A Deck Tool That’s Easy to Use & Built to Last

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If you’ve ever tried building a deck one of the most annoying and agonizing things to do is deck board straightening. This is why Advantage Lumber offers the best deck tool on the market, the  Hardwood Wrench™ Deck Board Straightening Tool. This deck tool has been designed to straighten bowed decking boards without any extra …

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LEED Certification – The Basics of This Green Building Initiative

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The LEED Certification (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) was established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to provide the construction and building industries with a verifiable system to define exactly what a green building is. Using a point system, an eco-friendly building can achieve LEED certification.

The more points a green building accumulates, the more prestigious the LEED Certification. If you think all it takes to get LEED Certified is screwing in a couple of compact fluorescent light bulbs, think again.  The USGBC has put in place a set of strict policies and procedures that must be followed. The good news is that there are various ways that a building project can earn LEED certified.

Here are the various LEED Certification levels:

  • LEED Certified – 40-49 points
  • LEED Silver – 50-59 points
  • LEED Gold – 60-79 points
  • LEED Platinum – 80 points & over

The Materials Resource Credit 7 (MRc7) is a great LEED credit to plan for.

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Ipe Decking vs. Pressure Treated Decking

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The choice between using pressure treated decking or ipe decking has led to much speculation. Is pressure treated wood safe? Is ipe more resistant to insects than pressure treated wood? When starting any home improvement project the quality of the building materials should always be taken into account. A deck purchase should be no different. …

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What is Ipe?

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Ipe (pronounced EE-pay) is an exotic hardwood that is used for decking, flooring, and a host of many other applications. Ipe has many names and is also known as Brazilian Walnut, Amapa, Cortez, Guayacan polvillo, and many others. Ipe also gets misspelled in various different ways such as epi, epay, and eepay. Regardless of the …

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Composite Decking Reviews Reveal the Truth

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Responsible and savvy homeowners are doing their research when it comes to composite decking problems and drawbacks. Composite decking reviews all over the internet show that there is a clear distinction between composite decking and other hardwood decking materials. Although composite decking materials are heavily marketed and popular due its low cost, the fact of …

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FSC Wood Is Perfect for Building a Green Deck

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AdvantageLumber.com is proud to offer customers worldwide a full selection of FSC wood that has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Unfortunately, there are a lot of other companies who would rather say that they are eco-friendly without actually backing it up. Not every direct importer of exotic hardwoods has this highly coveted designation. …

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Ipe Decking is Safer than Composite Decking

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Many people settle for composite decking due to the fact that composite wood and materials are cheaper than more high-quality exotic hardwoods like ipe. However, while the cost may be appealing, the long term viability of the materials is suspect at best. If you do a simple Google search for “composite decking complaints” or “composite decking lawsuit” you will see that, while people and businesses may have saved some money initially, they took a great risk in choosing an inferior product.

Here’s a simple ipe decking versus composite decking comparison chart:

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