Picnic table - what material?

[radhak]

A friend just moved into their 5 year old home, and the table in the back has a rotted top (ie, the 5 2x6 planks are falling apart) - more from exposure to rain than anything else.

She wanted to know if it could be fixed. From the looks of it it seems to have had plain pine, so it'd be simple for me to just replace with the same. But what is better material, and still cheap? I calculated plain pine might cost them around $20, while Cedar might not be as cheap and treated pine not advisable. I remember seeing 'composite' lumber sometime ago - is that usable here, or will it sag?

Of course, if that pine lasted 5 years, that's not too bad either...

[Hellrazor]

Composites will sag unless you add extra support to the table top. Cedar is more expensive but will last longer.

[Richard in Smithville]

Any construction grade lumber will work as long as you paint it every year or two.

[poolhound]

If the price isnt too much for them go for the cedar it should look better and last longer than pine.

[bluzcat]

I built a picnic table about 5 years ago using Trex for the table top and the seats. Additional bracing is required to prevent sagging (a lot of extra bracing, this stuff is heavy). Even with all the extra support, my table top still sags a bit. I built it when I lived in California, so I used redwood for the frame, with a good coat of spar varnish before I attached the Trex. The table is heavy as sin, but the top and seats have aged extremely well. The Trex I used was solid and I noticed recently that a lot of the composite decking is now hollow. That should lower the cost and the weight. I paid over $100 just for the Trex at Home Depot (twenty bucks each for 5 twelve foot sticks). I would think the hollow material would be more rigid, requiring less additional support.