Materials & finishes
3 tools · 4 guides · 4 comparisons
Cedar, treated pine, composite and ipe — what each costs, how long it lasts and what it takes to keep it.
How this pillar fits together
Treated pine, cedar, composite and tropical hardwood are not a quality ladder. They are four different answers to the same three questions: what it costs to put down, what it costs to keep, and how it behaves underfoot and in the weather over the years you own it.
Wood moves, weathers and wants a finish on a schedule, and the finish you choose decides how much work that schedule is. Penetrating stains wear away and recoat easily; film-forming coatings look smarter at first and peel on horizontal boards. Composite and PVC boards skip the finish but bring their own rules: they expand with heat, they get hot in full sun, and each maker sets its own joist spacing that the frame has to meet.
The pages here compare the materials on those terms, size the stain order for a deck or a fence, and price composite with your own numbers. Where a figure comes from a manufacturer's own installation guide or product data sheet, the page names it and says when it was read.
Start here
Tools
Deck stain calculator
Gallons for a deck of any size, by surface and coat count.
Composite deck cost calculator
Composite boards, hidden clips and the frame under them, priced from your own quotes.
Fence stain calculator
Gallons for a fence — both faces, posts and rails — by style and wood condition.
Guides
Deck stain guide
Transparent to solid, when to stain new wood, and the prep that decides the result.
Decking board width
5/4×6, 2×6 and 5/4×4 — coverage, cost and the look each one gives.
How long does a deck last
What actually ends a deck, what each material changes, and what extends it.
Joist spacing for composite decking
What Trex, TimberTech, Fiberon and MoistureShield require: square, diagonal, commercial and stairs.
Comparisons
Composite decking vs wood
Ten-year cost, feel underfoot, and the case each material really wins.
Decking materials compared
Treated pine, cedar, composite and ipe on cost, life and upkeep.
Deck screws vs hidden fasteners
Cost per square foot, install speed and how each looks after a season.
Deck stain vs paint
Penetrating stain, solid stain, paint and resurfacer on peeling, recoats and switching later.
11 pages in this pillar