To think decking is NOT a selling point anymore?

[neonyellowshoes]

We have crap decking. It's rotten.

I think we should just rip it out but DH seems to think that decking in general is a selling point. House is going on the market soon.

I hate decking anyway and this in my way.

It's not fashionable anymore, it's bloody inconvenient and a bugger to maintain. If this was our forever home I would have no hesitation about getting shot of it.

We have huge deck as garden slopes. It's created lovely area for kids to play and no broken bones when they fall - unlike multi level patios that were in. It's only slippy if not cleaned. We do ours twice and year and oil it.

Ours was put in purely to meet our needs with 3 hyperactive kids. Is not a selling point- it's us living in our home

Ours is grot- we're ripping it out when we get some cash together to relandscape the garden.

It's currently covered in a tarpaulin so that the DSes don't get splinters in their feet if they wander onto it without their shoes

my friend has spent SIX hours today jet washing, scrubbing and cleaning his decking. Tomorrow he wil be oiling the wood for anpther few hours. I seriously couldn't be bothered with something that needs that much looking after.

I like it for a slope, don’t get why anyone would want it on the flat.

Decking is not a selling point if it looks like this

Decking is a selling point if it looks like this (well it is to me)

Even better if you throw in a pool.....!

I’m sure a pool isn’t a selling point! We looked round several houses with pools while house hunting and each time had to factor in the cost of filling them in. I love swimming but most back garden pools are far too small to properly swim in, cost a shit load to maintain, are dangerous if you have young children running around and can only be used for a few weeks a year in the uk.

I want a pool. But live on the east coast of Scotland!

Is composite decking much more expensive?

We've got a bit of decking in ours and I hate it. The kids keep slipping on it! We can't change it cos we rent. I just hate out whole garden. It's s like someone trying too hard with decking, patio and grass in a small Edwardian terrace. Wish it was all paved for the kids to play on.

Decking is a selling point if its nice decking, well maintained and covers something not as nice. Our is covered by a glass roof. It doesn't ever get slippery and is oiled once a year. No rats underneath

Yanbu. It’s a perfect example of something that was all the rage years ago but has turned out for the most part to be a pain in the arse.
If you have a garden on a steep gradient, and you’ve installed really good quality (ie expensive) decking AND maintained it over the years then, yes I can see it could make a not very useful/family friendly garden, better. But that’s not the same as a selling point.

Now a really lovely flagstone terrace on the other hand....

Definitely not a selling point, it looks really dated now (even if in good condition).

Anyone I know who had it has since pulled it out.

I see decking, I think rats. You might not get them at all, but it’s a big draw for them. And I don’t want decking enough to take the risk that something will move in.

4 friends are currently house hunting. The one thing that puts them all off is decking. They all want homes they can move straight into with no work, so don't want the hasstle of taking up decking. I thought they were mad (being as they see the 'perfect' homes on paper, well the Internet, but discount them as soon as they see decking), but listening to you all I'm beginning to think maybe they have a point.

For the record- grass and paving here!

Decking is a great solution if it’s well-maintained. We made sure to leave no gaps around the edges: rats don’t burrow through the 4 inches of gravel we put around it so we have no unwanted guests on the one by the house. It looks great and this is its third year. It gets jet-washed and treated each year (will be done next week) and is light years better than the uneven lawn on heavy clay soil that it replaced. We spend most of the summer and well into the autumn using it as a garden room and it has honestly been transformative to how we live!

I love decking. My gardener put down the non slip kind, so that’s not a problem. Agree maintaining it is a bore, but love the feel of it on my bare feet.

I've never liked it. Give me a nice stone patio any day. Decking = naff 90s gardening makeover programmes.

Really? Got to be hard on little feet with all the gaps and ridges
Its wood. How is that going to be harder on feet than slabs?

It doesn’t take much Maintanance to keep it looking nice.

Decks, cars, lawn mowers, cookers. Everything needs to be looked after cleaned and maintained to keep looking nice and running well. It seems that people have given up caring for things.

This thread is making me panic as we have no other way of making the back of our house useable.

Decking is hideous, dangerous and attracts rats. It's far better to get rid. It will lower the value if anything.

We have tiered patio to work with the slope of the garden - takes bog all in the way of maintenance - if I leave it DH will just randomly get the urge to jet wash it periodically so it's basically self cleaning right?

Never liked decking - didn't even like it when it was in fashion. Neighbour to the rear of us have it over half their garden with wanky little spotlights in the edge of all the change of levels. The original installer of it has moved out and sold up and I'm just watching it go to shit gradually.

I agree with someone that bifolds will be the next gen decking when they all eventually start to bugger up.

Really dated. Decking is for hot climates. Over here it rots, needs endless maintenance, gets slippery in the wet so is a hazard and allows rats to breed under it. And it looks cheap and nasty IMO as well. I'd get rid and have the freed up space in the garden primped, instead.

This thread is making me panic as we have no other way of making the back of our house useable.

I think it's different in houses and flats where well-maintained decking is the alternative to concrete, for example. Then it's nicer. It's decking that interferes with perfectly good garden - making a decent space go to waste - that strikes me as idiotic.