Really need advice about decking in a damp area!

[momieplum321]

We have a courtyard garden on the side of the main garden, on a lower level, which is lovely in summer but gets very damp and green grows everywhere in winter. We hose off the green in spring. I really want decking in there but am worried it will get trashed in winter, even with a decent decking stain on it. Does anyone have decking in a cold damp area and it is fine? Thank you!

we have decking which is always in the shade but is not damp. it does need a lot of maintenance (pressure wash twice a year + wood preservative twice over), and if I had the chance I'd replace it with stone slabs.

Decking and damp don't usually go well together, although I don't k ow if a composite material might wear better. I'd think about natural stone which will still need pressure washing but just looks and wears better.

Thanks for the replies - I left out a key bit of info - I think stone would also raise water levels and risk more damp inside the house, because of where the house walls are in relation to the courtyard. I thought decking would be able to be at the height needed without changing the concrete beneath, so the way water flows wouldn't change, as water would run under the decking as it does now.

We do in fact have some granite 10mm cubes which would look great in that space, and would wear the damp and moss well in winter. I agree stone would look better houseplantmad

Sorry if that sounds convulated. Something is pulling me towards decking which is odd as i don't particularly like decking usually.

parietal that does sound like a lot of work!

If you want decking then go for composite instead of wood. Less slippy, no maintenance and outlasts wood several times over.
I did decking at the end of our garden (in a sunny spot) and looked after it religiously but after 10-years it was shot, looked ok but internally the wood had rotted away. Did it again in wood knowing we were only going to be there a couple of years, if we had been stopping I would have used composite

Yes, composite is your friend here I'd say. More expensive, but likely to be far more hard wearing in a damp situation.

I have composite decking in a shady spot OP, and, while it doesn't rot or need painting with preservative, it does need washing down periodically to remove the green bits - and, the advice we got from the company that make it was, not to use a pressure washer as it could damage the top surface, so it's a brush and bucket job here.
Your decking also needs to be screwed in to a sturdy sub frame, so, holes to sink vertical posts, may need to be made in your existing concrete.

Yes, as pp have said you will need to get composite decking. Ours gets a bit green every winter in our north-facing garden and comes up like new with the brush attachment of the pressure-washer. It is expensive, however.

Thank you everyone, very helpful!