Browse Forums Outdoor Living 1 Jun 28, 2009 1:04 pm Hey guys I have a dilemma. Im wanting to construct a front porch (6sqm) which is underneath our balcony. I had a tradie visit last year, and provided me with a quote. He showed me many timber samples, of which I liked the spotted gum. The decking planks will be the wider (140mm approx). When most people talk decking, merbau is the 1st choice. I have heard mixed feedback from both merbau & spotted gum. The spotted gum is an Australian timber, more expensive, however it doesnt bleed as much as merbau. Merbau on the other hand is cheaper, comes from indonesia, and does bleed. My question is what timber would be more durable and less maintenance, spotted gum vs merbau???????? What is most preferred amongst the carpenters???? Thanks Re: Merbau vs spotted gum decking 2Jun 28, 2009 6:33 pm We had batu (similar to merbau) at our old house, and never had issues with it. This time around, we've gone for spotted gum, only because it was cheaper at the time. It's also been fine so far, and we think it's a more attractive timber. The only problem we had was that it was in short supply, so hard to find enough lengths that weren't warped - we made sure we hand-picked our boards. Both will last longer and look better if you treat them with an appropriate decking product. Re: Merbau vs spotted gum decking 3Jun 28, 2009 11:29 pm Spotted gum is a grade below merbau, so it isn't quite as durable, but still very worthy of decking. We are currently on a job where last week we finished a spotted gum decking as the client wanted it. It's more of a lighter brown without as much variance in colours and grains, still very nice timber though, particularly when stained. There are usually 3 grades you can get when ordering- the A Grade, which is all similar in colour/grain, B grade which has slight variance and feature grade which has a bit of a mixture of Australian hardwoods and has a lot of variance (looks great in the right setting). The spotted gum does still bleed a little bit, though nowhere near as much as merbau. The 135mm spotted decking can be prone to cupping in some instances (ie drop or in middle) according to some, I have never seen it though. Another option is ironbark decking. It is a class above merbau, it's as dense as hell and very tough, nice look to the timber too, not a great deal off the look of spotted gum. Re: Merbau vs spotted gum decking 4Jun 29, 2009 12:43 pm Ironbark is on par with merbau - both are durability 1 and have a class 2 fire rating. If anything the merbau is slightly better in that its also naturally termite resistant. The down side is merbau is strip-forested out of South-East Asian rainforests. Spotted gum is an excellent choice for decking, its durability 2 so fine for outdoor use, its also one of the biggest plantation hardwoods in Australia so its logged sustainably. As far as cupping goes in wider boards, stay away from the 19mm thick stuff and use 25mm or 32mm boards Hi, as per the subject. Does anyone have any recommendations for the best value decking oil (Bunning is close to where I live) for a treated pine deck? Thanks 0 13117 Use a product like Equisol's Vitalise to clean the deck then coat with a penetrating timber oil. It will look 10 years younger and add value to your home. Visit for… 1 16174 Hi, Really struggling to find some consistency amongst Span Tables, can anyone help… 0 2824 |