Thermally modified wood for porches and decks
Has anyone worked with thermally modified wood (Westwood, Thermory, etc.)? I’ll be building a porch and a breezeway (which will be open but covered) and a deck. I want something low-maintenance (stain is OK, but I don’t want to have to scrape and paint), I’d rather not use tropical hardwoods, and I don’t like the look or price of the plastics. I would consider just doing good job of selecting clean PT lumber and finishing it nicely, but my wife doesn’t want gaps in the porch flooring boards. Thermally modified wood sounds like a good solution: durable, sourced from fast-growing (Yellow Poplar instead of old growth) North American trees, rot resistant, minimal shrinkage, and affordable. Does anyone have any experience with these products? Thanks.
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hi Ken, Did you end up using the thermally modified wood? We are also considering it for our deck renovation.
Hi Diane, We have not built yet, but we decided to go with Black Locust for our porch and breezeway, and instead of a deck we changed that space to be a patio with stone slabs embedded in concrete. What turned us away from the thermally modified wood were some articles that said that the thermal modification process weakens the wood--it creates good rot resistance, but the strength of the wood suffers. Black Locust is very hard and is also rot resistant: https://www.midwestblacklocust.com/products