Building Wood Deck
|Building Wood Deck – Part of the means of building 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 each and every type that may help you choose the best one for the deck. The main difference between wood and composite decking will be the level of maintenance required. Wood decking requires more upkeep than composite, but looks nicer. The companies who manufacture composite decking are performing their finest to generate their product appear to be real wood, but thus far haven’t achieved it. I personally do not think they’ll ever be able to match the best thing about real wood. Because of the additional time required to maintain wood decking, you need must yourself if you’ve got the additional time necessary to keep a wood deck sealed and searching good. If you DO have the time and are willing to spend it in your deck, great! Go with wood.
If, however, you don’t have additional time or don’t wish to agree to sealing a wood deck once or twice per year, composite may be the most suitable choice. Even though wood decks require more upkeep, there’s a kind of wood which can be used for decking which requires little or no or no upkeep. That wood is cedar. I’ve actually laid wood decking and done absolutely NOTHING to it and had it last for many years without any problems. Cedar is naturally resistant to rain, snow, and sunlight. It doesn’t warp or twist, and also have little or no tendency to check on or cup.
The only drawback with cedar decking left unsealed is is will turn gray with time. If you are in opposition to this look, you can prefer to seal it once or twice annually. It may still “gray”, nevertheless it will require longer to do this. Actually ALL wood decks will turn gray with time, if you do not apply sealer every month or two, the industry lot of work. Composite decking, conversely, 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 long period, nevertheless the fading is uniform, so that you won’t really notice it happening.
There are a few disadvantages to getting composite. First, composite decking is more expensive than wood. This might be an issue if you’ve got budget constraints. If you element in the price savings of not buying sealer for a long time, it might normalize the price increase somewhat. Another drawback to using composite decking will be the potential for the product failing. Just like any man-made product, composite decking might be faulty. A few years ago, one major composite decking manufacturer put out some defective material. This ended in many decks going bad which made a class action lawsuit. Even with compensation provided to consumers, many were saddled with high replacement costs. This doesn’t mean every composite deck product is gonna have problems, it’s just a reminder that it COULD happen.
Overall, wood or composite decks are great. You just need to decide from your gray deck, a wood deck that will require maintenance, or even a composite deck which requires no upkeep, but is more expensive and has the possibility to visit awry.