16 Pros And Cons Of Composite Decking

Mold And Mildew On Composite Decking

Additional material required is slashed to only a third of a deck board for each side of the deck. Bringing costs to only slightly over a $100 to finish the composite deck board ends. Finishing the deck boards with a finishing detail that requires regular and extensive maintenance destroys the low maintenance advantage of the composite deck. The level and type of care needed for the end detail must match the decking maintenance. The number one driving factor in finishing the ends of composite decking is appearance. However, you choose to complete the decking; it must look good. You may as well trim the decking and leave it at that.

What Are The Drawbacks Of Composite Decks?

On the surface, composite materials look mighty un-"green" with lots of unpronounceable chemicals, some of which can be highly toxic. So, are you trading convenience for some sort of health or ecological disaster when you select composite decking materials? But, neither are composites especially environmentally friendly. What is certain is that making WPCs requires a careful mixing of ingredients not just for performance but to keeps costs under control.

In the long-term, you will likely save more money from WPC decks due to how little you will spend for its maintenance. Composite materials are more versatile and durable than wood. Unlike wood, WPC is suitable in most environments, making them excellent materials for decking. Composite decking, for instance, is more resistant to moisture, insects, splintering, and rotting, than a wooden one. Unlike other thermoplastic materials without any wood fibre, composites are more resistant to thermal expansion, which in turn reduces the chance of warping and bending.

List Of The Cons Of Composite Decking

The cost of merbau decking, like all quality timbers, isn’t just a one-off. When decking with timber, you’ll pay the upfront materials cost, the installation cost and the cost of ongoing maintenance.

• The binding component could be PVC, polypropylene or polyethylene and depending on that, these materials are divided into types and bearing different names.
• Those, containing PVC, for example, cannot be considered as environmentally friendly while composites which contain more than 70% wood may be treated as ordinary wood.
• When you choose composite decking for your home, then you’re using a product that is primarily made of recycled products.
• All waste is recycled to fine flour and chips with fractions of wood sized between 0.8-2 mm.
• Those are mainly waste materials from the timber industry – sawdust, shavings, wood chips, wood dust, etc. which result from wood processing.
• That means you don’t need to cut down more trees just so that you can build a deck.

For example, you will need to treat wood decking at least once a year. The good news is composite decking doesn’t require any treatment. This means the cost will work out even cheaper in the long run. This is great news for anyone who wants decking in their garden for at least another 15 years.

We will probably still need to replace about 30% of the decking, but most of it’s already there, so I’m not in any hurry to replace all of it. If you lie in a climate that sees a hot summer season most years, then you’ll want to select composite decking boards that have a lighter color to them. You can choose matte, smooth, or highly textured options while still working to avoid the heating issue with some of the choices that are on the market today. If you live in an environment where it rains frequently, then choosing composite decking with a non-slip texture could be an investment worth making. Homeowners that plan to install their deck somewhere next to a pool on their property will want to make use of this advantage as well. You’ll still get boards that look like natural wood and install on a pressure-treated frame, but you’ll also be reducing the risk of slipping and falling if your feet are wet. This advantage helps in the winter too if you plan to use your deck as part of your standard entryway.

Pros And Cons Of Softwood, Composite And Hardwood Decking

Even though the added costs up front makes it more expensive to build a deck, you can usually offset the expense with the lower maintenance costs down the road. If you’re not in a position to manage the extra expense, then natural wood is going to be the better solution to consider.

Composite Decking Review

Unlike hardwood deck boards, DeckPlus composite decking never has to be painted or stained. Your garden deck will last for years with virtually no effort at all - see our Warranty Information to find out how long you can expect your decking to last. A cedar deck will last 15 to 20 years, with decks built close to the ground or in the shade coming in at the bottom of that range. Certain pressure-treated decking products come with a limited lifetime warranty, and composite lumber decking products typically offer a limited 20-year warranty. EverGrain, for example, comes with a 20-year warranty against rotting, splitting, splintering and termite damage.

This means there is a chance for you to alter the colour slightly, however, this can be quite an expensive and time consuming process. Many people buy composite decking because it lasts a long time.

The wood starts off as a warm yellow tone and then silvers down over time. Softwood decking is a good, cost effective solution for play areas and family decks. Another reason for its popularity is because of its outer capping. Aside from providing durability, the exterior capping of composites makes it easier to maintain. Wood-plastic decks require very little maintenance, unlike wood which requires regular staining, sealing, and painting, which adds to the total upkeep costs.

This is before any of the boards need to be replaced. In addition to this, composite decking can deal with all kinds of weather. This means you can enjoy having it in your garden for many years to come. Maintenance is, perhaps, the biggest advantage of composite decking. Actually, the lack of maintenance attracts homeowners to this type of decking as no sealing, sanding, staining or painting is required.

But, the difference is not very large, and the gap is constantly getting smaller as coatings manufacturers improved their products for sealing and staining decks. Although some capstock and plastic deck manufacturersNote 1 insist that their products do not fade, the empirical evidence is to the contrary. Composite decking companies themselves are much more circumspect. None now claims composite decks to be maintenance-free. The most they will venture is that their composite decks require "less maintenance" than wood decks. Certainteed, for example, allows only that its EverNew® 20 decking offers "weatherable low-maintenance design…".

Cons:

You’ll pay a little more to use this material, but the initial expense is made up over the lifetime of the deck. Despite new technologies and techniques, UV rays from the sun can cause any type of deck to fade.