Hi,
I am planning to install decking in the backyard. I have decided to go with composite decking.
Can anyone share their experience with composite decking? Also would like to know the company from where you purchased.
I am in South-East Melbourne.
Thanks in advance.
Partner works for a building products company and they test the competition products. Says that it is extremely poor when it is in full sun, you'll be repainting it every year
Shaded afternoon sun - composite
Fully shaded - wood
No shade - concrete
Of course, you can use a material meant for more sun in shaded application. You can also use something for shaded application in full sun. Just expect a much shorter service life with much more maintainance.
Repainting of Merbau or composite?
The composite was what they tested (because people perceive it as being a prime product, more so than the merbau)
But both will require repainting yearly - we have a merbau deck at home but it was there when we moved in
I have pergola installed but 3 sides open. I think one side will be in direct afternoon sun in summer.
That side will fade and warp noticeably more than the rest of the deck.
It's one thing to have a deteriorating deck, it can look tolerable (some will say "aged") if the whole thing is consistently weathered but it tends to look terrible if only part of it is weathered. It's the contrast that will irk you to no end.
i wouldn't do it if the deck is in direct sun for most of the day,.
the next decent looking real hardwood you can get is probably merbau or spotted gum.
I put Modwood on a North facing deck. Pretty much full Sun (though I guess shaded somewhat by a grapevine in Summer). Had it for 3 yrs. Has faded a touch, but I factored that into my selection to have it match other timber features of the home. Installation was easy using the clip feature and haven't had to re-affix the planking down like I constantly used to with timber. The value of it lies in the low maintenance.
Recently replaced some heavily-weathered treated pine (N-facing exposed deck) with boards from these guys after comparing a bunch of products from various suppliers (some will send free samples).
https://halfpricedecking.com.au/
There are much 'prettier' products out there but this one is literally a fraction of the price of those and (when you factor in treatments and maintenance) not far off the price of even new treated pine and the 'S4 Ultra Grey' blends very well with the aged grey of adjacent (under cover) pine.
There's also no defects so (for example) no need to order extra to allow for knots and such in timber.
Installation couldn't be simpler; hidden clips screwed into joists between the boards so goes down fast and easy.
No special tools required - little more than a decent saw and a screwdriver.
Can you please provide some photos if you don't mind? Thanks
The photos on their site aren't too bad but here's one of mine.
Colours are a little over-exposed (balustrades are grey) but you can just see the edge of the old pine boards at left for comparison.
We did a self install of a composite (Masters), it is in full sun and has been for 3 summers, we built a steel sub frame,
wouldn't do a steel sub frame again as it snaps the screws when it expands and retracts, not all but probably 20 or so have..
We should have gone a lighter weight steel, but this thing will never move or fall over..
We have found it very good so far, except for the smell on a hot day (for the first couple of summers) it had a strong plasticky smell.
Also it gets extremely hot, although once we put a roof over it, it wont be an issue.
They also have 'end caps' for each end, they tend to come off and can break.
We had hidden fixings which is great, but due to the steel, some were a bit hard to get into place
The other thing, and probably the one thing that really Peeved me a lot was some had a bend, i.e. they curve,
even though on the pallet they were straight, lay them out to fix them in place and pow, there is a curve in it.
which means that when laying them the pressure they are under to straighten them is quite a lot. Also why the screws snapped in some.
Make sure you get your levels right including runoff gradients.
Shade?
Direction it faces?
Mine has been okay for 2 years. Never in direct sun. Self installed.