Composite Or Wood Deck
|Composite Or Wood Deck – Part of the technique of constructing a deck is deciding which materials to use for the decking. Basically, you’ve got two choices – wood or composite. In this article, I’ll share the pros and cons of every type that will help you choose the best one on your deck. The main difference between wood and composite decking may be the quantity of maintenance required. Wood decking requires more upkeep than composite, but looks nicer. The companies who manufacture composite decking are going to do their finest to create their product seem like real wood, but to date haven’t achieved it. I personally don’t think they’ll ever be able to match the beauty of real wood. Because of the more time necessary to maintain wood decking, you first need to question yourself if you’ve got the more time needed to keep a wood deck sealed and searching good. If you DO have enough time and so are happy to stand in your deck, great! Go with wood.
If, however, you do not possess more time or don’t wish to commit to sealing a wood deck a few times a year, composite could be your best option. Even though wood decks require more upkeep, there exists a sort of wood which can be used for decking which requires very little or no upkeep. That wood is cedar. I’ve actually laid wood decking and done absolutely NOTHING to it and had it last a long time without any problems. Cedar is naturally resistant against rain, snow, and sunlight. It doesn’t warp or twist, and still have very little tendency to evaluate or cup.
The only drawback with cedar decking left unsealed is always that is will turn gray after a while. If you are instead of this look, you can decide to seal it a few times per year. It may still “gray”, nonetheless it will require longer to take action. Actually ALL wood decks will turn gray after a while, if you don’t apply sealer every several months, that is a lot of work. Composite decking, however, 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 you won’t really notice it happening.
There are some disadvantages to using composite. First, composite decking is more expensive than wood. This could be an issue if you’ve got financial restrictions. If you take into account the price savings of not buying sealer for years, it could normalize the price increase somewhat. Another downside of using composite decking may be the chance of the product or service failing. Just like any man-made product, composite decking could be faulty. A few years ago, one major composite decking manufacturer put out some defective material. This resulted in many decks going bad which designed a class action lawsuit. Even with compensation provided to consumers, many were bound to high replacement costs. This doesn’t mean every composite deck technique is going to have problems, it’s only a reminder that it COULD happen.
Overall, wood or composite decks are great. You just need to decide from the gray deck, a wood deck that will need maintenance, or a composite deck which requires no upkeep, but is more expensive and possesses the possibility to look awry.