Replacing Wooden deck on trailer , how wide of planks etc

Hi

I need to replace the deck on my trailer , its probably 15 years old , and the wood is rotted ,

right now it has 2 x 6 , any reason not to use 2 x 10   , Do I just go to home depot and buy 12 Ft long cheap wood for
framing a house ?

what is "Pressure-Treated Lumber"  and will it last longer ?

Do I need to paint it with sealer ?

Do I leave 1/4 inch or so between each board to let the water drain ?

average temp around here is 75F-80F , 10-15 inches of rain in the 3-4 months of "winter"

The photo is the type of trailer I have  , not my trailer , thanks for your ideas

Cant comment the best on all of it, but when you put the boards on look at the endgrain, usually there is a ( shape to it, you want the bowl inverted so that when it warps it will shed the water off instead of puddling it.  Yeah, leave a small gap for water to drain. 

Pressure treatment

Pressure-treated wood has gone through a process that uses high pressure to force a solution of water and preservative agents deep into the lumber to help extend its useful lifespan.

The active ingredients commonly used in treated wood are alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ), copper azole (CA) or micronized copper azole (MCA). These compounds react with the wood fibers to slow natural decay and have properties to resist termites, fungus, moisture and other elements that promote rot and cause structural degradation

You want that. 

You definitely want pressure treated. It is treated with chemicals that keep it from rotting in the weather or being attacked by bugs. Nontreated wood wont last more than a year. 
 

I don't see any reason not to use 2x10 boards as long as the framing layout in the trailer works for mounting it. As for spaces - treated wood shrinks. But it up tight and in a month there will be spaces between the boards. 
 

also, remember when planning layout that dimensional lumber isn't the actual size it's named. 2x10 is actually 1.5 x 9.25

The wider the board, the LESS dimensionally stable. 2x10's will be much more prone to warping and checking. Use the 2x6's. 

Absolutely MUST use pressure treated.
 

DO NOT leave any gap. They will shrink within 30 days of installation, and you will have plenty of gap for drainage.

We re-decked the trailer a pretty long time ago...  Maybe 10 years?  So that we didn't have to rip anything to fit, we just went with the same 2x6 that we were replacing.  It's never been sealed or anything and it's just now starting to show some very early signs of deterioration.  Pressure treated is stuffed with arsenic, I believe, which makes the wood not very tasty to the decomposing class of inviscritters out there so that's what we used.  At one time, with the original deck, we either painted it black or it came pre-painted black and that was a bit of a mistake - painted wood is super slippy when it gets wet and oil-covered.  Absolutely leave a little bit of spacing between the planks, but that's more for expansion and contraction than water drainage.  The easy button is just to count and measure what you have, use the trailer to go pick up that many of those types of pressure-treated planks, cut out the old, and bend in the new.  I seem to recall that it worked out best by putting the middlest plank in last, but it's been a while.

EDIT:  Yeah, by a little bit of gap, I mean maybe a couple sheets of paper worth.  Not 1/4".  I've noticed that the spacing between the boards varies greatly depending on weather conditions.  There's been as much as about two or three inches of total gap across the width to about a total of 1/2", if that.

In reply to wae :

Pressure treated wood will never expand. Only contract. The cellular structure of the wood is already at it maximum dimensional size from the chemicals that have been pumped into the cells. 
 

I've built more than 200 decks. I left gaps in the first few.  Every one of them had to have the decking torn off and replaced because the gaps had grown so big that women's high heels would go through. 
 

For 30 years since then, I've always made them as tight as I can. Every one shrinks and leaves the perfect gap. 

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

I would swear that the spacing is different throughout the year.  And I would also swear that we used pressure-treated.  And I would thirdly swear that I don't completely trust either of those memories.  Maybe they're just moving around a little bit and my perception is the problem there.

But if you count up what's already there and replace it like-for-like you're probably going to be doing it right and won't have to think to hard about it.

In reply to wae :

You're right- the spacing DOES vary throughout the year. 
 

But the material is delivered at its largest possible dimension.

After being installed, it shrinks.  From that point on, it can expand, them shrink again. Rinse repeat. 
 

But it never gets bigger than when it is delivered (unless the material sat for months drying after pressure treating, but then it would warp and be unsellable. That's why they sell it wet)
 

Pressure treated definitely.  Let it dry and shrink then spray it with Thompson's Water Sealer. 

Just go with the same width as before.

Untreated wood will rot really fast if  you leave the trailer outside.  Especially the  big grain fast growing pine that  normally  is available.  

I've replaced most of the boards on my car hauler over the years. It had 2x10s on it before, so that's what I used. Pressure treated, of course, and after letting it age and dry out for a year or so, I paint the deck with black Rust-o-leum (you want an oil-based paint) with some of that traction stuff mixed in. It's basically a little bag of sand. It's held up great.

wae said:

We re-decked the trailer a pretty long time ago...  .....

The easy button is just to count and measure what you have, use the trailer to go pick up that many of those types of pressure-treated planks, cut out the old, and bend in the new.  I seem to recall that it worked out best by putting the middlest plank in last, but it's been a while.

"and bend in the new."   how would you do that ?   I pulled up the metal edge on my last trailer to get the plank end in !

I plan on going side to side until I  get to the middle gap , that board will be painted another color so I can eyeball it as the center when pulling up a car , 

Also plan to put left and right strips at VW width to help aiming it  when loading VWs.....which is 90%  of what I do  !

Thanks

Redwood is another option for the deck material.  Not sure how that compares in price to pressure treated, though.

californiamilleghia said:

wae said:

We re-decked the trailer a pretty long time ago...  .....

The easy button is just to count and measure what you have, use the trailer to go pick up that many of those types of pressure-treated planks, cut out the old, and bend in the new.  I seem to recall that it worked out best by putting the middlest plank in last, but it's been a while.

"and bend in the new."   how would you do that ?   I pulled up the metal edge on my last trailer to get the plank end in !

I plan on going side to side until I  get to the middle gap , that board will be painted another color so I can eyeball it as the center when pulling up a car , 

Also plan to put left and right strips at VW width to help aiming it  when loading VWs.....which is 90%  of what I do  !

Thanks

It's been a long time and I recall that it wasn't easy.  Trying to bend the angle iron that holds the boards in wasn't going to happen so I think the three of us just muscled it in with a long pry bar.   By prying on the tail end of the board it bowed it up in the middle so that the back edge would move forward enough to pop into the groove. 

I know that the stuff is more expensive, but would the composite deck materials be an option?

NOHOME said:

I know that the stuff is more expensive, but would the composite deck materials be an option?

Looks great ,  maybe I can mount a Patio Umbrella in the center to be Posh at the races :)

RE: Pressure treated.

The stuff sold at HomeDepot and Lowes around here is crap. Check out your local independent lumber yard for the material that they sell. I may be better.

Rog

NOHOME said:

I know that the stuff is more expensive, but would the composite deck materials be an option?

 

No.

The span between framing members of the trailer is too far for TrekDeck (or similar) to span.

In reply to NOHOME :

Composite decking doesn't have the same span capability as lumber and it gets pretty flexible in the heat, too. I covered my deck in it on a 100 degree day. You could put 6 feet of bend in a 16 foot  5/4 deck board. I was carrying single boards (they're also pretty heavy) on my shoulder with both ends dragging the lawn.

Composite stuff is WAY heavier than pressure-treated. Also it gets super-hot when out in the sun

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

NOHOME said:

I know that the stuff is more expensive, but would the composite deck materials be an option?

 

No.

The span between framing members of the trailer is too far for TrekDeck (or similar) to span.

This. We did composite for the deck but had to plan for that. It's far to flimsy by itself. With that said it's GREAT for decks. No warping, sealing, shrinking etc and ours has been baked for the last almost 10 years. But on a trailer you'd need at least twice as many crossmembers to support it. 16" on center is standard for decks. The composite required 12".

With all that said, we are in serious need of the same. I think our trailer used 2x8's and that's what I'll replace it with. 

Did you drill pilot holes in the boards and then use some  pointed screws to go into the steel cross beams ?

any reason to also glue the boards   to the  steel cross beams ?

I planned to take the old stuff off with a sawsall ,  sand down the steel cross beams and Rustoleum them before putting the boards on.

Take a look at this web site and you may get some answers there or at their parent company's site. Not associated but I have heard of Taiga http://www.exteriorwood.com

All treated wood is not equal. Some brands are considered better then others. Some treated wood is designated for above ground use and some for ground contact which can contain twice the amount of preservatives. 

californiamilleghia said:

Did you drill pilot holes in the boards and then use some  pointed screws to go into the steel cross beams ?

any reason to also glue the boards   to the  steel cross beams ?

I planned to take the old stuff off with a sawsall ,  sand down the steel cross beams and Rustoleum them before putting the boards on.

I know you weren't asking me, but here's what I did. Cut the old boards in half with a sabre saw and removed them. The new boards I cut right at one of the cross beams underneath so I could get both halves in. Then I attached those two pieces together with 1.5" heavy angle iron and through bolts. Finally, I bolted the boards down to the cross beams by drilling pilot holes and putting round-head bolts through them and the beams, with nuts and lock washers underneath. It's a bit kludged, but they aren't going anywhere, and I can still take them apart if I need to.

I bought a wood deck trailer back in the early 90's. It came with southern yellow pine boards in size 2X10.  I painted the wood but it warped and split after a few years.

I replaced the deck with treated lumber but only on the sides, leaving the center of the trailer open since it was only used to move cars.  Again the wood started to warp and split.

I finally got smart and spend the money for 1/8" steel diamond plate. Having a welder make install easy.  I had the steel sheared to size and a 1" high 90 deg. lip bent along one edge.  This added stiffness to the steel since the other edge could be welded to the trailer frame. That was 15 years ago and I haven't had any issues since.   Paints cheaper then wood.