All decked out

GOING GREEN WITH A BAMBOO DECK

By Maryanne Kocis MacLeod Macomb Daily Staff Writer

    Sure, Bill Olszewski’s brand-new bamboo deck looks amazing. But that isn’t the only reason he selected it over the standard cedar or composite products.
    “First of all, it’s totally ‘green,’ ” explained Olszewski, a graduate of Harper Woods Notre Dame High School and owner of Progressive Printing & Advertising in Roseville. “I have four young daughters. Anything that leaves a better place for them, I’m all for.”
    There’s still one final reason — socioeconomic in nature — that motivated Olszewski to go bamboo.
    “Everybody here in Michigan is hurting,” said Olszewski, of Washington Township. “Being able to give Denny the business just made it all that more appealing.”
    Denny Rossi, Olszewski’s neighbor and owner of Artisian Construction, is one of the first, if not the first, to bring bamboo decking to the state.
    “With all the doom and gloom that’s going on economically,” Rossi said, “we’re just going crazy with this stuff. There’s definitely a demand.”
    Costwise, erecting a bamboo deck is comparable to plastic composite. But the initial investment, Rossi said, pays off in the long-run. Instead of incurring replacement costs in 15 or so years, as is the standard for cedar decking, bamboo, theoretically, could last a lifetime. The advantage over composite is largely environmental, but in addition, bamboo doesn’t hold the heat like plastic decking and, therefore, is kinder to bare feet.
    “Bamboo is truly a ‘green’ product,” said Rossi, who got his start in the local construction and remodeling business as a young boy under his father’s expert tutelage 35 years ago. “Unlike other hardwoods, bamboo is in the grass family. Instead of taking 30 to 100 years to replenish itself, bamboo grows back in three to five years.”
    Even the sealant, widely used to coat boat docks, is eco-friendly, Rossi explained.
    “It doesn’t hurt fish or plant life and it’s also used on pistachio nuts,” Rossi said. “But we wouldn’t want anyone to eat it.”
    Rossi said he got involved in the green products movement during the last couple years after he was unable to find local distributors.
    Rossi, whose master distributor status with www.sundeckbamboo.com is pending, said the product is eligible for green product tax credits under the economic stimulus package.
    Besides that, it just looks good, Rossi added.
    “Bamboo is available in long, sleek planks and we can stain it any color,” added Rossi, who designed Olszewski’s deck with environmentally friendly LED lights. “We did this one in brown and black and it just looks very striking.”
    “The natural hues are beautiful, especially at night with the lights on it,” added Olszewski, a single dad whose daughters are looking forward to the increased entertainment options that their new deck provides.
    For more information, visit artisianconstruction.com.

Macomb Daily staff photos by Ray J. Skowronek

Bill Olszewski’s beautiful deck is made of bamboo, a “green” product that could, theoretically, last a lifetime. It was designed and constructed by Denny Rossi, owner of Artisian Construction.