Decking is still one of the most popular choices for patios and entertaining areas in gardens today. It became widely used thanks to the garden makeover programmes of the last couple of decade where experts rush in and secretly renovated worn out gardens in just a day or two.
The material used for decking projects is, so they say, guaranteed to last for up to twenty five years with no maintenance. Many people have found that these claims were optimistic to say the least. Most decks that were laid two decades ago have long since found their way into skips and onto garden fires. Their owners turned to better materials. Having said that, some people still have decking that is still going strong; perhaps the timber used was better quality.
New materials are under constant development, and manufacturers put them to good use. One product taking the world by storm at the moment is composite decking. People are choosing to install this in preference to timber boards, but why? Here are five reasons why:
- There are no wood fibres in the boards, they are highly resistant to attack from molds and fungi that will find their way into timber. Wood also tends to soak up stains that are impossible to remove without deep sanding, and even then the stain will often penetrate too deep.
- The materials used to create the composite deck boards are tightly controlled which gives uniformity to the colours produced. This obviously improves the overall impression of quality to projects when they are completed.
- Cracking is no longer a problem to boards made from composite materials. Timber will often crack during installation or after weeks spent under the blazing sun.
- Warping is no longer an issue with this product. Warping in timber is caused by different expansion rates within areas of the boards. That usually happens when the timber becomes wet, and the board retains that shape after it has dried out. Composite materials have an uniform construction and will not absorb water. Because of the tightly controlled uniformity, the boards will expand and contract at the same rate consistently when the temperature varies, so there is no damage to them.
- Cleaning is one of the biggest problems with timber decking. Moss and mildew build up over the winter and the easiest way to clean them off is to use a pressure washer. The pressure washer gets into all the nooks and crevices and does an excellent job. Because of the water pressure needed to remove all of the grime, owners often find that any protective coating they have applied suffers damage or is removed by the water jet. That leaves the deck looking very messy until they re-coat it. It’s relatively easy to find a company specialising in composite decking. The green slime cannot adhere to it very well so it takes less force and effort to remove it. The composite material looks as good as new once it is clean.
As you can see, the arguments for using composite materials are compelling. Composite decking is a little more expensive than timber, but the ease of maintenance, longevity, and overall quality are far superior. Think carefully if you are about to install decking, you may miss a golden opportunity if you go for the cheap option.