Sean Collinsgru of Premier Outdoor Living first encountered ProWood’s TrueFrame Joist pressure-treated framing lumber at the 2025 Deck Expo in Las Vegas. He was intrigued, so the southern New Jersey deck designer and builder decided to try it on a 600-square-foot deck that December.
ProWood’s claims were bold—most notably, that the ground contact-rated, kiln-dried lumber was significantly lighter in weight with far more dimensional consistency than standard PT. After using it, Collinsgru found both to be true. “To my surprise, the reality exceeded the claims,” he says.
Lighter. The first thing he noticed was how little the boards weighed. “The lumber package was delivered to the driveway, and we had to carry it to the back of the house,” he recalls. “This is usually a backbreaking job and a real morale killer, because most PT boards are wet from treatment and super heavy.” That was not the case here. Because the TrueFrame joists are kiln-dried, they weigh less than normal treated lumber. That made Collinsgru and his crew very happy, which got the job off to a great start. In fact, the boards’ light weight made the framing work easier from start to finish.
Consistent. The other feature that stood out was the boards’ dimensional consistency. Although ProWood’s specs said that the 2x10s he ordered would be planed down to 9-inch widths, he needed to confirm that firsthand. “When we unbanded the lumber and measured the widths, we found them to be exactly 9 inches wide, even over the 20-foot lengths we ordered.”
They were also perfectly straight, with no crown whatsoever. To say this is unusual with PT is of course an understatement, and in fact the lack of crown saved a lot of fussing. “We normally have to plane several joists after the frame is in place in order to get a perfectly flat surface for the decking,” says Collinsgru. “But we didn’t have to do any planing here.”
One benefit Collinsgru hadn’t considered was the difference that the TrueFrame’s lack of crown made with the triple 2×10 built-up beams he needed to create to support the joists. Since the low-level deck had no posts, his crew embedded metal saddles in the deck’s 20 footings, used a laser level to set them all to the same height, and laid the beams directly within. Even with a dead level base, however, most PT lumber can vary in width by 1/4 to 5/8 inch. To get a consistent beam height, the beams need to be shimmed in some places and planed in others. “Normally, those adjustments would have taken us 2-3 hours,” says Collinsgru. That wasn’t necessary, however, as the TrueFrame lumber ensured that all the beams were the same width. “It didn’t cross my mind as a benefit, but it turned out to be a real time-saver.”
Stable. Although Collinsgru praises ease of handling and dimensional stability as TrueFrame’s “home runs,” he also notes a couple of other benefits. “For instance, the fact that it’s kiln-dried means it’s not going to want to twist and warp as it dries, like normal treated wood. That lets us reduce the amount of blocking somewhat,” he says.
True colors. Collinsgru cites TrueFrame’s color treatment as another selling point, especially when considering a second-story deck or any other structure with exposed framing. “It has a brown hue that looks a lot nicer than standard pressure-treated, and because it’s kiln-dried, we can stain it right away.” That led him to specify it for his next job: a pergola.
In fact, this first experience has led Collinsgru to decide that he will use TrueFrame for all his projects during the coming year. He says it was an easy choice. “There’s been lots of talk in the industry about alternative framing products like steel and composites, but this takes a material we’re all used to and makes it better,” he says. “I don’t know why no one thought of doing this before.”
For more information, visit prowood.com/c/trueframe-joist.