PVC Boards vs. Real Wood Boards – An Update (And Why I’ll Choose PVC Any Chance I Get For Outdoor Projects)

And eventually, the window boxes on the workshop…

All of these issues are made with PVC boards, and from right here on out, I’ll select PVC boards for outside tasks any probability I get. They’re not applicable for each mission, however when they’re, I’ll select them 100% of the time.

Listed here are the three causes I’ll at all times choose PVC boards over actual wooden boards once I can.

PVC boards don’t rot

All one has to do is take a look at my entrance porch with the intention to see the huge distinction between PVC boards and actual wooden boards. The columns on my entrance porch are clad with actual wooden. I coated that wooden with a number of coats of oil-based primer earlier than portray them with both two or three coats of exterior paint. I completed these columns in March 2018, so nearly seven years in the past.

Right here’s what they appear like in the present day…

I imply, that is fairly tough wanting. This isn’t only a restore job that requires slightly caulk, wooden filler, and paint. These have to be redone…with PVC boards and trim.

This isn’t what I would like the entrance porch of our home — the very first thing folks see after they come over — to appear like. This isn’t the welcome I would like for friends. Heck, I don’t even need that welcome for myself.

This column on the far proper — the one which will get essentially the most publicity to the weather — is the worst. Once more, that’s not one thing that slightly caulk and paint can repair.

In some unspecified time in the future between ending the entrance porch columns in March 2028 and constructing the entrance porch steps in August 2018, I realized about PVC boards. So once I constructed the newel posts for the entrance steps, I used PVC boards as an alternative of wooden. And whereas they may stand to have a radical cleansing (you’ll need to look previous the dust and dirt), and I took the image yesterday within the rain, you may see the huge distinction between this PVC newel put up and the wooden columns.

So far as the integrity of the boards, they appear simply pretty much as good in the present day as they did the day I constructed this. There aren’t any separating joints to be discovered wherever on these posts. And once more, this was constructed 6 1/2 years in the past.

That is how I would like every little thing exterior to carry up, and that is what you get with PVC boards and trim.

Under, you may see the lengthy vertical joints. And once more, there aren’t any cracks to be discovered. Grime? Sure. 😀 Cracks? No. Rotting? In fact not. It’s PVC, which doesn’t rot.

PVC boards maintain paint amazingly nicely

Once I made the shutters for the entrance of our home and the facet of my studio, I selected PVC boards. I needed the no-rot advantage of the PVC boards for the shutters, however I wasn’t fairly as assured about how they might maintain paint for the long term. I imagined that after a few years, the paint would possibly peel, and I’d be repainting shutters each couple of years.

I used to be skeptical, however I made a decision to take that gamble, totally anticipating that I’d be scrubbing off peeling paint each couple of years and repainting. However that hasn’t occurred. Right here’s a take a look at the shutters on the entrance of my studio, which I made in April 2018. That is the image I took of the model new, freshly painted shutters after putting in them nearly seven 12 months in the past…

And right here’s what these two shutters appear like in the present day…

The years have undoubtedly made the sheen of the paint extra of an eggshell and even matte end (which I choose…y’all know the way I really feel about shiny paint finishes 😀 ), however there’s no peeling paint in sight. The one factor that appears previous on these shutters is the {hardware}, which is in determined want of a recent coat of black spray paint. However so far as the PVC boards themselves, they appear nice! No peeling paint, no chips within the paint, and no warping of the boards in any respect. And I haven’t completed something to these within the seven years since I made them.

PVC joints gained’t separate so long as they’re put collectively correctly

That is my absolute favourite factor about PVC boards. There’s a giant purpose that the joints in my wooden boards and trim appear like this…

Whereas the joints in my PVC boards and trim appear like this, with no cracking or separating, over the identical period of time…

So why do these look so wonderful (apart from the dust 😀 ) after 6 1/2 years? The bottom line is the PVC glue. When constructing with PVC boards, don’t ever forgo the PVC glue. That stuff is like magic in a bottle. PVC glue is a mixture of solvents and resins that “soften” the boards collectively, creating a robust chemical bond between the 2 boards (or trim and board, or two items of trim) which are being joined collectively. It’s mainly the equal of “welding” the 2 items collectively.

The principle downside of utilizing PVC boards

There’s at all times a draw back, and naturally, the draw back to utilizing PVC boards as an alternative of wooden is the price. I didn’t do any precise value comparisons of the 2, but when I needed to guess, I’d say that PVC boards are about double the value of wooden. So the upfront value of the mission goes to be extra. However the payoff of that upfront value is obvious to see.

A home-owner in my neighborhood constructed and put in shutters a number of years in the past, and whereas I haven’t seen them up near confirm, I’m fairly certain they have been manufactured from cedar that they stained/sealed to guard the wooden. Whereas I gained’t share an image on the weblog (I’d by no means do this to my neighbors), let’s me simply say that these shutters are wanting fairly tough as of late. They clearly want common repairs and common staining to keep up that look (very like my entrance porch and entrance steps). However my shutters, 6 1/2 years after being put in, nonetheless look nice.

A limitation of PVC boards

The principle limitation of PVC boards is that I might by no means use them for something structural. For those who watched my video where I installed the skirting around my workshop, you could possibly see simply how flexible and versatile the PVC boards are. So I might by no means use them to construct something massive that should have numerous structural integrity. One thing small like flower bins are tremendous. One thing massive, like steps to a home or workshop, are out of the query.

That’s why, when building the front steps to our front porch and building the steps for the workshop, I constructed the body for the steps out of floor contact stress handled lumber. It’s the wooden lumber that offers the steps the structural integrity they want. However then I clad the construction with PVC boards. And that’s additionally why I’ll be constructing the workshop pergola(s) out of actual wooden lumber as nicely. These pergolas are massive and carry numerous weight, in order that they want the structural integrity of actual lumber.

So that you do have to contemplate the limitation of PVC boards earlier than deciding if and when to make use of them for a mission. However I’ll at all times select PVC boards for any outside mission the place I can use them.