Path to a HDB Tai-tai: Balcony Decking

My Goddess new place has a super big planter hole, and the Horny Devil and her has no intentions of setting up a farm or a garden using the hole.

Hole big enough for a fish spa pond

And so the two of them decided to get decking for their balcony. They spoke to several decking companies - Woodpro, Supreme Floors, Floor Expert, Timberlist, Goldhill and Evorich, trying to find the best material and deal for the balcony.

There are basically several types of wood available for decking. First is the most common WPC - man-made with plastic and wood. This is commonly offered by Supreme and Floor Expert. The gap for WPC is typically bigger averaging at 5mm. The 'wood grains' are very obvious as they are man-made, and hence seems a little fake in my Goddess' opinion. Texture wise it is the most roughly amongst all the decking choices, hence the least chances of slipping. And as it is synthetic wood, maintenance is definitely the easiest of the lot - no annual sanding and varnish is required.

Supreme has been in the market for the longest time, and so is a trusted supplier used by many IDs and contractors. Their products are MIC (made in China). Guess that's why their price is also the most competitive for WPC. However, if you want to go for a more luxurious WPC feel, you can talk to Floor Export, their WPC comes from France and even has a grey colour option.
 

WPC by Floor Expert

Then the real wood - ironwood. Woodpro, Timberlist, Floor Expert all offer ironwood. Ironwood is one of the cheaper woods around. The wood is very sturdy and firm and gives a very strong and safe feel. However, because it is hard, it will warp and crack more easily over time.

Another option of decking that my Goddess and the Horny Devil was considering is Burmese teak. This is offered by Timberlist.The reason why my Goddess liked Burmese teak is because of the light colour that the wood can be stained, to give clean and Scandanavian feel that my Goddess wants to achieve. The feel of the wood is more real with a nicer texture too.

My Goddess epecially liked the colour in the center

Other types of wood include Balau, Merlau and Chengal. Chengal is also another commonly used wood, especially by the previous generations - hence the dads and uncles will also go for Chengal. However, the Chengal wood are depleting very fast, and what's left now is young Chengal wood which is more prone to warping, shrinkage and termites given the higher level of moisture. Balau is used mainly as the based of decking as it is cheaper and stronger. However as it is one of the stronger hard woods, it is also more likely to be prone to surface cracks, and hence used less commonly as the main decking. Merlau colours have a reddish tone, and the supplier mentioned that is is less used by Chinese.

My Goddess and the Horny Devil almost got Burmese teak, but in the end, the Horny Devil read about Evorich offering Acoya wood, which is a type of pinewood. It claims to have less cracking, shrinkage and warping, as compared to the other wood, and is also termite resistant due to the treatment of the wood. Acoya wood is also eco-friendly - renewable and recyclable, and has 50 years warranty. Most importantly, cos of the light colour of the wood, it is able to give the light colour that my Goddess is looking for.

For the support below the decking, you can either choose balau or acoya wood. While Balau support is cheaper, it doesn't have the warranty that is given for Acoyo wood.

So here's a picture process of how the decking process is like:

The workers were very punctual. They reached before 930am, the slated time of the project. On the first day, there were 5 workers working on the decking concurrently, one to do chopping of wood, the other two glueing and setting up of support etc.

First the wood are stained at the sides

And here's introducing the tools of the trade:

The woodcutter

The acoya wood generally comes in 1.8m or 1.2m so that isn't enough to fit the balcony. The wood is then cut randomly to fill up the balcony

The air gun

And the sanding machine

First, planning the 'randomness' of the cut  - ironic isn't it?

While that happens, the wood support is cut and laid vertically. The wood panels are glued on top of small pieces of plastics to level and flush the support and decking with the balcony entrance.

Looks like peanut butter biscuits to me

Placing the wood support at the planter hole to level the vertical support



Once the support is done, the panels are placed on top of the support, while ensuring that the joints are cut at where the support is, to ensure stability of the decking

 The decking took two days to be installed. On the second day, the Horny Devil was working, and was not physically present to ensure the 'random' joints of the decking. And so my Goddess had to take pictures and show him live updates and proposals. Only 2 workers were sent here this time round to finish up the project.



The proposal of where the joints will be. The red lines mark the opening



By right, the planter area is not meant to be fully covered. it is mandatory for water to be able to flow through the planter and into the hole for drainage purpose. And so decking needs to have access panels to remove any blockage realted to the hole.

There should be two access panel ideally, one on each side. One to pour water from the far end so that the rubbish can flow to the other end and ensure the removal of any blockage of the drainage hole

As and when the placment of the panels and joints are confirmed, the worker will nail the decking in place using the airgun.


Once the panels are nailed in, it's sanding time



Then masking tape is placed around to ensure that the sides are not coloured from the staining process



Staining the decking with the first coat of varnish

A close-up distance

Adding on the second coat of stain

Initially, there was just supposed to be two coats of varnish. However, my Goddess spotted some black marks made by the sanding mahine, and the worker tried to hide it with another coat of varnish. Ended up the decking looked too dark for my Goddess' liking.

After examining the decking - there were some areas that my Goddess wasn't ahppy about:

1. Dark colouring of the dcking
2. Staining made by the staining machine
3. Holes at the edges of the wood, made more prominent with the dark staining
4. Drops of varnish on the decking
5. Marks made by the wood hitting against the decked wood. My Goddess asked some replacements of the wood panels earlier before the sanding and varnish was done. The worker hit the wood on the decking itself and this resulted in some scratches and knocks on the existing panels. The worker promised that the marks will be gone after sanding and varnishing, but they were still there.

Markings of the retifications required

The obvious holes at the edge of the panel

And there was also the varnish stains on the wall due to the negligence of the worker.

Since my Goddess paid so much for the decking, she wasn't going to let the matter rest. She wassped the sales rep immediately on the things she was not satisfied about. The sales rep responded immediately and sent down another more experienced worker 2 days later to make good the defects.

Breaking the panels that need replacement so that there will be a access hole to remove the whole panel.

Putting in the new pieces - 8 in total.

Then resanding of the decking again so that the right colour can be achieved this time round

 The worker who came down this time round was more careful in his work. Cutting was done at the living area away from the balcony. There was no sanding machine marks nor stain drops on the decking. The colours were very even.

Except for a few stained spots and a chipped off edge at the balcony, which was rectified again the next day, my Goddess has no qualms about the service of Evorich.

Chipped balcony wall

In fact, Evorich also got the balcony paint from the main con and touched up the areas which has either peeled off from the masking tape or has stained the sides of the wall. My Goddess and the Horny Devil were very particular about the paint and how it may stained their wood at the sides, but they managed to clean up every single nook and cranny requested by my Goddess.

And so here's the final product - 2 varnish and 4 working sessions later.



EVORICH Flooring HUB / Office:

21 Kim Chuan Terrace Singapore 537042

MON to FRI: 8.30am - 6.30pm

Hotline: (+65) 6348 7333 (8 Lines)

Fax: 6875 5721 / 6342 9331

SAT: 8.30am - 2.30pm

SUN / Public Holiday: We welcome calls to fix appointments

(Appointment Hotlines : 9777 5055, 9060 6767, 9855 7181)

Email: sales@evorich.com.sg (Feedback)

biz@evorich.com.sg (Enquiries)