TOG,
Couldn't help respond to your deck thoughts. Was born & raised in Palm Bch county. Was a gen. contractor for 22 yrs & before that my Dad owned Bill's Sailfish Marina on Singer Is. Moved to WA state to get out of the sun, it plays hell on your body as well as wood!!
Suggestions - whether you use wood or plastic, tell the contractor you want the product screwed to the joists w/ galv. screws. If plastic is used its best to pre-drill the holes, screws should penetrate the joist at least as deep as the thickness of the decking material. This will definitely increase the cost of the deck (& the contractor might not want to do this) but a few years down the road you'll appreciate doing it. If you do use nails, under NO circumstance let them use a pneumatic nail gun. Nail guns drive the nail with one quick blow to the nail & in alot of cases will not bring the deck material tight to the joist. When we have used nails on decks on or near salt water, we always used ring-shanked stainless steel nails.
There are a # of treatments for PT wood (above ground, ground contact,
underwater, etc.). Treatment is designated in decimals (.22, .44, etc) & in the South is almost exclusively southern pine. The sun does amazing things to this wood ;-) even #1 dense grade (when I moved to the NWest I was surprised to find they use hemlock & the treatment is only on the surface of the wood).
With the correct treatment, your PT wood may contact the ground. Securing the post to your conc. pads (or piers) will be determined by your local bldg. codes (in PB county we had to pour 3'x3'x10" conc. pads).
Sorry to ramble, hope this helps,
Bill/WA (TheOldCarpenter)
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