Cover Wood Deck
|Cover Wood Deck – Part of the means of developing a deck is deciding which materials to use for the decking. Basically, you might have two choices – wood or composite. In this article, I’ll share the pros and cons of each one type to help you pick the right one to your deck. The main difference between wood and composite decking is the volume of maintenance required. Wood decking requires more upkeep than composite, but looks nicer. The companies who manufacture composite decking are doing their finest to make their product seem like real wood, but to date haven’t achieved it. I personally don’t even think they’ll ever be capable to match the beauty of real wood. Because of the extra time had to maintain wood decking, you first need to inquire about yourself if you might have the extra time needed to keep a wood deck sealed and searching good. If you DO have enough time and therefore are willing to wait on your deck, great! Go with wood.
If, however, you do not have extra time or shouldn’t agree to sealing a wood deck a couple of times a year, composite may be your best option. Even though wood decks require more upkeep, there’s a type of wood which can be used for decking which requires hardly any or no upkeep. That wood is cedar. I’ve actually laid wood decking and done absolutely NOTHING to it and had it last for years without having problems. Cedar is naturally resistant against rain, snow, and sunlight. It doesn’t warp or twist, and also have hardly any tendency to check or cup.
The only drawback with cedar decking left unsealed is that is will turn gray over time. If you are opposed to this look, you are able to opt to seal it a couple of times each year. It may still “gray”, nevertheless it is going to take longer for this. Actually ALL wood decks will turn gray over time, if you don’t apply sealer every several months, which is a lot of work. Composite decking, conversely, is virtually maintenance free. Once it’s laid down, it’s not going to change much even through extreme weather. Some composite deck colors will fade over a long period, nevertheless the fading is uniform, so that you won’t really notice it happening.
There are some disadvantages to getting composite. First, composite decking is more expensive than wood. This may be a problem if you might have budget constraints. If you take into account the price savings of not buying sealer for years, it will balance out the price increase somewhat. Another downside of using composite decking is the possibility of the product failing. Just like any man-made product, composite decking may be faulty. A few years ago, one major composite decking manufacturer create some defective material. This led to many decks going bad which made a class action lawsuit. Even with compensation presented to consumers, many were tied to high replacement costs. This doesn’t mean every composite deck technique is planning to have problems, it’s just a reminder that it COULD happen.
Overall, wood or composite decks are fantastic. You just need to decide from your gray deck, a wood deck that requires maintenance, or even a composite deck which requires no upkeep, but is more expensive and has the potential to go awry.