I’ve always wanted to swim with dolphins, so we took a short vacation to
Florida and went to Discovery Cove.
It was pretty neat, though as homogenized and orchestrated as you would expect
in the States. They have a fake coral reef you can snorkel around that has some
really big spotted rays, and a stingray pool containing about 50 (when
we were there) smaller rays that you can touch if you’re patient and
fast enough. There is also a very boring “tropical river” that runs
through an aviary. However, if you are alert you may find an underwater
window from the “river” into the “reef” that is neat.
The main point is the dolphins though. I think they had about 30 or so.
They were very protective of the dolphins, which is good of course, but
limits how much free-form fun you can have to, oh, about none. Still, it
was a very interesting experience to see them up close, to feel their
skin (like a wet, slick, latexy, smooth velvet) and be taken for a short
ride. In that 30 feet or so, I was almost washed off by rushing water!
We met Diego, who was about 5 years old. He was born in captivity in
California (the San Diego zoo, I believe, hence his name).
Interestingly, he likes ice cubes quite a lot, of all things. Maybe it
was because they were fish flavored, since there were small food fish
mixed in to the can of ice the trainer had. I wonder what he thought of
all of this? Does he get bored, meeting humans and doing the same thing
every day? Is he just humoring the trainer when he feels like it; does
he think he is clever for conning fish and ice cubes all day long for
doing just about nothing? I’d love to know.
Each swim group has two trainers and a couple of photographers. They
have a pretty nice operation. The photographers have digital cameras and
after the half hour swim, they upload the memory sticks into a LAN. They
have a bunch of Mac’s sitting around in fake rocks and after a while you
tag all the pictures in your group with you in them, then go through a
slide show and pick out ones you want, if any. It’s insanely expensive,
of course, but what the heck…
But I couldn’t help wondering. Sand, water, Florida weather, clueless
tourists–NOT a good combination. I wonder how many mice and Macs
Tech Support goes through in a year… And the downtime figures on the
LAN must be really interesting.
I like the idea of recycling, and using recycled materials. I don’t like
the idea of maintenance. So a plastic deck is right up my alley. After
almost 2 years, it’s finally finished. The first year was spent fighting
with the town to get a variance, since we live on a corner. The second
year was spent building it. It sure looked a lot smaller on paper than
it does in real life!
I drew up the plans using an old copy of Sierra Home’s 3D Deck v3.0.
Since this is obsolete and not sold anymore, I got it for about $12 on
some liquidation Internet site. I also used an evaluation version of a
professional grade program to double-check everything, but I can’t
remember the name of that one.
Then I went to Home Depot and had them use their deck program to come up
with the materials list for the sub structure, which is pressure treated
(PT) wood. Unfortunately, their program can’t do 12" OC joists. We put
in everything, but specified no decking, railing, etc., then I took the
quote home and reworked it. I added the materials for the 12" OC joists
from their default 16". I also optimized the lengths and materials so
that my final order, with more material than the original, was $500
less, and I should have had almost no waste. They picked everything, and
delivered it on a truck a few days later. Nice! Of course, they were
out of the 2"x10"-10’ boards I ordered. So they gave me 2x10-12 for the
same price. Now have a pile of 2x10-2 waste… :-( I used a lot of that
for braces and parts in the frames for the stairs, but I still had a
bunch left over.
Getting the plastic was a bit more of a challenge. This is partly my
fault, since as a first time deck builder (and this is the largest
project like this I’ve done as well), I made a bunch of changes to the
order. If I’d had all my ducks in a row, I think everything would have
gone more smoothly. As it was, I ended up driving to the manufacture’s
site and helping to load the truck myself, because I was tired of
waiting for the material. This also seriously delayed the project into
summer, which resulted in even more delay, since I did not work when it
was too hot, or in direct sunlight.
My other complaint is with the stainless steel screws I used. I
stripped, torqued the heads off or bent at least 10% of them! They
had square drive heads which seemed to be very soft. They were also
very sharp, which means they bit into the plastic and drove well, but
you had to be very careful in reaching for a handful of them.
Will look the same in 20 years with virtually no maintenance.
Will never rot, crack, splinter, or chip, and never needs paint,
stain or sealer.
Will not leach chemicals into the ground or water.
Is not slippery when wet. (It is quite slippery when
snowy/slushy though!)
Is recycled and is 100% recyclable.
None of defects often found in conventional lumber, such as knots,
decay, splits and milling imperfections (see below about extrusion
defects though).
Requires NO special tools – ALL regular wood-working tools work
well.
Comes in different colors and custom, exact lengths (e.g. 37’ 6" –
no seams).
Can get tongue and groove decking (no visible screws).
Screws with small heads sink into the material, then the plastic
closes up a bit to minimize the appearance of screw holes.
Holds screws and nails much better than wood (in theory, not sure
about practice, especially when really hot).
No allergic reactions sawdust – much safer than PT sawdust.
Dog claws don’t seem to have any effect (not sure about cat claws)
and dogs can’t get traction when trying to move fast, which can be
amusing.
Cons
Much more expensive than PT, around the same cost as high-quality
cedar.
May have extrusion defects, such as creases, bubbles (visible when
cut), warping, thickness variation, etc.
Much more flexible than wood, thus you need joists 12"OC, the joists
must be perfectly level (or the decking will follow the contours),
and long pieces can be quite difficult to maneuver because they flex
so much (picture a 40 foot long wet lasagna noodle).
Even my light gray color gets hotter than wood in strong direct
sunlight. In SE PA my light gray deck is too hot to walk on in bare
feet in the summer in full sunlight. With any kind of shade, not in
summer, or with oblique light it’s fine. It’s actually pretty much
the same as my black asphalt driveway, come to think of it.
Presumably, darker colrs would be worse.
May generate a lot of static electricity when walking or sliding
on it! Dogs can find this very shocking (sorry) when they sniff you
and get zapped.
It is quite slippery when snowy/slushy. (Not slippery when
merely wet.)
You have to clean up the sawdust – you can’t just let it rot into
the ground, because it won’t.
While is is recyclable, my recycling people won’t take it because
it’s not a plastic jug or bottle…
Seems to get dirtier than wood. We’re in a high air traffic
location, which may have something to do with it. And I’ve never
spent a lot of time with a wood deck, but it seems like the plastic
really holds the dirt. If you walk on it in socks they get filthy
quickly.
You can scratch it up draging heavy furniture around. Be very
careful of anything with metal feet.
Conclusion
The final approval for the finished deck was granted 2001-09-18. I’m
very happy with the way it turned out. I added a grounding wire to try
to reduce the static problem, but needless to say that did not help at
all.
If I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I’d do pretty
much the same thing. I might try to fasten it differently, but I’m not
sure how. I’d have to figure out something that would slide a bit to
allow for more expansion/contraction. Maybe there is something on the
market now that wasn’t then?
Update 2003-11-06
So far so good. It is weathering nicely, which is
to say not much at all. Expansion and contraction is a problem as
expected. Joints (in the railings and so forth) that used to be tight
are loosening up, and I have a bit of moss on the north side. But other
than hosing it down once or twice I have not touched it!
Update 2006-10-09
Still weathering nicely, which is to say not much
at all. Expansion and contraction still a problem as expected. The
railing joints have loosened a lot, even with some additional screws.
One deck plank literally ripped across because I didn’t leave quite
enough room around a notch for a railing post. Dirt and moss about the
same, a quick pressure wash easily fixes that. A regular hose does not
seem to help much.
Update 2026-02-17
The expansion and contraction issues have ripped more boards, and have
broken out many (nearly all?) of the screws holding the boards down to the
joists. The tongue and groove is still holding together, so even if the
surface is mostly “floating” on the joists…it’s working. I probably did
it wrong back then, and/or there are probably clever new fasteners now.
I’m not worrying about it, it’s still solid after 25 years with zero
maintenance except for some half-assed pressure washing every couple of years.
We took all of the following pictures (click on the image to see the
full size version) with a cheap, disposable underwater camera (no
flash), then I scanned the pictures in and built this page.
