Decking Composite or Wood

blacknblack

Apols for a very boring post!

Has anyone put lots of decking in their garden?  Is composite better than wood or does it look awful?  Any opinions welcome. 

HAL9000

We did this about five years ago and chose composite. Less maintenance, and less slippery when wet. Looks wood-like but wouldn’t fool anyone who took more than a cursory glance. 

Having said that, a friend did his about few weeks back. Composite has come on a lot in five years and his is far more realistic looking than mine.

Rob1742

Composite all the way. They have improved massively over the years and so wood isn’t a viable option anymore. In my opinion of course. 

boogieman

Composite will last a lot longer and need far less maintenance. The trade off is the cost, as it’s not cheap compared to wood. I built a deck a couple of years back using heavy duty grade timber and sealed it with three coats of preservative (on both sides) before screwing it all down. It should outlast me. 

LionAquaLooper

Composite all the way. I've been happy since i made the switch away from wood. 

Dominic

We probably lay about 3000 sq meters of it every year 
Composite is the definitive go-to but there are many different qualities ;
Top of range is Millboard .......it's the most realistic but absurd price at £130 per sq meter 
Best bang for the buck is Neo-Timber as a brand ............their budget products are great ;you don't need their upper ranges for normal domestic use 

paulnb57

We stopped at self catering a while back that had composite, bloody excellent and virtually maintenance free

Its expensive though

Snap

Composite if in budget. We had Neo Timber stuff put down over five years ago, looks good as new

LionAquaLooper

If your decking is going to be covered (underneath a canopy or some sort of roofed structure), you should be fine with wood.  But if it's going to be exposed to the elements all year round, you're better off investing in composite.

rlw

Speaking as someone who had to work in someone else's garden office, accessed via slippery, slidey timber decking in all weathers and temperatures, I would recommend composite every time.

Also, we had a big timber rear deck area which was a bastard to freshen up every year or two.  Don't do it.

boogieman

rlw said:

Speaking as someone who had to work in someone else's garden office, accessed via slippery, slidey timber decking in all weathers and temperatures, I would recommend composite every time.

Also, we had a big timber rear deck area which was a bastard to freshen up every year or two.  Don't do it.

Freshening up for me just involves pressure washing, then redoing the preservative/paint/whatever when the timber has dried, it’s really not that hard. I use a long handled radiator roller to repaint the majority of it, doesn’t take long. 

Chimpankie

I’d go for composite. I hate my wooden deck. Previous owner put it in… it’s only 6 years old but already has needed a fair bit of maintenance due to some rot and broken screws. Also painting the thing twice a year to preserve it is soul destroying. 

Col_Decker

I know very little about decking even though I am a Col_Decker. But we had some wooden decking at the end the garden when it meets the house. Absoluetly leathal once it gets some green colour and wet on it. Like an ice rink of death.

blacknblack

right .... composite it is.  thank you for all your help

Sporky

We had wood but painted it with a weird gritty paint. That stopped it being slippery. 

LionAquaLooper

boogieman said:

rlw said:

Speaking as someone who had to work in someone else's garden office, accessed via slippery, slidey timber decking in all weathers and temperatures, I would recommend composite every time.

Also, we had a big timber rear deck area which was a bastard to freshen up every year or two.  Don't do it.

Freshening up for me just involves pressure washing, then redoing the preservative/paint/whatever when the timber has dried, it’s really not that hard. I use a long handled radiator roller to repaint the majority of it, doesn’t take long. 

It's fine if it's only a small area.  But doing that on a big area like in my garden (especially on a hot day) is painful.  There are better things to do with one's time than freshening up wooden decking when the option of composite decking is available nowadays.

Majorscale

We went for a millboard composite deck. It’s been brilliant and looks leagues ahead of the competition. An expensive option mind!

Dominic

Yes Millboard is the Rolls Royce of Decking ........very good and very expensive

PolarityMan

I built a pretty big one last summer. Used wood as it was less than half the price of composite 

thermionic

I got fired on the first day of my new job at B&Q when my manager brought a customer to me and said “This gentleman needs decking.”

thermionic

On a serious note, how easy is it to replace decking? The stuff in my back garden is in a bad way and I’d like to replace it with composite. It looks kind of straightforward but I’d be in trouble if the underlying frame needed replacing as well.