"charliekilo" babbled and bored us in
om:

"John Teller" wrote in message
m...
Hello All,

We need to replace out 20 year old deck. We would like to have a
resonably priced, low maintenance deck or patio. We are stunned at
the number of alternatives. Ipe/Ironwood, Composite "wood" (sawdust
in a resin matrix), pavers, bricks, concrete, acid etched concrete,
stained concrete, dyed concrete, colored concrete layer on top of
plain concrete base, etc.

The bid on Ipe came in at $25/sq ft. That seemed expensive.

The bid for stained/stamped concrete came it at $18/sq ft. Also
higher than we expected.

Our deck is large (900 sq ft) with about 60 linear feet of railing.

Does anyone have any advice? Do these costs seem in line with
industry norms?

Any and all input greatly appreciated,

John

We did our deck with Ipe last year and $25/sq. ft. seems very
reasonable. The best quote I got (for a simple design, no more than 2'
off the ground, invisible fasteners) worked out to around $46/sq. ft.
Because of that, I built it myself at about $12/sq. ft. including the
tools I had to buy (circular saw, 1/2 drill, biscuit joiner, 7 various
smaller hand tools, measuring devices, etc.).

Looking back: #1. I am SO happy with the Ipe. Everyone that visits,
makes a comment on how beautiful it is. #2. I overengineered it so much
that it's the strongest structure on our property. #3 Well worth the
money and effort.




There is a Chernan99 guy on aus4sale selling most of the tools you need.

mapi

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see who's got the better imaginary friend.