Covered Wood Decks
|Covered Wood Decks – 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 to help you select the right one on your deck. The main difference between wood and composite decking could be the volume of maintenance required. Wood decking requires more upkeep than composite, but looks nicer. The companies who manufacture composite decking do their best to make their product resemble real wood, but up to now haven’t achieved it. I personally don’t think they’ll ever be capable to match the beauty of real wood. Because of the more time necessary to maintain wood decking, first you need to ask yourself if you’ve got the more time needed to keep a wood deck sealed and looking good. If you DO have some time and therefore are ready to wait on your deck, great! Go with wood.
If, however, there isn’t more time or shouldn’t spend on sealing a wood deck a couple of times annually, composite could be a good choice. Even though wood decks require more upkeep, there’s a sort of wood which you can use 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 along it last for years without problems. Cedar is naturally resistant to rain, snow, and sunlight. It doesn’t warp or twist, and still have hardly any tendency to check or cup.
The only drawback with cedar decking left unsealed is that is will turn gray after a while. If you are in opposition to this look, it is possible to decide to seal it a couple of times per year. It may still “gray”, nevertheless it will take longer to do so. Actually ALL wood decks will turn gray after a while, if you don’t apply sealer every month or two, the lot of work. Composite decking, alternatively, is virtually maintenance free. Once it’s laid down, it will not change much even through extreme weather. Some composite deck colors will fade over a few years, however the fading is uniform, and that means you won’t really notice it happening.
There are a few disadvantages to using composite. First, composite decking is more expensive than wood. This could possibly be a challenge if you’ve got budget constraints. If you factor in the cost savings of not buying sealer for decades, it could stabilize the cost increase somewhat. Another problem with using composite decking could be the chance of the item failing. Just like any man-made product, composite decking could possibly be faulty. A few years ago, one major composite decking manufacturer created some defective material. This resulted in many decks going bad which designed a class action lawsuit. Even with compensation provided to consumers, many were saddled with high replacement costs. This doesn’t mean every composite deck technique is going to have problems, it’s just a reminder that it COULD happen.
Overall, wood or composite decks are good. You just need to decide from a gray deck, a wood deck that will require maintenance, or a composite deck which requires no upkeep, but is more expensive and contains the potential to look awry.