. I'd pick something black , like roofing.

this is a good way if you run into some decent lumber but it is cut to super short lengths. sometimes you can get free off-cuts. you can do different patterns like putting them on the 45' or switching direction between each section. if it is a round porch you could do triangles like pieces of pie. Ikea sells something like this with plastic clips, but it's real cheap junk put together with staples.

If you want to consider fiberglass I can explain in detail how to. I think it was about 3 bucks Canadian a square foot for the materials plus you need new plywood. It might not be the look you are after but I'm really happy with mine. you could do a creative pattern with the gelcoat ( you dont' paint fiberglass you use gelcoat to get the colors. It can fade but it does not peel - ever.)

you could do a combination with fiberglass for the waterproofing and then do wood tiles as described above for the look of wood. that would keep everything below nice and dry. If nothing else it might be good dry space to store mowers and stuff like that.

long plank vertical fir is going to be the most authentic but you have to shop and compare to see what price you can buy it for locally. If you use pressure treated, make sure the fasteners are compatible with pressure treated lumber. generally the right decking screws, probably the green ones but the lumber store will know. you shouldn't need stainless but dont' use ones that will rust either.

[TexasRed]

** Update on the porch decking **

After much researching, searching and thought, I chose to go with custom milled Cypress t&g. It is 5/4" stock, which will be a full 1" after milling. Just couldn't talk myself into the less expensive, common 3/4" t&g (in any species), it just doesn't look correct on an old house to me.

When doing final measurements & drawings, realized we needed 3800 LF to do all three porches. Mostly in 12' lengths to avoid seams. Needless to say, I spent more than I had expected to {{sigh}}. Some (most) projects you just have to do the right thing.

Anxiously awaiting its arrival.
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Phil, Olson & 1918 - Thank you all for sharing your vast knowledge and experience. Truly appreciate the time you generously give to those of us with endless questions.

[phil]

That sounds really nice. You are right it'll feel more sturdy than the 3/4. Any 1" leftovers will be useful too. Nowadays you see a lot of 2x which is 1/12 or thin "3/4" it looks cheap beside that stuff and full dimension 2x material a bit robust always looks nice.

Phil