Without seeing it I think I would go with the white

thanks, I just wasn't sure if having all white was overdoing it. I do have an 11ft Cantilever umbrella with a brown/bronze pole. In face the rest of the metal furniture I cleaned up and spray painted is all in Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze with tan and spa blue cushions

Could we see your space please.

the deck isn't built yet. don't know if I have garden photos that would give an idea. I'll look at what photos I might have

hard to tell from photos I've taken the past few years.
1st is the kitchen door to the end of the photo on the left will be a deck. Then the width of the 3 windows is where the deck will jut out 11 feet up to the glass globe. I have to cut the size of that garden in half to have the deck.
this is the section I want to put a white pergola

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this is the view from my kitchen door where you can see the 2 entry arbors.
I took this photo 8 years ago

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this is the garden last week and part of why I want to do railings with glass panels so not to block views from the deck or from inside the house

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from the one side that will be the end of the deck and beginning of the patio

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this seating area and dining table will go to to the end if the house where the patio will be

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just a different angle

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We need to replace our deck, too. I have been looking into black locust, but need to find a source here in Northern Virginia. I think you may be a little too far from me, Trailrunner, to use your source, but if I can't find anything around here, I may be in touch.

I hope, Trail, you are having more good days than bad at this point and more smiles than tears. I think of you so often.

@Trailrunner D. you are ahead of schedule than I am. I'm told once we get a quote and make a decision, it's a 4 week wait on wood because so many are creating decks this year because of the pandemic and not traveling.
I too have been searching for probably 5 years for the right long time wood. I'm hoping to stay in this house another 15 years. been here 26 already. Most decking after 15 years don't look so good even if you re-stained it every few years.
I almost went with Ipe which is beautiful. but when I heard it takes 300 years for an Ipe to be ready to harvest, I started searching more. I also heard Black Locust is 1/3rd the cost of Ipe.
How big is your deck going to be and do you have a the cost already? At the moment I don't have a quote for the deck. only found out the glass panel railing with lighting integrated will be about $625 per 6ft panel. my deck shouldn't be too large So don't think I should need too many of the panels.

As far as where the wood is being sourced. I don't know that yet either but if I choose this company, he buys his wood from Sequoia Supply in South Eastern Pa. where I am located.

I ordered a sample of Black Locust from Robi Decking that think has a page here and it arrived Friday

I ordered samples

Thank you cyn...it's still so hard and I am so sad but I have to keep on . I know my son isn't suffering now but the ache and hole it has left in our lives is just so painful. I appreciate your kind words.

We tried to use Robi but they only sell random lengths and we needed exactly the same lengths for tongue and groove porch floor and the steps coming up to the porch. We also discovered they pre-oil ALL their black locust which is a huge mistake. It should never be oiled. Also there salesmen were pretty unfriendly and uncooperative.

We also dealt with Stubby Warmbold at Black Locust Lumber. They have a beautiful product and do a LOT of historical projects everywhere . We were all set to use them but then we found the absolutely most amazing provider.

Jason Rutledge is in Floyd VA. He harvested all his black locust from his own sustainable woods with his own draft horses !! He is the only person that has done so in the world and is known far and wide for his amazing work. His price was also 2k less than Stubby's. We are going to drive and pick it up with a trailer as it is only 75 miles from us Here is a link to his web site . He has a lot of wood in his barn and it can be milled to your specs. He primarily breeds his horses and teaches. But he will get the wood to you by shipping. He's the best !!!

http://www.ridgewindsuffolks.com/who-we-are.html

Let me know if you want anymore info. Feel free to use my name ( Caroline Donnelly) if you contact Jason. we will have our wood in about 1 1/2 weeks. The porch is torn off and we rebuilding the brick and footers.

I am so glad to find this thread !! c I will post pics of the front of the house .

before pic of front steps and porch

After removal

Original 110 yr old brick piers with no footers 😳. Porch was pulling away from house and had sunk 4”

I was looking at companies that make Pergolas and found 2. The best priced one is in Lancaster, PA.

Then I saw Trex makes a Pergola, so I figured that would be the best bet, until I saw the starting price at the smallest one they make 10x12 $9,600 and that doesn't include lights or cost of install :-O

https://www.trexpergola.com/trex-pergola-kits-with-canopy/

This one seemed nicely made $3,256. I don't know the install cost either the the company doing our deck, or by the company that makes the deck. Waiting to hear back from Garbrella, they are located about 2 hours from us.

https://www.vinyl-pergola-kits.com/product/free-standing-tuscany-pergola-small

wow, nice porch. It reminds me of the house I saw pictures of that my Mom lived as a teen in the early 1940's

As for not oiling Black Locust, I had not heard that anywhere. I had heard that you should at least oil it once for protection.

I've been to Floyd VA before :) I have a photographer friend that grew up and lived there his whole life. The Hall family I thought he said owned some type of furniture business.

My understanding of the black locust is that it should be left alone. All the old fences and in NH and Maine etc have been left alone and they are still perfect. When it ages it looks like the grey of teak. Most of the boardwalks you see in NYC etc have been done by the folks where Stubby is. You can look at their portfolio. All of that wood is unoiled. Since our home is now charcoal grey I am looking forward to the lighter grey wood on the porch floor and steps.

]I am sure you could hire a good builder and get a pergola for 1000's less than those. I just tore off the Trex. front porch on this house !! Gave it to a friend. It's awful. Stains and is SO hot and looks fake. Get some estimates. Pergolas are really easy as far as builder skills needed. We have amazing contractors. Wish they were closer to you :)

thanks Traillrunner D I agree about being too hot and heard complaints of it staining. We have 2 dogs and I know they sit with us wherever we go and the whole back of our house is Southern exposure and sun all day long and pretty hot in the Summer months.

Only problem with a pergola, I don't want wood because I'd have to maintain it, unless it could be made with Black Locust. All the other arbors in our yard are white vinyl, the 2 entry arbors and the 1 large swing arbor. That's why I was thinking to use white vinyl for that as well.

all the outside of our windows are white, and so are all the rain gutters.

Not sure which is worse, making decisions on a deck, railing and pergola, or all the decisions we had to make when we had to replace our kitchen cabinets and floors lol

I found the install cost by a contractor of the Lancaster company is approximately $3,000 additional cost

Thanks for the topic on using black locust! I have been researching different flooring options (T&G for screened in porch) and this one seems the most promising. We're in Cincinnati, OH so will need to look into who is local/ships for a reasonable price.

Black Locust lumber is the largest world wide supplier of Black Locust. You can look at their website. Their shipping is extremely reasonable They are in Pennsylvania so right next door to you. It took 6 weeks from the ordering to the delivery. Everything about the whole process was flawless. Maria and Stubby are wonderful people. Please do call them and check out their website. Here are pics of our new porch floor t &g. We also did the treads for the steps. I would be glad to get more info to you and more pictures if that would help.

https://www.blacklocustlumber.com/ here is their website They are amazing folks. After our horrible experience with the person in Floyd VA I was so relieved to find Stubby and Maria Warmbold

I just looked back at this thread. @wellmama I just realized I never followed up about the guy in Floyd. What a nightmare he was and is !!! He took my deposit and then never had the wood and when we pressed him after months of no responses he said I was a " bully" and cancelled our contract but didn't return the money ! Had to wait and wait to get it back. Have since learned from locals there in Floyd at the sawmill as well as others in this area that he is known for this sort of behavior. . We were well rid of him !!! You will love the folks above that I linked.

@User. So sorry that happened to you, what a nightmare! Your porch turned out BEAUTIFULLY right down to the swing - also on my must have list for our porch. Ours will be screened in as mosquitoes enjoy me too much. To that end, I was looking for T&G and I saw on one of your posts above that you had trouble getting that through Robi? Thanks for you for all your help and insight!

Yes @wellmama my painting contractor just finished putting an oil product on a Robi porch floor. They send the product with the flooring and they treat the flooring before they send it. He said it has tung oil and two other products in it. He said the wood they sent is really short pieces snd they are 6 inches wide. He said it wasn't anything as beautiful as what we have....12ft long boards !!! They also use this oil since their wood is subject to cupping due to the quality of it. I would be very very careful about using them. They also then make sure you use special stainless steel fasteners to install the wood instead of the traditional install of t&g. This again is due to their cupping issues. The company we used isn't cheap. But the quality is amazing !

@User, thank you, this is really helpful to know! We're looking to do a 12' width porch so the 12' long boards would be ideal. We haven't quite nailed down the length yet, something in the 16-20' range. What's yours?

Our porch is 12 ft deep and 20 ft long. The boards are run front to back which is traditional for an open front porch. We used two thick boards for each step placed side by side for the treads. I would be happy to take more pictures up close and from beneath the open porch if you wish.

Stubby culls the boards to be sure you get beautiful wood but then they send PLENTY of extra boards just in case they are needed. A very generous amount.

We had a local man that a church group was helping . He is disabled and a tree fell on his porch. I was able to donate the extra wood to rebuild his whole small porch floor. So this whole project has been truly a wonderful experience after a difficult start.

you can message me through Houzz for more info if you want to. c

Your deck is beautiful, Trailrunner! We're exploring deck materials right now to replace a 1000 sqft wrap-around deck in the Pacific Northwest (Portland). 1/3 of the deck (currently cedar) is exposed and is completely rotted out (to the point that my foot/leg went through a board this past summer). I was originally sold on Azek (long warranty period, fade resistant, "low maintenance," less hot than other composites, etc), but I have read so many bad reviews about how "not" low maintenance it is - issues with terrible staining, etc. I started looking at IPE (still considering) and then started reading up about Black Locust. Not sure how easy it would be to get Black Locust in Oregon - but if we did, I am wondering if it would be a problem to install this during the rainy winter months. Does the wood need a dry weather install in order to not be compromised, with respect mold/mildew/algae/water? Also - I am wondering what materials you used for your beautiful white railing. Our cedar railing is also rotting and needing replacement. (We have a Victorian style house and are planning to keep with a white railing to match the style.)

@Tammy Hey our front porch is really aging. beautifully. More so on the steps as they are exposed to the rain. The suppliers I noted, Black Locust Lumber are world wide and based in Pennsylvania. There is NO problem getting the wood to any location. Please look at their website and you will see they source their wood everywhere in the world. It is already air dried, you never have black locust kiln dried. That is another amazing feature of the wood. It can be installed at any time of the year or weather. It is not affected at all by temps or the weather of any kind. We have already had snow here in VA and are getting more this next week . The steps didn't freeze and I was able to simply sweep the snow right off !! So great. Black Locust is used all over the world and most especially you can see it in the NE as fence posts etc and it is never affected by algae mold or mildew. The wood is impervious to all things and is never oiled or treated in any way.

I would be glad to take more pics for you. Please do contact Stubby and Maria for more info. They are great people and will be a big help to you on pricing and shipping. Let me know if I can help in any way. c

I will ask what my GC used for the railing/posts.He will be here next week to do some more work in the house. . Everything was replaced except the columns...they are original 1910 poplar wood.

Wow, thank you - that is a lot of great information!

I can vouch for Stubby and Black Locust Company being awesome to collaborate with! Unlike contractors who take months to get back to you, Stubby called me back within minutes! In talking to him today (early January), he said the lead time is 2-3 weeks during the slower months (winter) and up to 8 weeks during peak months (summer). He noted that you can use black locust for anything except structural support so decking boards, stair risers, and railings. Good luck with your project @Tammy.

@wellmama glad to hear it !! We are very happy with our purchase. I do think the boards could have been air dried longer ( they are never kiln or otherwise artificially dried). We have had a bit of separation on some of the t&g. So be sure and discuss this with them. Good luck and please share pictures !! c

Wish your company had come up with multiple searches on Google! The wood from Stubbie at BLL IS AWFUL! We are so disappointed and he does NOT stand behind his product. It has warped after a year and you can see the ground beneath the porch.

We are trying to figure out what to do after spending $1000’s of dollars. May I contact you?

Yes. 304.672.WOOD (9663) Stubby doesn't kiln dry...but has a nice website.

BLL also leaves the pith in their boards for better yield. We rip the pith out a take the loss....and make a smaller 4.5" or 3.5" rather than include it in the board. Green, pith-sawn locust will always be trouble.

Sorry the gap was so wide i thought it was decking. lol Our T & G porch flooring is dried from about 12 to 14% which is what the average equilibrium moisture content is in the Mid-Atlantic area on a 12 month average. Therefore, with our T & G locust... all of the shrinkage happens in our kiln. Not on your porch. Stubby probably shipped you green wood right off of the saw and into the moulder.

I emailed you through your website. i will call tomorrow. Thank you. Yes the wood was very fresh and we should have been told to airdry for however long and check moisture levels. hind sight. I had read alot about Black Locust before settling on it and i gad seen several comments that BL isn’t usually kiln dried that air dry is preferred. I know nothing about any of this but either air or kiln would have likely prevented this disaster.

It was gorgeous when first laid.

email me here instead if you "wood". Thanks. mikecaruso363@gmail.com

Seems like the folks telling people locust usually isn't kiln dried are the one's who don't have a kiln. Its very difficult to air dry locust to 15%. Even at 15% with a surface moisture meter, the core will likely be a few percentage points higher. I've even heard other locust suppliers say they the heat from the kiln drying process reduces the rot-resistance. Which is non-sense. I'll fill you in more tomorrow.