Decking

[Baileys20]

Hello,

We have received a quote to deck over an old raised patio at the foot of our garden, with some raised planters made from decking panels at the edge as a barrier to define the area and to stop people falling off the raised area .

Think it will look nice but wondering how much maintenance it will require, especially the patio area? Happy to wood treat every few years but will it end up full of moss and slippery each year? Likewise has decking had its day or is it’s still very much a welcome sight in a garden?

The existing paved patio will remain on entry from the house into the garden, with lawn and flower beds running either side.

Thoughts please.

Ours is a skating rink. And the grooves in the planks make clearing up dog poo harder than it needs to be! It never quite feels clean!
I hate it with a passion!

Thanks.

It is an easy solution to hide the old patio but wondering if we’re better off going through the pain of getting it removed instead of trying to cover it over.

I wanted decking was going to go for plastic due to it needing less maintenance but then I was told mice and rats live under them and that put me off.

As far as I know wooden ones should be painted each year.

Look into composite decking. My friend is having some laid. It's a dark gray colour and looks really nice.
Doesn't have to be treated in the way wood does (o wish we had known about it!)
It's not as slippery apparently.

I occasionally see a rat outside who runs from my neighbour's house - I'm pretty sure he lives under their decking. Quite the cosy set up he has there!

Just be careful decking over patio. If the rain has nowhere to go and the decking supports end up standing in water they rot - even if the decking itself seems fine.

If you go for it, make sure you have a good weed suppressing membrane or something underneath so you don't get loads of stuff growing through it after a while.

As for moss and slipperyness - my top recommendation is Cuprinol Anti-slip decking stain, it worked wonders on our previously very slippery decking! On existing decking you need to give it a good clean first with a proper decking brush (or similar) and decking cleaner to get rid of any moss/algae/dirt that's already there, then a couple of coats of the stain and it should be massively better. Ours was like an ice rink before, especially in winter/when damp (we had had a few people fall over on it, esp kids when running on it etc), but was much better immediately after staining it, and no more falling-over incidents since then!

I did this on our (quite old, inherited) decking I think about 3-4 years ago, and am just re-doing it now as it was starting to get a bit tatty again and a bit more slippery. So not too bad really in terms of keeping it maintained.

Depends on the weather and micro climate where you are and whether your garden is typically wet and mossy. We had increasing large decked areas in each of our first three homes. I loved the feel of warm wood on bare feet in summer and it can look lovely with raised edges, steps or balustrade. But it does get dangerously slippery when wet, needs jet washing and treating every year and we have had mice and bees living in it. We are now in our forever home and we only have Indian stone paving. I would not have decking again.

PS also think about where the planned decking will be. If it is in a very shady, damp area then it's more likely to have issues with algae/moss, rot, slipperiness etc. If it's in a relatively dry area that gets some sun, it's less likely to be a problem. If it is under a tree that drops lots of bits (looking at you, mountain ash...) it will need more sweeping, though it's not necessarily the end of the world; if it's under somewhere that birds nest, it will get pooed on more, and so on.

We put wooden decking over our old patio. We jet wash and stain it every two years and its fine. No rats underneath, and the support batons seem to be holding up well. Our patio had a very slight slope that runs water into a ground level gutter, and the support batons run the same way as the slope, so water shouldn't collect under it. If we had the money we would replace it with composite, but its made the old patio look much better and is much better to be out on.

It'll need cleaning every spring and treating every year or more, depending on what it's treated with. Concrete gets slippery without care, too, especially in the shade, so not much different, tbh.

They're a pain, and no better than a patio. Why not refurb that instead? It'll last decades rather than years, be less slippery, no raised area to fall off, and needs much less maintenance.

We had decking. We also had rats. They were quite cute tbh but overall I'm glad we got rid and now have a patio.

And yes, we just had to renew our decking because the boards were past their best and the supports were rotten - that was due to the entire kitchen drainage ouring into the space due to a bodge job, mind.

No sign of any rodent nests, when we ripped it out but some bloody enormous spiders!

Look into Millboard decking - it doesn't need maintenance and it looks exactly like real wood. Real wood is terrible, especially in winter.

I’ve had zero problems with rats. But the maintenance is a pain in the butt. If I was going to do it again, I would definitely fork out the extra to pay for composite decking.

Thank you everyone. It is in a sunny area and the existing patio, which is crazy paved!, has a definite slope to allow water to run off. Maintenance and Rodents remain my top concern now. Will look into composite and Millboard.

Tough decision as once we’ve done the garden - we won’t ever want to do it again, hence want to make the right decision.

I hate hate hate our decking. We've had mice and rats, it looks so old fashioned, silly in winter.

We're ripping it al up and outing a patio down.

Adding a vote for composite - ours needs no care, nothing grows on it and it hasn't aged.

I have lots of decking, at present I think it's still in fashion. It's true that rats and mice can live under it, the odd cube of poison will sort that. It needs a fresh lick of paint every year but we like it.

Our composite deck was finished today, replacing a wooden deck laid by the old owners. It was quite reasonable in price tbh and it promises to be much better than the wood. It doesn't warp, stain, bleach and it's not slippery. It's easy to clean...look at Trex Transcend. It's a lovely grey colour and has a raised edge round the bed on one side.

Thank you everyone.

BalanceGreen, how long have you had yours?

Will also look into Trex Transcend.

Ours is 2-3 years old (so admittedly not ancient), but looks just as it did when we put it in. It's dark brown and has not faded.

For us, we needed to lower the ground level outside French windows (damp wall) so wanted to avoid anything that would stay damp or not drain well. Raised composite decking allowed this without anything being attached to/touching the external wall.

Ours is wood and even though it’s it’s full sun we’ve still had to replace bits of it as they go soft. Slippery wet wet or icy but not at other times and we’ve had no moss.

We’re putting off replacing it to save a bit of money this year but when we do I think we'll go for composite.

As for rats, we live above a waterway so assume they’re down there but never see them thank god!