Composite decking

[woodchip]

Has anyone any experience with composite decking?
Any good (or bad) suppliers?

Solid or hollow?

Thanks

 

[rafezetter]

Could you be more specific about the experiences or advice you are after?


Just as a rough guide, as with everything composite decking comes in a range of qualities from virtually bombproof and expensive to cheaply made from inferior materials.

You may or may not be aware that composite decking is made from recycled materials; a mixture of plastics and wooddust and the plastics can come in serveral "generations" just like glass with each grind as it's known being inferior to its predecessor.

Composite made with a higher percentage of regrind to virgin plastic will behave differently long term, although initially cheaper, so it depends on how long you intend to stay in the property.

Far as I'm aware (having spent 10+ years in the construction / household plastics industry) I've never heard of solid composite decking. There are thinner versions like tiles you could put onto a solid substrate (like covering concrete pavers) but composite decking designed to be fitted to a framework will be hollow planks with vertical support inside and roughly an inch thick.

The better quality decking will have both thicker outer shell and thicker inner support walls.

lastly DO NOT SKIMP on buying the fixing system designed for the decking. You cannot successfully lay down composite decking the same way as wood with just screws through the face - it's not thick enough to take a screw and the fixing system will be designed to take the expansion into consideration.

If you use screws through the face (and you manage not to punch right through the face by being too agressive) it might look fine just after you've laid it but give it just 1 full season and you'll be regretting it from then on until you replace it or move, because the decking will expand, the screw will not and it'll pull right through the face.

 

[woodchip]

Thanks for the advice, I'm at the initial stages of trying to decide whether to go for composite or timber decking.

Here is an example of solid core composite

http://www.trex.com/uk/products/decking ... d-railing/

Another

http://www.edecks.co.uk/products/10962/ ... 1mm---3-6m)

 

[Jelly]

I was responsible for cutting and mounting POS displays of the trex decking when it first came to the UK.

My impressions were: the dust is particularly fine, messy and unpleasant, though not actually any more hazardous than normal; it's somewhat more flexible than wood of a similar section; it cuts, drills and screws much more cleanly than solid wood; it's too dense to screw through easily without a pilot hole.

Seemed like a good product to me.

 

[AJB Temple]

A friend of mine has installed the Trex decking at his recently redeveloped house. It was sold to him as low maintenance, child friendly (no splinters) and long lasting. It looks very smart. It is intended to resemble wood, as it has a grain pattern, but to my eye does not look at all like wood (which is not necessarily bad). He reckons it will be much less slippery than wet wood and will not fade over time.

I am not an huge fan of large expanses of decking, but this product did suit his modern redevelopment. It was laid professionally and I have no idea of the fixing method employed.

 

[Roughcut]

I know someone who has had the composite decking for around 6 months and it doesn't appear to become slippery when wet like timber decking.
It can be cleaned easier than timber decking ie. with a pressure washer without fear of removing surface treatment/stain.
It is more expensive but should require far less maintenance.

 

[TFrench]

Me and my dad did their balcony with fiberon decking about 8 years ago now, its fantastic - still looks as good as the day we did it. Its a solid board with a groove in each side to accept their hidden fastener system. It works really well.
http://www.fiberondecking.co.uk/

 

[rafezetter]

Thanks for the advice, I'm at the initial stages of trying to decide whether to go for composite or timber decking.

Here is an example of solid core composite

http://www.trex.com/uk/products/decking ... d-railing/

Another

http://www.edecks.co.uk/products/10962/ ... 1mm---3-6m)

Ahh I can see what they have done there - it's essentially the same as a jumbo fascia board (designed to go straight onto the rafters with no support underneath, hence the extra thickness) with a coating.

Ok - well I can see how this might look appealing, but this type of plastic has very low load resistance longterm as the plastic is very similar in structure to expanded foam, albeit denser. Over a long period or in very hot weather, any person sitting in a chair or a laden table with small feet will create dimples in the plastic that will not reset once the load is removed; I'm sure you've seen this happen to tarmac in hot weather, it's the same effect.

At the very least if you are considering Trex, contact the manufacturers directly for longterm point load resistance tests - at least 8 hours, not 5 minutes - in high heat, say 30 deg. If they can give you specs on that and it's covered under the guarentee then you should be fine, if they can't or won't cover it, steer clear.

The sort of decking I was referring to is like this:

http://www.kentsdirect.com/product/...hite/graphite-composite-deck-board-infill-3m/

Now, as I used to sell the stuff I'll give you the main reasons why to choose composite over wood and that's maintenance - and I know this from bitter experience, outside our house we have a huge wooden deck, laid before I got here and every year in the winter it goes green with algae and becomes an icerink, and each spring / summer I have to scrubs and clean it. Part of that reason is there are sections that don't get full sun in spring / autumn, they have rotted faster and have been replaced inside of 10 years.

Trust me when I tell you, if I owned this house I would change to composite in a heartbeat, even with the several thousand pound price tag (it's a 10m x 7m deck). Where I used to work there is a section of display decking and it's been down for 10+ years and I've jetwashed it myself and it comes up almost as new every time, but even dirty it NEVER went slimy and slippery.

I'm quite tempted to give you photo's of our deck so you can see just how things will look 10 years down the road, it's not quite as idyllic as wood decking sellers would have you beleive.

also I have a feeling this topic has come up before with people quoting how even treating thier wooden deck EVERY YEAR with expensive decking treatments it's done very little to prolong the life. A search on the forum should bring up something.

At the end of the day it's your money and your call, but if you plan on being at the house for 10+ years buy composite, you'll save time and money each year on the maintenenace you DONT have to do, plus it'll still look good come time to sell the house rather than an automatic "well the decking needs replacing, so that's X off the asking price"

if you do want to see the horror show we have out the back, ask and I'll get some pics done.

 

[woodchip]

Thanks for the replies, especially rafezetter and tfrench, I think I'm sold on composite, I'm doing a 10m x 5m deck, and I can't be arsed with maintenance, so I think traditional wood is out. We're staying for at least 10 years, so longevity is important as when we do come to sell the deck will obviously be 10+ years old.

Thanks again.

 

[TFrench]

I was on their balcony last night actually - its a bit grubby but not at all slippery.

 

[rafezetter]

Just as a final comment woodchip, I share a house with a builder who happened to have a few offcuts of that solid type composite - not trex but similar and it's far sturdier than I imagined, the internal composite looks like it as been reinforced with glass fibres or something and was very hard, much more so than I had imagined, so I guess now it'll purely be down to price, as the deciding factor.