Tongue and Groove Decking Reviews

Out of all the types of decking available to homeowners today, one of the more interesting options involves tongue and groove boards. While commonly used for porches, these planks can also be used to build a deck from traditional wood or composite boards.  In this review, we will explain a little more about T & G decking and tell you what to expect when purchasing these kinds of boards for your next project.

As popular as this style of lumber is, it can be difficult to locate when you’re looking for full-size deck boards. You are also limited from a material standpoint to a degree, so there are two options to choose from with natural wood and composite decking.

T & G deck boards made from natural wood are easy to track down locally or online. Finding the size you need, and an acceptable shipping rate is a different story, however. There are several species available as well, although Pine and Cedar are two of the more popular options.

There are also a handful of companies that specialize in producing composite boards with a tongue and groove profile. While these manufacturers are few and far between, the ability to use synthetic T & G decking may be well worth your time. If you’d like to learn more about either of these materials, check out our decking guide.

If you are interested in using wooden tongue and groove decking for your next project, the most affordable option is to purchase your material locally. Unless it’s a product that has to be special ordered, this takes care of any shipping costs or built-in charges from online deck dealers.

The best place to purchase T & G porch decking online is through Advantage Lumber. Their selection is unparalleled; they have free samples and ship to any state in the continental United States for a reasonable rate. At this time, the company carries IPE, Cumaru, Tigerwood, Itauba, Garapa, Massaranduba, and Cypress.

All of these species sold through Advantage Lumber are available with a tongue & groove profile, but only in porch board sizes. The sizes range from 1” x 4” to 5/4”x 6” depending on the species, and includes their popular +Plus sizes as well. The company frequently has sales and offers free shipping on orders over $2,500.

Locally, for most homeowners, the easiest places to pick up T & G decking are through Lowes, Home Depot, or 84 Lumber. While 84 Lumber doesn’t allow you to shop online, they have a wide range of timber for decking projects. Menards is also another alternative and have some of the cheapest decking available… if you have one located in your area.

While Menards doesn’t ship online, they will ship to the store and have a series of tongue & groove decking from Meadow Valley. You can choose between Spruce and Cedar with two standards sizes at 2” x 6” or 2” x 8” boards. There are 8’ and 12’ lengths with Spruce, but only 12’ boards if you prefer Cedar. They have also have a treated Pine porch flooring in a 1’ x 4’ x 8 with a tongue and groove profile, which are available to ship across the U.S.

As for Home Depot and Lowes, the selection is limited online but will vary from one location to the next locally. In our experience, Lowes is the better option depending on the type of wood you’re looking for, and they do have one style of T & G Cedar decking with a 1” x 6” x 8” boards that can be purchased online or picked up locally.

Homeowners looking for pressure-treated decking have probably heard of YellaWood, and it’s a company we recommend as well. The company has a collection tongue and groove profiled boards called YellaWood KDAT porch flooring. It’s available in three different sizes, five lengths, and five different grades. While they don’t sell direct, you can find their products through building supply stores and home centers locally along with smaller hardware stores like ACE

The most well-known brand we found that produces T&G composite boards would be TimberTech. They have a small collection of porch flooring that features fully capped composite boards in monochromatic and multi-tonal colors. The monochromatic boards are cheaper and come in three different colors, but only available with a Cathedral grain finishing.

The company’s multi-tonal boards like Coastline and Weathered Teak are far more realistic and come in multiple widths. Two new finishing techniques come into play as well with a Straight-Grain or Wire-brushed textured finish. TimberTech’s porch collection is reasonably priced and has a top-tier warranty rated for 50-years on fading or stains and a lifetime limited structural guarantee.