We've just had some decking laid by a professional. He's coming back to
finish tomorrow and generally has done a really neat job.

We did notice some knots on the decking - vary from just marks to
partial holes & in one case a complete hole. Also noticed a couple of
decking boards have a split (surface) along.

How much of this is to expected, and how much should we get corrected?

wrote:
We've just had some decking laid by a professional. He's coming back to
finish tomorrow and generally has done a really neat job.

We did notice some knots on the decking - vary from just marks to
partial holes & in one case a complete hole. Also noticed a couple of
decking boards have a split (surface) along.

How much of this is to expected, and how much should we get corrected?

Knots cannot be avoided. Actual holes or bad splits at start of deck's
life ought to be. If he screwed them as he should have done, they will
be easy to replace.
The advantage of DIY is that you get to pick your boards, rejecting any
you don't like. E.g. in Jewsons the other day the guy picked through
several bits of 4x2 until there were ones I liked.
Whereas if you ask 'em to deliver x of y, you'll get what they send.
Nothing wrong in that case in rejecting what they sent. I know DIYs &
pros who do it all the time.
Moral is: if you want something doing to YOUR standards, then do it
yourself, or at least select the materials.

Hi

We did notice some knots on the decking - vary from just marks to
partial holes & in one case a complete hole. Also noticed a couple of
decking boards have a split (surface) along.

First of all, timber is a natural product, so knots are part of the deal.
You want timber, you accept knots.

However, a professional should sort & cut the boards to avoid the really bad
bits. So I'd say marks are OK, complete hole isn't.

Splits are also a kind of natural fault that should be sorted & cut around
if they are bad. Timber expands & contracts, so you may well have more
splits by next year anyway.

But you have to ask yourself how much you were prepared to pay for the job.
I'd normally cost a simple deck as material + 10% for bad bits. If you want
100% perfect you would have to add maybe 25% for bad bits.

Dave

On 8 Jul 2005 11:16:12 -0700, wrote:

We've just had some decking laid by a professional. He's coming back to
finish tomorrow and generally has done a really neat job.

We did notice some knots on the decking - vary from just marks to
partial holes & in one case a complete hole.

Hi,

Nothing really wrong with this though it could be a bit unsightly to
some people. I bought a fair bit of decking and there are no partial
or missing knots.

Maybe he could reposition the board with the hole so it's in a less
conspicious place?

Also noticed a couple of
decking boards have a split (surface) along.

How much of this is to expected, and how much should we get corrected?

If the decking is not protected with anything it probably will end up
with quite a few surface splits, where the surface dries out and
shrinks quicker than the wood underneath. Also if the ends are not
protected they can split as they dry out faster than the rest of the
board.

If you don't want to use wood stain on it, it can be treated with
'Seasonite':

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...te&btnG=Search

If staining it then getting the right colour on pine can be a bit of
an art, Sikkens Cetol 'HLS' is supposed to be pretty good for decking.

Also did he treat the cut ends by dunking them in clear wood
preserver?

cheers,
Pete.