Composite Decking V Timber

[Guest makapaka]

What would someone advise for an areas of c 40m2.

 

does the additional cost of composite outweigh the benefits or is it much of a muchness overall?

Edited June 2, 2020 by makapaka

[Brooker11 10]

13 minutes ago, makapaka said:

What would someone advise for an areas of c 40m2.

 

does the additional cost of composite outweigh the benefits or is it much of a muchness overall?

I'd say its very much worth it, timber always looks great at first but is a nightmare to maintain, if your going for composite I'd suggest using the aluminium framework to support it as if you use timber that will rot in time.

[Guest makapaka]

8 minutes ago, Brooker11 said:

I'd say its very much worth it, timber always looks great at first but is a nightmare to maintain, if your going for composite I'd suggest using the aluminium framework to support it as if you use timber that will rot in time.

Thanks brooker - the price we have been quoted is circa  double that of timber - do you know if that is  in the right ball park in comparison between the two?

[Crissie 18]

I have wooden decking in the garden. It used to become dangerously slippery in the wet, so I use a non-slip treatment that works very well - I renew it annually. Does composite decking also suffer from being slippery, and is there an equivalent treatment for it?

 

 

[alarmingmark 32]

It’s not slippery when wet... BUT  it is when it has heavy frost 

[willman 10]

I removed all my timber decking two years ago and removed it with composite about 65square metres.

Its a bit slippy when icy but the rest of the time its perfectly fine i.e when raining , we wash it early in the year with a bucket of soapy water (washing up liquid) and thats the maintenance taken care of.

No annual treatments need,no warping or rotting at all even where plant pots sit etc.

 

It has made us realise when we see everyone installing massive decks how much money we wasted over the years ,but at the time we thought it looked great.

 

If you can lay timber decking then composite is 10 times easier to lay, but the fittings are stainless steel (in my case) so more expenisve than decking screws for instance.

[forgeman 18]

I installed composite decking around 10 years ago. As already mentioned it can be slippery in the frost. A quick pressure wash in the spring and we are good for another year. I chose to have two contrasting colours for the floor and the uprights and hand rails. However, after time they seem to have blended into near enough the same shade so be careful in the choice of colour.

One other point is that small hairline cracks have developed in places and there is nothing I can do about it. The cracks can only been seen close up and does not detract from the appearance. The company who supplied the materials reimbursed part of the cost when images of the cracks were provided to them, although they had no requirements to do so as it had taken over the original manufacturer, which by the way was American.

[Brooker11 10]

On 02/06/2020 at 22:30, makapaka said:

Thanks brooker - the price we have been quoted is circa  double that of timber - do you know if that is  in the right ball park in comparison between the two?

Yes I'd say price wise that sounds right, worth it in the long term.

[Guest makapaka]

Thanks mate.