chlorine effects on treated lumber

[davinci78]

have a friend who told me his deck (treated lumber) started popping boards after some time due to chlorine. Anyone have input on this, as I am getting ready to build a deck on long side of 18 x 33 oval. Also, if anyone has plans for a side deck for same size pool if you could guide me to such or pm me it would be appreciated.

[scsteven]

Our deck is three years old and I use chlorine. No pop-ups at all. Our deck has screws and no nails in the decking or the railing. You can see a picture of our deck under the thread: "Winter Woes". Granted, it's for a 24' round, but the plan can be easily modified.

[chem geek]

I would agree that splashed water from the pool onto nails in a wooden deck will corrode them over time. A salt pool (i.e. SWG, though some people add salt without an SWG) will likely corrode such nails faster. In either case, the use of high-quality galvanized nails should help, but as was pointed out the use of screws is even better.

Did the popping of the boards happen due to corrosion of the nails themselves? That's what I would assume, but if it's due to some sort of breakdown or expansion of the wood itself or possibly loss of friction between the nail and the wood, then it would be useful to know that. Also, did your friend have an SWG or pool with added salt? Just trying to keep some statistics on this one way or the other.

Richard

[davinci78]

chem geek, no salt added as far as I know. He did say the boards popped from nails, so I'm guessing they weren't galvanized. He no longer has the pool or deck so can't get a totally accurate story, but that is what he can recall. Thanks for the advise, I think I'll go with the deck screws and hopefully I won't have any problems.

[sevver]

In my honest opinion, go with synthetic wood decking too. I have come to the conclusion that wood is pure garbage, it warps, twists, curves, and does a million other things that I never want it to. I am seriously into not using wood for construction anymore. Of course the uprights and bracing I probably will, although if I find that there is an alternative to that then it is possible I would use synthetic there too.

But, screws for sure, nails outside are a temporary solution installed in a permenant manner. You cannot pull them easily, and they never really seem to stay put. Screws on the other hand, can be easily removed, and they tend to stay put.

[hrsdennis]

Hi, I could not agree more with sevver, synthetic wood and deck screws are the way to go. I have built many decks here in Arizona with Pine and deck screws. Never a problem with chlorine or boards pulling up but they do need to be restained yearly. Synthetic is so much nicer with less maintenance.

Later, Dennis