[wkearney99]

Having dealt with a number of government analysts in my time I wouldn't put much stock in that. We're all experts at something, but unless you deal with analyzing these materials and interacting with these vendors directly I wouldn't go assuming that means anything.

The world is full of examples of half-assed implementations. Bragging rights for stupidity isn't the same as innovating outside the box.

Why bother with this idea? Because you've already got a ton of this stuff on-hand and are trying to be frugal? That's a laudable goal, but you'd probably better off donating it to SecondChance or ReStore and taking a tax deduction on it.

But if you're actually going to go out and buy some then why not just buy the right kind of product instead?

As for surfaces on a deck to resist burning, what is it you're putting up there that would even come CLOSE to radiating enough heat downward to present a problem? If anything just get one of those mats designed for placement under grills.

One side note, any time you want to put materials on a deck you'd do well to take their weight into consideration. Your deck may not be built to handle the greater weight non-standard materials might present.