We are planning to build a deck and we can't seem to decide what is the best (or better) material! Initially I liked the idea of having a composite deck because it's known to be "maintenance-free". I did some research online and discovered that a common problem is warping, molding and fading of the material. I'm not sure how often wood needs to be restored, possibly every 2-3 years? If anyone has a deck, please share your experiences with either wood or composite! TIA!
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I know a few people have went with wood because composite has issues and is more than double the cost.
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We bought a house with a wood deck and have considered composite for when we ever replace it. The issues you mention are what might stop us from choosing composite. DH is in the process of restaining the wood, and it's quite a process! The previous owner said he restained it every year, and I've read that the proper way to do it is to sand it once in a while. After comparing the condition of our deck to a picture of someone's deck that has been sanded (looks brand new after 15 years), I can see how that would help. After 10+ years (maybe 15+?), our deck can probably use a sanding and restaining, but otherwise looks good. One other thing I've heard about composite is that it gets really hot in the sun and you can't walk on it in your bare feet!
ETA: the restaining itself isn't that bad - wash it down with a stripping solution and then stain it. It's the sanding part that seems involved.
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We have wood now and HATE it. It looks awful and it's completely splintered to the point where I won't even walk on it with my bare feet. I'd rather pay the extra and take my small chances with possible issues for composite, then have to stain wood every 1-2 years and possibly replace it every 5 or so. I've heard nothing but great things about it from my friends that bought new construction with composite decks. Our next deck will be composite.
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Actually I'm wondering how much sun exposure your deck is going to get. Our deck has probably fared better because it's not on the side of the house with intense sun exposure - which also means that the shaded portion has some mold growth on the side that needs to be sanded off. I think any material would warp/crack/splinter/fade in intense light or grow moldy without enough light (although if you had composite you might want to invest in a power washer).
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@spaniellove: That's good to know.. The deck will have a covered porch area so there won't be too much sunlight hitting the deck floor.
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We purchased a home with a wood deck. Its probably anywhere between 20-15 years old. Its in surprisingly good shape given that it's never been treated and gets pounded by the elements and was exposed to a lot of run off from our roof before we installed gutters.
We recently flipped the boards and stained and with only a few replaced boards it looks brand new. Now that we've stained it, we'll obviously have to re-do it every few years but we're ok with that.
If we had the budget I'd look into composite, but we just can't afford the higher quality composites that better resist the problems you listed. Its way too expensive to have it fade or warp imo.
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My folks have a composite deck and it is awesome. We have a large built in bench on our patio made of composite too. Both are trex. They've been in a number of years and don't have any problems. Hose it down with 30 second outdoor cleaner every spring and its good as new. No other maintenance besides sweeping really. And no worries about splinters in your feet or bum!
We worked with a local lumber company (vs lowes, home depot) to evaluate options and it was really helpful. They also often had killer sales on deals or closeouts from the manufacturer.
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