Decking Options for docks, decks and walkways

There are many decking options available to dock and deck owners here in Central Florida. In this article I will try to touch on a few of the wood decking materials I use with the benefits and challenges associated with each one.

The natural wood decking materials can be the domestic Southern Yellow Pine or Cypress or the imports such as the Brazilian Hardwoods. The Southern Yellow Pine decking normally offered on the standard deck or dock is pressure treated to .40 ACQ or CA. These treatment chemicals are now in use since the EPA ruling making the use of CCA pressure treated wood illegal for all marine uses except for structural timbers. The #1 grade of Southern Yellow Pine should be used as a minimum if you choose to go with a Pine deck. I recommend the use of 2”x6” boards for the decking without a gap being placed between the boards. As the deck boards dry out, they will develop their own gap of approximately 1/4".

The 2”x6” Pine decking will allow you to have your joists spaced 24” on center whereas if you use the less expensive 5/4”x6” Pine decking I would space the joists 16” O.C.

If you are on a tight budget, the 2”x6” #1 pressure treated Southern Yellow Pine is the way to save money in the short term. However, in order to keep the wood surface looking good for years to come, you will need to perform periodic maintenance on the decking. This includes lightly pressure cleaning and sealing every 12 to 24 months for the life of the deck. There are several types of stains and paints that are made specifically for use on pressure treated Pine decking. The one I recommend most is Spa-n-deck from The Flood Company. The best price I have found for this ultra-violet wood protectant and stain is from Decks & Docks Lumber at 4801 95th St, N St. Petersburg, FL 33708. Contact: Mr. Dan Gileo phone: 727-399-9663 fax: 727-399-8453 email: decksanddocks@tampabay.rr.com website: http://www.decks-docks.com/.

Of course the #1 Pressure treated Southern Pine decking is available from several lumber yards around town. I deal with Southern Pine on Hansel Avenue in Pine Castle. They deliver in a timely manner and the quality of the decking is good. Their phone number is 407-251-1900.

Another type of Southern Yellow Pine decking that I recommend is the “UltraWood” 2”x6” decking. This Pine is a grade above the basic #1. It is a #1 dense or better grade which means the wood grain is tighter, the knots are smaller and because the edges are rounded(eased), there is very little wane. This means almost every piece of the wood is good for decking and requires very little culling. Another reason and I feel the most important reason to buy this “UltraWood” is that during the pressure treatment process, it is also treated with a water repellent. This means that the normal hydration and dehydration which occurs to the decking when it rains and dries out does not occur with the “UltraWood” to the extent that it does with normal #1 Pine decking. This constant expanding of the wood when it gets wet and then shrinking again when it dries out causes the wood to splinter and crack prematurely. Certainly painting and applications of the “ultra-violet wood protectant” to the normal #1 will help slow this natural weathering and inevitable aging of the wood, starting with the “UltraWood” decking is a great way to make sure you deck will have a long life. The “UltraWood” can also be stained and treated with the ultra-violet wood protectant.

The most beautiful of the wood decking products that I have found are the Brazilian hardwoods. This material is sometimes called “Ironwood” and there are several different types with different colors and grains. It is the same decking used by Disney World on most of their wood deck area. It is very good for not splintering since the fibers of the wood are very dense and almost hair like when they are cut. There are three ways you can go with the maintenance of this wood. You can choose to simply do nothing to it and it will dry and weather to a silver gray. You could also choose to apply a nut oil called “Penofin” to the Ipe to get a very rich Mahogany brown color and deep luster to the wood. The challenge with the Penofin is that it must be applied several times over the next few years. The Penofin oil tends to build up after every application so that the frequency the application is required decreases over the years. The Penofin is available from 84 Lumber in Tavares at 352-742-8500 or Ace Hardware in Cape Canaveral at 321-784-1528. The final treatment I have found for the Brazilian Hardwoods is Floodpro Supreme Performance available from Decks & Docks Lumber as listed above. This coating is water based and carries a 3 year warranty on decks.
The Brazilian Hardwoods are very dense and pre-drilling and counter sinking of the screws is required. You must use carbide blades for sawing and carbide drill bits for drilling. A 5/4”x6” deck board can span up to 36” but I always use it with 24” O.C. joists. Lumber dealers carry the Ipe in a 1” nominally thick deck board which is reported to span up to 24” but I have not tried it as I use the 5/4” thick board. Even though there is some periodic maintenance required for the mahogany look of the Ipe to be maintained, I think as it is the most beautiful natural wood decking, it is worth it.

Next article I will write about the composite and plastic decking that is setting the market on fire.

Cloud 9 Services, Inc. is a Central Florida Marine Contractor. We build boat docks, boathouses, decks, boardwalks, gazebos, pergolas, seawalls, retaining walls- both commercial and residential. Our State Certified General Contractor's License number is CG C026854. Our website is http://www.cloud9services.com/. We can be reached by email at rick@cloud9services.com. Our phone number is 407-481-2750. We are members of the Florida Marine Contractor's Association whose website is http://www.fmca.us/.

Working with Marine Contractors- Stay Safe!

Working with Marine Contractors-

People that own a lakefront home need to maintain thier seawalls, retaining walls, bulkheads, boathouses, boat docks, boat lifts, decks and railings on a periodic basis or they will fall apart. This situation is compounded when you have waterfront property. If you are really lucky, you or your spouse is skilled in performing repairs and making improvements around the home. For even the most skilled homeowner however, there will come a time when they need a contractor to work on their property. The following is my advice on working with contractors or handy-persons on your property:

If you are approached by a local handy-person and you know they don’t have Workman’s Compensation Insurance or Liability Insurance, then be aware that you will be liable for their injuries or death. The best way to go is to get contractors with the insurance coverage to protect you from losses and litigation. When you are considering hiring a contractor and I refer to any person or company that comes onto your property to perform work for you as a contractor, get a Certificate of Insurance coverage from them. The Certificate would be sent to you by the insurance company and not handed to you by the contractor. You would be listed as additionally insured on the certificate. If the certificate comes from the insurance company, then are assured that the contractor does in fact have insurance and that you are covered in case he or his workers get hurt on your property and you have liability coverage for his operations. If you are listed as additionally insured on the certificate, then if the contractor does not pay his premium or is canceled for another reason, you are notified normally 30 days prior to the cancellation that the contractor will not have coverage by that insurance company after that date. In this way, you will know that they either need to finish the project in that time frame or they have to have another Certificate of Insurance sent to you before the date of cancellation of the original certificate. Workman’s Compensation Insurance is statutory and is the same for all contractors. However, Liability Insurance coverage varies between contractors. Most contractors that have Liability Insurance coverage will carry at least $100,000. Some will carry $1,000,000. Cloud 9 Services, Inc. carries $2,000,000 worth of coverage because some of our commercial marine projects require that level of coverage.

A lot of contractors will ask for a deposit from you before doing any work. Sometimes a deposit is warranted such as in the case of a home addition or major repair. Deposits should not be given if there is not permitting or engineering involved or if there are not special materials that must be purchased by the contractor prior to starting the work. If a deposit is being required by a contractor, make sure it is covered in an agreement with that contractor. In fact don’t allow any work to be performed on your home valued at over $100.00 without some kind of written and executed agreement. There are always questions that will arise when performing the work on a project and having something in writing helps avoid disagreements and lawsuits.

Make sure the contractor is licensed appropriately for the work they are going to perform for you. Make sure they are State Certified Contractors if you are doing any kind of construction or repair that requires a building permit. Get their license number and make sure the license is for either the contractor himself if a sole proprietor or for his corporation. You can get this information through WWW.MyFlorida.com. This is important in that if you hire someone that says that they are a contractor but they have another licensed contractor pull the building permit, it is an illegal act. It is called aiding and abetting an unlicensed contractor. If you want to go after the entity that you entered into the agreement with and he is not licensed, you will not be able to go after his license since he doesn’t have one. Also, do not pull a permit as the homeowner for a contractor to perform the work. This is also illegal and if something goes wrong on the project, you are left in a bad situation.

If you give a contractor a deposit and they fail to perform or if you are having a problem with a contractor failing to perform in any way, if they are licensed, you will have some recourse. The Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board has a program to reimburse homeowners for damages caused by licensed contractors. If you call the FCILB or file a report on the contractor through the internet, the FCILB will contact the contractor and then you will most likely get a call from the contractor trying to resolve the problem. The FCLIB is very strict about making sure licensees/contractors do not harm the public and they will suspend or revoke a contractor’s license if they don’t walk the line.

The following is an excerpt from one of my standard agreements for dock or seawall construction. This clause is required to be contained in the proposals offered by licensees on residential projects.

Construction Industry Recovery Fund: Payment may be available from the construction industries recovery fund if you lose money on a project performed under this contract, where the loss results from specified violations of Florida Law by a state-licensed contractor. For information about the recovery fund and filling a claim, contract the Florida Construction Industry licensing Board at the following telephone number and address: Department Of Business and professional Regulation, Construction Industry Licensing Board, 7960 Arlington Expressway, Suite 300, Jacksonville, Florida 32211-7467. Telephone: (850) 727-3650.

Cloud 9 Services, Inc. specilizes in residential and commercial marine construction. We build docks, decks, boathouses, seawalls, bulkheads, retaining walls, pergolas, trellis and many other custom marine structures. Visit our website at www.cloud9services.com

Cloud 9 services, Inc. serves all of Central Florida including Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Geneva, Lake Mary, Lake Monroe, Longwood, Oviedo, Sanford, Winter Springs, Alafaya, Apopka, Bay Lake, Belle Isle, Christmas, Doctor Phillips, Eatonville, Edgewood, Lake Buena Vista, Maitland, Oakland, Ocoee, Orlando, Tangerine, Windermere, Winter Garden, Winter Park, Zellwood, Campbell, Celebration, Kissimmee, Poinciana, St. Cloud, Auburndale, Bartow, Davenport, Dundee, Eagle Lake, Fedhaven, Fort Meade, Frostproof, Haines City, Highland Park, Hillcrest Heights, Indian Lake Estates, Lake Alfred, Lake Hamilton, Lake Wales, Lakeland, Mulberry, Nalcrest, Polk City, Providence, Winter Haven, Altoona, Astatula, Astor, Bassville Park, Clermont, Eustis, Forest Hills, Fruitland Park, Groveland, Howey-In-The-Hills, Lady Lake, Leesburg, Mascotte, Minneola, Montverde, Mount Dora, Mount Plymouth, Okahumpka, Paisley, Sorrento, Tavares, Umatilla, Yalaha, Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, DeBary, DeLand, Deltona, Edgewater, Holly Hill, Lake Helen, New Smyrna Beach, Oak Hill, Orange City, Ormond Beach, Pierson, Ponce Inlet, Port Orange.

Cloud 9 Services, Inc hold State of Florida Certified Underground Utility and Excavation Contractor, General Contractor, Mechanical Contractor and Plumbing Contractor's licenses.

Rick Fender
Cloud 9 Services, Inc. 407-481-2750

Pile Driving and Jetting for Marine Construction of Docks, Boathouses and Seawalls

Pile Driving and Jetting in Marine Construction

When you are thinking of building your own dock or seawall or hiring a contractor, here are some problems to watch out for.
In general, do now hire unlicensed or uninsured contractors. This practice is wide spread in marine construction as there are plenty of people with a pickup truck and the ability to sell. If the marine builder does not have a license, he has (3) choices.

1- He can build the structure without a permit and hope he does not get caught.
2- He can get you to pull the permit for him as the homeowner. This is somewhat tricky as you have to swear to the permitting agency that you or your family will be constructing the project.
3- He could ask a friend with a license to pull the permit for him.

The last (2) of these options are third degree felonies. So really none of these options should be acceptable to you.

When you actually start installing either wood piling for a dock or sheet piles for a seawall, you must make sure that the post rests on a good foundation. This is accomplished by using water pressure from say a 2” trash pump with a steel wand reduced down to a ¾” pipe. The post or sheet is placed in position on the bottom of the lake and the water is used to wash the sand away from the base, allowing the post or sheet to settle slowly downward. When the bottom of the post reaches the hardpan or so much friction at say 4’ to 6’ below the mudline, the post will not go any further, you have reached a good foundation for the post. For the sheet pile, unless the sheet hits a void or deleterious materials at the pre-described amount of sheet penetration below the mudline, then it is considered to have been set to a good foundation.

The reason this good foundation is important is that if the post is not seated correctly, it will drop after a load is placed on it. Further, the post will be more susceptible to wave and wind uplift during high wind or wave conditions.

For the seawall sheet, the correct amount of penetration below the mudline will prevent the panels from kicking out at the bottom. If you have someone else setting the posts or the sheets, measure them before they are installed. That way when they are done, you can measure the length of the post or sheet above the mudline and calculate the length of post or sheet embedded below the mudline.

Sometimes you will find a root or rock or other obstruction impeding your way to getting the proper penetration. Don’t give up! Either jet or cut or dig the obstruction out of the way and continue down with your sheet or post. If you leave it up higher than required, you will have trouble in the future.

Until next time, “You’ve got to build on a good foundation!”

Rick Fender- Cloud 9 Services, Inc.
407-481-2750
rick@cloud9services.com

When considering building a marine related project, consider these items that make our company better than the other Marine Contractors in Central Florida.

These are thing property owners should consider when deciding which Marine Contractor they should use when building a deck, dock, seawall, bulkhead, pergola, gazebo, retaining wall, boathouse, boat dock, boat lift or other related marine construction. This information is provided by Rick Fender, Vice President of Cloud 9 Services, Inc. located in Orlando Florida at 1201 West Jackson Street and available by phone at 407-481-2750 or on the web at www.cloud9services.com.

Materials used are better

Real tongue and groove v-joint roof decking
Typhoon Lagoon Polyester rope is better than the Polypropylene and Nylon ropes used by others
Copper caps we use have no wood just copper and have a longer life than the 2 to 3 years for the wood trim caps used by others
Heavier structural members- 6x6 piles, 2x10 bents, 2x8 joists and triple 2x10 boxed beam headers
Skirt board for trimming and strength
Trim blocks for beauty

Permitting is faster and easier

We don’t ask the customer to pull any permits
We have our own in-house permitting department run by Sally Li who has a Master’s Degree in Geology and is very experienced in Environmental Permitting.
We have our own draftsman and consulting engineers who work on a timely manner to get the plans out for permitting.
We guarantee that we will have your plans into the initial permitting agency within (10) days after the customer has provided their survey and other required information.

The customer is protected from losses

We are Certified by the State of Florida as General Contractors and as such, any residential customer who enters into an agreement with us is eligible for a $25,000.00 recovery fund from the State of Florida should we fail to perform on your project. Only by dealing with State Certified Contractors are you able to gain this protection.
We carry $2,000,000.00 General Liability Insurance policy which protects the customer and Cloud 9 from catastrophic losses which could occur when performing the work of marine construction which can be very dangerous.
We carry the statutory Worker’s Compensation Insurance to not only protect our workers and ourselves from loss but also to protect the customer from losses if one of our employees get hurt on a project. If the customer deals with someone who does not have the required insurance, the customer could be liable for any injuries or death that occurs on the project.
Cloud 9 has gone the extra step to protect our customers. We carry United States Longshore and Harborworkers Act Insurance which covers our workers if they are injured over navigable waters of the US. Although most of our work is on non-navigable waters, the current trend in worker’s compensation Insurance litigation is that the attorneys go for the best insurance to sue. We don’t want our customers to be exposed to any litigation or losses so we have the insurance that 90% of the Central Florida Marine Contractor’s do not have.

Our customers deal with a real Marine Construction company

They enjoy the comfort and confidence of Cloud 9 Services’ 24 hour a day 7 day a week service.
When our customers call Cloud 9 Services, Inc., they get a live person 24 hours a day. That live person is an employee of Cloud 9 Services, Inc., not an answering service. Never would our customers have to leave a message on an answering machine in the middle of the day.
We have (20) employees, working toward giving you the best marine project available at a reasonable cost and in a short period of time.
Cloud 9 Services, Inc. was establish in 2001 and has many satisfied customers for you to talk to.
Rick Fender, the Vice President of Cloud 9 Services, Inc. was the founding President and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Florida Marine Contractor’s Association. Only the real marine contractors belong to this association. Less than 10% of the Central Florida marine contractors belong to this Statewide association.

If you are considering building a marine structure such as a deck, dock, seawall, bulkhead, pergola, gazebo, retaining wall, boathouse, boat dock, boat lift or other related marine construction. This information is provided by Rick Fender, Vice President of Cloud 9 Services, Inc. located in Orlando Florida at 1201 West Jackson Street and available by phone at 407-481-2750 or on the web at www.cloud9services.com.

Seawall and retaining wall Construction Information

Seawall News

With the recent hurricanes that have plagued us, many of our seawalls have been under water and damaged beyond repair. Some folks who had no seawall had their shorelines eroded and lost their back yard. A good seawall can help protect and beautify your valuable property. There are several wall systems to choose from. They are all priced about the same.

The following are some of the types on the market now-

Aluminum seawalls- This system allows you to either utilize a tieback system or you can install the wall in a cantilever type of configuration without tiebacks and dead men. The wall usually is installed with the panels, which are Z shaped, an equal distance of each panel embedded into the soil at the lake ward side (the mudline) and the same amount above the mudline. Then every 6’ to 10’ on center, tiebacks are placed with aluminum rods 10’ to 20’ behind the wall. The tieback rods attach from the face of the wall to a square aluminum plate (deadman) which is buried 10’ to 20’ landward of the wall. The threaded tieback rod is then attached to the wall though the aluminum wall cap which holds all of the wall straight and spreads the load of the wall to the tieback rods and deadmen. The length of the tiebacks, the size of the deadmen, the spacing of the tiebacks and the thickness of the wall panel is all engineered based on the site conditions.
When there is not enough room for tiebacks and deadmen such as the situation where there is a swimming pool very close to the wall, a cantilevered wall may be used. Instead of using tiebacks and deadmen, the wall is engineered to be self supporting. In normal soil conditions, this means that the panel will be thicker making the panel stiffer and it will be embedded deeper into the soil. This embedment is usually about twice the amount of wall above the mudline.
The aluminum wall cap is then installed and the wall is ready for backfill. You can also use a steel reinforced concrete cap on the aluminum panels although it requires a lot of extra labor and can be quite a mess. Concrete caps are normally used where the nature of the existing shoreline requires the wall to curve and meander. The aluminum caps cannot curve, but they can be mitered to make turns. Some people use wood caps on the wall, but it is a maintenance issue and I don’t recommend it. The aluminum seawall systems are available locally from Raven’s Manufacturing in Kissimmee. They also manufacture aluminum floating docks. Their phone number is 407-935-9799.

Vinyl seawalls- These walls can do the same thing as the above described aluminum walls. The caps for these walls can be aluminum, concrete or wood. The vinyl walls can even be used in a cantilever system but the depth of the panel corrugation is much deeper and the panel is thicker that the aluminum panel for the same application. You can purchase this system at Southern Pine in Pine Castle 407-251-1900.

Wood Seawall- An all wood wall can last a long time but has maintenance. They are constructed much in the same way as the aluminum and vinyl walls, but the deadmen are usually 6”x6” wood piles. The tiebacks are usually stainless steel cables but sometimes rods are used. The wood used must be suitable for water emersion. With the banning of CCA for most marine uses, the lumber you get now will be treated with ACQ or CA. Since these preservative treatments are new to us here in Florida, I believe a wood wall to be a poor choice. Southern Pine also has the materials to build a wood seawall.

MSE walls- The last seawall system I will discuss is the MSE wall which means “mechanically stabilized earth”. The wall is masonry and can be very beautiful. The choices of colors and designs are numerous. The first step in building the wall is to start with a firm, compacted gravel bedding layer of 6”. This gravel is placed approximately 12” below the mudline. Then the first row of the masonry block units is laid. Plastic pins are inserted between the rows of blocks and based on the engineer’s recommendation; plastic webbing is placed in the compacted backfill behind the wall and attached to the wall as a tieback system. This wall system cannot be installed in a cantilever design, but on shorter walls can be installed in a “batter” condition. While the wall is being constructed, each row of block is staggered landward by a very small amount. This results in the overall wall leaning back toward shore and thereby holding back the soil without the use of tiebacks.
This wall has the advantage of being able to be placed in a straight line as well as curved. Scour occurs at the front and bottom or toe of the seawalls when larger waves hit such as in a hurricane. I have seen where this scour caused the failure of one of these walls on Sandlake, but they had so much beach erosion, perhaps a wall with greater embedment may also have failed. Another benefit of the wall is that it can be repaired in such an instance without a great deal of work.
Paver Systems on Landstreet Road sells one of the many brands of MSE wall systems available. 407-859-9117

For beauty and longevity, I recommend the masonry MSE wall. For strength and durability and in cantilever systems I recommend the aluminum walls.

For those of you that have lost land during the last hurricane season, you need to move quickly to reclaim any lost land. I spoke to Wendy Meyer at DEP in the beginning of October with reference to this beach erosion issue on Lake Conway. She stated that there was a time constraint on how long you have to get the work done before the rules revert back to normal where you would not be allowed to recover you lost land. She said that there were three options. The first was to simply replace the soil that was lost. This soil down to the normal high water line would have to be sodded and staked or planted in some other manner and stabilized.
Another option is to replace the soil and then add a seawall to hold back the soil. The last solution is to replace the soil and then install a stone revetment along the shoreline. Although the stone revetment is not a vertical seawall, it can be a very beautiful and effective method to stop beach erosion. I recommend Coquina stone which is available on the East coast of Florida at Black Hawk Quarry-321-725-2400. First the beach is backfilled and graded to on a 2 to 1 slope. Then a filter fabric is placed over the graded soil. Then a 6” thick layer of gravel is placed over the fabric. Then the last step is to place large boulders over the gravel. Call DEP at 407-898-7864 for further information on the permitting.

For more information contact Rick Fender at Cloud 9 Services, Inc. 407.481-2750 or www.cloud9services.com