wrote in message
oups.com...
The choice is definitely redwood (already purchased), and while the
deck (in my opinion) will look nicer with no spacing between the
planks, I don't want to risk damaging them from shrinking and
expanding in the Colorado weather. I have heard just as many "no
reason to space, redwood shrinks/expands very little" as I have
"definitely space, you will have problems if you don't" answers to the
question.

So is there anyone that lives in Colorado or a similar climate that
has experienced this specifically and can give some "been there, done
that" advice?

Colorado weather probably offers greater extremes
of high and low humidity than places farther west or south.

Expansion/contraction of deck timbers is less important
than drainage. After rain, any wood deck should let the
water run off as fast as possible, i.e. through the quarter-
inch gaps left between timbers. Secondly a deck of
spaced timbers is easier to clean, sweeping so that
dry dust falls between timbers. If you built a flush deck
it would become stained and/or rotten much faster than
a correctly-spaced one.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)