Decking

[needmorecoffeeandcake]

Tell me about decking. The new house has some decking in the garden and at the viewing it was VERY slippery. Worth trying to rectify this or get rid?

Get rid. It’s always slippy when wet, will eventually rot (if not regularly maintained) and is rubbish if you have pets.

Pressure wash it and stain it. We do this every year or two years max with ours and its fine. Its only lack of looking after it that makes it go bad.

We got some composite decking.
A bit pricey, but definitely better than the wooden stuff.

Make sure there are no gaps, my sister's decking became a large rat nest.

Get rid. Rat heaven.

Urgh rats?!?! Really?!?! How easy or difficult is it to rip it out?

Weve never had rats under ours, but then its solid concrete underneath with brick walls surrounding it.

How easy it is to remove depends on how it was fitted. Our decking is screwed to batons laying directly on the patio, so could be easily unscrewed and lifted up.

A quick look suggests there is some sort of bark or woodchip under it.

Yep get rid,rats rats rats.

Decking is quite high maintenance, I have let mine return to nature and it's a bit of a death trap now as its so slippery and rotten in places.

When I get the garden done next year I am going for non-slip porcelain tiles, hopefully they will only need a power wash every now and then, which I can just about manage!

Urgh, definitely a cosy place for rats.

Planning to replace ours at some point but it's a low priority for us. Yes it's slippy in winter but it functions ok in summer, when we want to use it.

Never had any issues with rats. I'd have thought that could be addressed by putting some wire mesh around the edge.

Decking's horrible unless you live on a boat, in which case it's pretty useful.
If you're not waterborne, get rid.

We love ours, rats can't get under it, but it's quite high maintenance. Despite looking after it, some of the planks need replacing after 15 years or so, but the size we need isn't made any more so unfortunately it's going to be a question of replacing the whole lot. Which will be expensive as it's a big area.

I think you should rip it out (rat problems are likely especially if any neighbours have chickens) and replace with tiles. The tiles will last a lifetime and the only maintenance is a quick brush after winter.