It is too bad that many will make some very avoidable mistakes that could cost them in the years to come. You can find some Home Owner tips at http://www.dekmax.com/ that are beneficial but here are a few more that you should be asking your contractor or look them up yourself.
1. How long has the product been around? If it is new (within the last ten years) there is a good chance they have been learning as they went and you want to be sure your not a part of that learning process. Look them up on line and investigate the product your looking into and if there has very been a defective recalls. Some big brands have had well documented problems yet consumers are still buying them and the problems are still occurring.
2. Make sure the manufacturer recommends the product for the manner that you will use it. There are dozens or more products for just about any job. With a little effort you can the truth. As an example there are some applications that we use a cement board (CBU) during installation. There are several really good brand names out there on the market that you can purchase at your local lumber supply. The catch is they do not all approve of use in an outdoor application. Your contractor probably doesn't know the answer either, but if you ask they will tell you they use it all the time and it does great. The problem here is that if your deck was to fail and a product that does not have a manufactures approvals was used that can be sticky situation and in our experience most times the home owner is the one paying for it. Ask the question and get the right answer or find out yourself do not assume.
3. We work with waterproofing and making use of all the space below the deck area. The cost of our materials installed is about the same as doing a composite but you get so much more out of it. Because we specialize in waterproofing there is a risk involved too. Water can do amazing things to your home when it gets into areas it shouldn't.
Of all the failure and problems we have investigated and fixed the causes fall into two categories
- The materials used were not intended to be used in the manner they were installed.
- The installation was done wrong.
Use the correct products with manufacturers approvals and installed by a trained professional.
Just a few days ago I had a home owner call and ask about putting a membrane on their deck, good idea. Then as we talked I asked what was on the deck and he asked the contractor (who was standing there) what they had just installed. OSB was used and we will not install on OSB because we know from experience that it will delaminate and make the surface look horrible. Anyway the home owner again asked the contractor and was told he knows somebody that will do it. The simple point is it doesn't matter what brand of membrane is used the OSB will delaminate and the home owner will not like the look. What is really sad is none of the membrane manufactures will even warranty the membrane when installed on OSB. I hope I am wrong but here is a case that there will be a failure, the home owner will not be happy and the contractor will say to bad, sorry and be gone.
