Choices For Your Outdoor Deck Flooring

Installing an outdoor deck instantly expands your living area and creates the perfect spot for entertaining guests, having meals alfresco, or just relaxing in nature. When designing this outdoor oasis, choosing the right deck flooring is one of the most critical decisions.

The flooring material sets the aesthetic tone for the entire deck space while needing to withstand the elements year-round. There are several viable flooring options for outdoor decks, each with unique advantages and disadvantages related to appearance, performance, cost, and maintenance.

Key Factors To Consider

As you evaluate deck boards, keep these key considerations in mind:

• Durability - Resistance to cracking, splintering, rotting, staining, fading
• Slip resistance - Crucial for safety, especially when wet
• Comfort underfoot - Bare feet friendliness, heat conduction
• Cost - Material and lifetime maintenance costs
• Appearance - Color options, ability to mimic wood grain
• Maintenance - Regular sealing, cleaning required
• Eco-friendliness - Sustainably sourced materials used

Carefully examine all these factors before selecting materials for your new or replacement deck flooring . Weigh your priorities and needs to choose the best options for your lifestyle, design tastes, and budget.

Wood Deck Flooring Options

Natural wood brings unparalleled beauty, warmth, and character to outdoor deck spaces. Innovations in wood preservation now allow deck boards to better withstand moisture, rot, cracking, warping, mold, and pest damage. When properly maintained, a wood deck can provide decades of reliable enjoyment.

Western Red Cedar

Western red cedar is one of the most popular wood choices for decking. This aromatic softwood contains natural oils called thujone that act as a preservative, making the boards naturally resistant to insects, decay, and rot. The stunning straight, reddish-brown grain with few knots effortlessly enhances any landscape. Red cedar is also affordable, simple to work with, and ages elegantly to a silver patina over time.

Ipe

Ipe (pronounced "ee-pay"), also called Brazilian walnut, is the Ferrari of decking woods, known for exceptional density, strength, and durability. This exotic tropical hardwood has an extremely tight, interlocking grain structure, incredible hardness, and high tannin content. The natural oils make Ipe boards resistant to weathering, insects, rot, mold, and even fire. Ipe has a striking grain pattern that starts out a rich reddish-brown when fresh, gradually aging to a silver-gray. With proper care, Ipe can easily last over 40 years in outdoor environments.

Thermally Modified Wood

Thermally modified wood is heated to extremely high temperatures in a special kiln using either high heat or steam. This wood "cooking" process alters the molecular structure, increasing weather resistance, stability, and durability. Thermally modified varieties like Lunawood, Thermory, and Cambia woods make excellent decking options. They have enhanced protection from moisture, decay, mold, and bug damage versus traditional untreated lumber.

Tropical Hardwoods

Exotic tropical species like tigerwood, cumaru, and massaranduba offer exceptional hardness, rich coloration, and resistance to weathering. These hardwoods contain high levels of natural oils that protect against moisture, rot, insects, and fungal damage. Tropical woods do often cost more than domestic lumbers but provide very long lifespans. They typically have unique grain patterns and color tones ranging from reddish-brown to chocolate-black.

Composite Decking

Composite deck boards blend wood fibers and plastic or other polymers to create durable, low-maintenance outdoor flooring. By binding the wood within a polymer encasement, composites resist moisture, staining, fading, rotting, and insect damage far better than solid timber. Modern manufacturing techniques now allow composite boards to mimic the look of real wood's grain and color.

There are two main construction options in composite decking:

Capped Composites

These feature an outer synthetic "cap" layer bonded onto the core below, providing enhanced protection from the elements. The cap is typically made of durable PVC or polyethylene. Brands like TimberTech AZEK, Trex Transcend, and Fiberon Paramount use a protective cap layer to limit fading, staining, scratching, and mold growth.

Uncapped Composites

Uncapped composite boards do not have an outer shell, though they incorporate waterproofing agents mixed within the decking material itself for moisture protection. While generally more affordable than capped composites, uncapped boards may fade faster in sun exposure. Brands like Trex Select and TimberTech Enhance use an uncapped composite construction.

Benefits

Composite deck boards offer clear advantages beyond extreme durability:

• Very low maintenance - no sanding, sealing, staining required
• Cooler underfoot than wood in hot direct sunlight
• Resists mold, mildew, and fungal or insect damage
• Stays straight with minimal expansion/contraction

Downsides

Potential weaknesses of composite decks involve:

• Higher upfront cost than pressure-treated lumber
• Can still get uncomfortably hot for bare feet on sunny days
• Improper gapping leads to buckling and raised nail heads
• Although improving, some composites lack realistic wood grains

PVC Decking

Polyvinyl chloride or PVC decking provides enhanced durability and weather-resistance versus natural wood or basic composites. PVC incorporates UV inhibitors and stabilizers directly within the polymer matrix, eliminating the need for chemical treatments or protective caps.

There are two main construction options with PVC deck boards:

Hollow Core

Hollow core PVC decking features air gaps within the interior chamber to provide structural rigidity using less material. The cellular design improves efficiency but can feel slightly less sturdy. Brands like TimberTech AZEK Vintage, Koma Building Products, and Royal Building Products use hollow core extrusion.

Foamed PVC Cores

Foamed PVC boards replace the inner air space with dense closed-cell foam to achieve a stronger profile, heavier feel, and noise-dampening. Solid foamed composites offer premium PVC decking performance. Brands like TimberTech AZEK Premier, MoistureShield PRO, and EverNew boards use foamed PVC instead of hollow chambers.

Benefits

Reasons to select foamed PVC decking include:

• Extremely low maintenance material
• Excellent stain, fade, mold, and scratch resistance
• No refinishing needed to maintain appearance
• Consistent performance across temperature swings

Drawbacks

A few potential PVC deck disadvantages are:

• Higher initial cost than wood-plastic composites
• Can show slight gapping over time if improperly set
• Tends to become excessively hot under direct sunlight
• Lacks the beauty and variation found in natural woods