Platinum Decking Services and Alternative Decking Supplies
Deck Specialists |Local Deck Contractor
Deck Services offered
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Transforming Existing Decks With Low Maintenance Composite decking (making your old deck look new)
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Installing a Variety of Railings Options
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Brand New Deck Design & Installation
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Installing Deck Lighting for Safety and Beauty
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Picture Framing
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Steel Frame Install
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Using Hidden Fasteners
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Use of Diamond Piers vs. Poured Footings
- Learn more about us by checking out our Barrington, Naperville, Chicago, Libertyville, Lake Geneva, Oconomowoc WI, Racine-Kenosha WI, or Schaumburg Locations.
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Our Objectives
#1: Redefining the customer experience
#2: Providing a superior product within the industry
Picture Framing
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Picture framing has become more and more popular as low maintenance, composite decking continues to grow. Platinum Decking will install a perimeter around your deck with an accent color of your choice. This gives our customers’ outdoor living area an absolutely beautiful look and a unique aesthetic touch.
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There is no doubt this will create a “WOW” moment every time you will walk on your deck.
Transforming the Existing Deck
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In many cases, Platinum Decking is able to deliver a new outdoor living area by transforming your existing deck. This entails keeping the existing framing and joists in place and removing all the old/rotten decking surface. This gives you the beauty of a new outdoor living area without the cost of a total rebuild.
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Keep in mind – when transforming our customers existing deck, Platinum Decking will inspect each and every joist, post, and all framing to ensure the safety and integrity of the substructure is up to code. Safety is our number one concern.
Designing a New Deck and New Deck Ideas
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Some customers want a new deck designed or their deck completely rebuilt. In this case, we will help you design the project and provide you with 3-D images or drawings to get a visual of what your new outdoor living area will look like when the project is finished!
- Discover New Deck Ideas Here
Custom Deck Stairs | Deck Stair Lighting
Platinum Decking specializes in custom deck stairs. Stair lighting and picture framed stairs add a ton of character to your deck.
Alternative Decking Supplies
As one of the top-rated deck builders in the area, we want to help educate our customers on a variety of different decking products.
Diamond Piers
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Diamond Piers replace the traditional “footings,” which are the foundation of your outdoor living area. Platinum Decking is the only deck builder in the Northwest suburbs that uses diamond piers exclusively. They are far faster and easier to install than traditional concrete footings. For our customers, the perks are even better. Diamond piers are also far more resistant to frost and other weathering concerns that traditional footings struggle to combat.
Tropical Hardwood Pros and Cons
Brazilian Hard Wood
When considering what to surface your new deck with, many homeowners come across Brazilian Hardwood, or “Ipe” as an enticing option. However, it isn’t as traditional an option as pressure-treated lumber, or a more modern option like composite, so many homeowners have questions. Here are the major benefits and drawbacks to Ipe decking boards.
The biggest draw for Brazilian hardwood is its beauty. Ranging in many distinct, vibrant colors, Ipe decking is the most beautiful pure-wood product you can use for the surface of your deck. There are many other advantages to using Ipe decking as well. Nearly all types of Brazilian hardwood are resistant to rot, decay, and mold. What’s more, insects are not interested in the ultra-hard wood that makes up Brazilian hardwood. Ipe decking is much, much stronger and harder than even the most premium cedar. It is so dense that it has the same fire rating as concrete or steel. This density allows for little warping at all, even in the longest boards.
There are major drawbacks, however. Firstly, Ipe material costs a great deal. In some instances, Ipe decking materials may be more expensive than high-end composite decking boards. A certain budget may take Ipe decking completely out of the equation. Another huge disadvantage is the installation. Because of Ipe’s density, every single board or post will need to be pre-drilled using specialty drill bits and blades. If you’ve ever built a deck or worked a construction project before, this may sound insane and not worth the time. This can add days to a project. There are Brazilian hardwood boards you can buy that is pre-grooved or pre-drilled that will allow you to skip this, but will drive the cost up even more. Finally, there is still annual maintenance in the form of staining required that must be done if you want your boards to retain their brilliant color.
Decking Products
Like any industry, there are the well-known name brands, and everyone else. When it comes to Composite Decking, most people have heard of large brand names like Trex and Azek, but there are many other companies that produce quality composite decking materials. Although composite might not be their signature product, there are a lot of brands that carry unique versions of composite materials you may not know about.
Azek Decking
Azek is a decking material supply company under the TimberTech product brand name. They specialize in low maintenance synthetic material, specifically capped polymer and capped composite decking boards. The product, TimberTech AZEK is the most well-known product in their lineup, made entirely of PVC which is then capped with a scratch and stain-resistant polymer. The inner core of AZEK PVC boards is made up of 100% recycled plastic, giving it an assumed unlimited lifespan against weathering. To back up that claim, these boards have a 50-year fade and stain warranty.
There are 3 design collections that AZEK decking comes in, Arbor, Vintage, and Harvest. Harvest is the most popular among consumers, as it mimics the traditional wood texture and colors more so than the other two collections. Arbor sports a color lineup that is more “exotic” and unnatural, but also has the woodgrain stamp pattern. Vintage is known as the designer series in the collection, as it comes in 3 different board widths to complement many architectural features. Although each line has a different level of wood-mimicked looks, they all definitely have a more polished look than a traditional composite board. The AZEK PVC line is aesthetically meant more for mid-century and modern outdoor spaces.
In addition to the PVC collections of decking boards, AZEK has taken a competitive stride in ownership of the outdoor space. Their complete list of offered products to compliment your deck flooring includes; railing, trim, porches, lighting, draining systems, accessories, and paver products. Each of which is designed to match or collaborate with the different lines of decking material.
Timber Tech Deck
TimberTech Decking
TimberTech is one of the leading manufacturer giants in the exterior building industry, most well known for their decking materials. While many others throughout the years have come into the space advertising alternative brands of composite decking to choose from, TimberTech is one of few that has stuck while most others have fallen off. In addition to that, their distribution network is worldwide, spanning 55 countries on 6 continents.
Recently absorbing the decking manufacturer, AZEK, Timbertech has further developed decking collections. Their line of decking materials is now known as TimberTech AZEK. This differentiates the decking material space from other focuses of the company. In addition to decking materials, TimberTech’s attempt to own the entire outdoor building materials space has brought forth AZEK Building Products. This line offers a complete collection of outdoor living, trim, and molding products through AZEK Exteriors.
TimberTech Pro and Edge
TimberTech’s lines of composite decking boards are made to provide consumers with options for all styles and budgets considered. Most well known for being capped on all 4 sides, each board has a polyamory cap coating that encases the composite material, even in the grooves of the inlay boards. This design technique enables the boards to be completely moisture-resistant, according to tests done by TimberTech in manufacturing. Like most composite materials, the composite boards by TimberTech are weather-resistant, fade and stain protected, requiring no maintenance year to year.
There are two lines TimberTech offers of composite boards; TimberTech Pro and TimberTech Edge. Pro composite has style and investment in your outdoor space in mind, offering 3 lines of coloration to fit any home aesthetic. Legacy, Reserve, and Terrain all differ in coloration vibrancy as well as wood grain stamp pattern intensity. Each of which caters to a peg on the spectrum of modern to traditional style.
TimberTech Edge comes in on the side of a more simplistic design and economically friendly line of composite.
TimberTech dry space
By common design, often homeowners have an outdoor space that combines a lower level walk-out patio, with a deck built above it. Having the two in combination provides the luxury of a dual space to expand the opportunity to entertain, additional lounge space, or space for storage. However, equally as often, the under-deck walkout space goes unutilized because when weather rolls through and rain drains itself through the gaps in your above-decking, causing your underneath space to be exposed entirely to the elements.
Fortunately, the market speaks and Timbertech holds a design created to allow your under-deck space to be maximized as a functional space, without the worry of water intruding from above. TimberTech DrySpace collects and channels all precipitation from your above-deck to a drainage system that directs the water away from the living space. This system is easily attached to the new or existing deck joists from below, allowing your under-deck space to be a dry environment for any purpose you see fit. Made up of solid extruded vinyl, TimberTech DrySpace is a durable, maintenance-free material that is resistant to molding, corrosion, and weathering.
For a look at the design elements of TimberTech DrySpace: https://www.timbertech.com/products/dryspace/dryspace.
Fiberon Decking
As one of the few US-only operative companies in the space, Fiberon has been manufacturing decking materials since 1997 and is proud of its American Made promise. Fiberon is, however, an international seller with clientele in more than 30 countries worldwide. One thing Fiberon does that other larger deck manufacturer space giants don’t focus on a tighter collection of products, owning only specific parts of the outdoor space.
Among their deck flooring collections, there are 7 lines of varying durability and style. A unique aspect of their product line is that each comes backed with a range of warranty lengths from 20-50 years depending on the collection. To learn about the benefits of all seven, there’s a well-organized chart on their website outlining this for their customers. The link to that page is: https://www.fiberondecking.com
Cali-Bamboo
Founded in 2004, two guys set out on a year-long surfing trip with the goal of devising a business plan along the way. While working as help on a bamboo farm in Hawaii, the friends sparked inspiration and an idea to make a building material business model around a sustainable resource: bamboo. While their main source of business comes from bamboo-based flooring, the composite decking material is one of their many products made of primarily bamboo. Each Cali-Bamboo composite board is made up of recycled plastic and bamboo fibers compressed into a wood-alternative board for your outdoor space.
Learn more about their mission at https://www.calibamboo.com/composite-decking.html
Dura-Life
Basing their composite product off of a 90% polypropylene-hardwood mixture, Dura-Life makes their way into the decking material space. They offer two separate product lines, Hardwood, and Landscapes, offering a style option for all types of outdoor living styles. Each line promotes a more modern-sleek design, with wood-inspired color options. Dura-life also offers four brand-specific railing lines, to complement their composite decking collections.
Explore the many lines of products offered on their website: https://duralifedecking.com/
Lumberock
While most composite materials are a mixture of plastic and wood, Lumberlock takes a slightly more synthetic approach. Their composite decking boards are made of a combination of mineral-fill compounds with polyethylene plastic to make a material completely resistant to weather. Lumberlock specializes in waterfront use of their materials, due to their claim that the mineral-component in their boards acts as a natural resistant to algae and mold buildup. Many of their collections are centered around Marina and Waterfront intended building materials.
For a closer look at their marina and dock inspired collections as well as other products made by Lumberlock: https://www.lumberock.com/marinas
CertainTeed EverNew
As one of the OG’s of the building industry, CertainTeed has been manufacturing building materials for an impressive 110 years. With over 60 manufacturing facilities across America and Canada, CertainTeed’s signature promise is to keep prices low due to the lack of need to far distance transport. Known for its large array of materials ranging from roofing to siding, CertainTeed also offers a line of 100% vinyl decking material. The decking boards come in three different colors and one collection.
Envision Composite Lumber
In 1999, TAMKO Building Products Inc absorbed their focus into the composite space by adding a compression mold for decking boards to their assembly line. Similar to TREX first-generation, Envision started out with a solid composite board that held heavy promises with some flaws. Fast forward to today, and their capped composite decking boards are considered a high-end product with a 25-year warranty guarantee to back it up. Their product line includes five collections to choose from that will compliment any home style. See links below:
