Building with synthetic wood (Shera)

[Super Joe]

Also thoughts on terrace support, using wood beams or concrete

Both...neither...well both really. As the whole house is a new build I would definately definately put a raised (suspended) concrete slab in at build stage, for several reasons, but principally for any future change to a tiled or sandwashed finish. We put a solid, sturdy wood deck in the garden when building our house...it's concrete and sandwash now!! But maybe these man-made products are far more durable all round though.

Any concrete slab will probably just be part of your main house floor slab, and looking at your plans you've already got support columns going through the terrace area for the roof. The extra over cost against what you would have put in will probably be under 20k or even less, which'll seem like a bargain in 18 months when you rip the decking out

Seriously though, as it's an area you'll be living on a lot, scraping chair legs accross etc, I think decking might feel a bit hollow/creaky/echo'ey if you know what I mean, and if you do end up happy with whatever decking you put down, it'll have a solid, maintenance-free base that you can forget about, rather than a more involved affair with cross-members and the like potentially deteriorating. This way should the decking rot one day and implode while you're having a big party, at least you and your guests will only crash down two inches

Don't know these products in any detail so can't comment, but this website is excellent and seems to have every building related material, plant or service known to man....
-- Main Website for Thaibuild.com --
> Section for 'real wood decking' products/suppliers
> Section for 'wood-plastic composite' (WPC) products/suppliers
> Section for 'wood-cement based' products/suppliers
> Details for 'Shera & Conwood'. Conwood's 3no. deck products all seem to be 2.5cm thick

SJ

[hhfarang]

I agree with some of the other posters on wood. While it is beautiful, I think a deck here will get too much sun unless you are going to put a roof over it. We have wooden doors and windows and other than the front entry door (for looks) I would never use any wood outside the house again. We have to get all our doors and windows refinished annually, in fact we just had that done as we do every year after the rains end.

We used conwood (painted white) for the underside of all the eaves around the house and the ceiling of our sala and it has held up well. After being in place for over 4 years we just had it repainted for the first time and there was no rot or water damage anywhere so it is sturdy stuff.

[buksida]

Concrete support slab and conwood/artowood it is then!

Thanks again for all the suggestions, more questions are bound to follow!

[buksida]

Has anyone built a terrace with Shera wood? (if so would they mind posting a few pics).

Mrs Buksi has been told it marks very easily and can be difficult to clean so now she wants tiles...

[Terry]

............... so now she wants tiles...

Never let the missus decide unless she has got it feng shui'd first............

I've been watching in silence Buksi - so far so good.

Good on ya

T

[JimmyGreaves]

We used conwood in various places under the eaves etc. The one place we used it that is exposed to touch was skirting boards, Not a good idea because it chips very easy. Prime examples cleaning the floor or the kids playing.

[hhfarang]

^ Yes, we too only used it for the underside of eves and the ceiling in the sala as we were told it would chip or scratch if used where it would be hit or scrapped by anything.

[buksida]

This is what I'm trying to achieve:

conwood.jpg (60.25 KiB) Viewed 916 times

Its from the Conwood website: http://www.conwood.co.th/th/products-detail.asp?id=64

[PeteC]

It almost sounds as if we're talking about two different animals here. They wouldn't sell it for decking if it had the same performance concerning scratches and breaks as described for the eves and skirting boards. Decks get heavy traffic, furniture on and moved around, and all manner of things. The web site shows it's thicker, but I couldn't find what if any difference there is in the manufacturing process between deck grade and other grades. Pete

[hhfarang]

^ Yes, those boards in the photo are much wider (probably thicker too) than the ones we used on the eves and sala ceiling.

[poosmate]

Wider thicker ...........same make up.I am about to rip a deck up I fitted using Conwood Decking ( same as shera). Chips cracks and looks awful. Give me a PM if you want to look.....before it is replaced.

[PeteC]

Tile may be the way to go then on the raised slab if you don't want to use natural wood. I've seen some tiled decks/patios that look really nice. Using big, decorative tiles and using about 3" of sandwash between looks sharp as well IMO. Pete