Non-wood decking recommendation please

[hydrama]

We've inherited a wooden decked area in our garden. The steps are bowing badly, and the main area has damaged planks. I'm also worried about the various pots on the decking (though they're all on legs).

Is there a material that looks wooden/natural but is moisture-resistant and low maintenance? Like the external version of Karndean? Please share your recommendations (and photos, if you feel ok to share those)!

Yes, you can get composite decking. I haven't got it myself but we looked into it when we were doing the garden. It's very expensive!

I've heard of them. Do they not need maintenance then? The area is maybe 10 sqm tops, so suuuurely can't bankrupt us...?

This sort of thing? www.envirobuild.com/products/composite-decking-explorer-oak

Final hopeful bump

Millboard is the best. Not the cheapest option but worth it.

We have Trex composite decking. Its lovely. We have two colours, its nice to walk on. I give it a mop when its grubby and it comes up like new.
It was expensive though but should last 20yrs! Its an investment piece as this is a forever house!

Sorry don't know why the pic is backwards! It wasnt!

We have composite decking ah I highly recommend as much better than basic wood which needs regular treatment and gives splinters.

1 deck is Trax or Trex I think, very good quality indeed. Our other deck is HD dual deck, still composite but hollow. It's still good but definitely not as good as the Trex/Trax which isn't hollow. I probably wouldn't have noticed it though if I wasn't able to compare them both so easily.

I've got a tiny Millboard deck at end of garden where evening sun comes.
It's lovely, very Woody despite being composite .
And it cost £4000 !

Thank you! Off to look up Trex and Millboard. @IamChipmunk absolutely gorgeous! That's exactly the look I'm after.

I have just had a load of Millboard laid. It is very nice but super expensive. I had issies with the installation but that wasn't the fault of the product.

We replaced our wooden decking with composite a year or two ago and we're very happy with it. All it needs maintenance wise is a good power hosing once every few months.

Trex is very expensive. They're saying £150 per sqm and that's without installation. My husband reckons we have 40 sqm to cover including steps, so I clearly underestimated before and need to do a more accurate measurement.

Is Trex worth it? Would a more generic brand be a false economy?

This is mine. I had a few colour samples lying around to see what would look good. We noticed that the darker colours became very hot on a sunny day.

@CatherineCawood looks amazing 😻

{mention:DramaAlpaca}@Tummelthecat do you mind saying what brands you went for? I hadn't thought about dark colours being too hot in the summer, that's such a good tip.

Mine was Ecodeck. It’s been down for about 2 years now. It was done as part of a bigger renovation and thankfully I can no longer remember the cost…

Ecodek here too, very good it is too but yes it is pricey and you can scratch it if you're not careful.

We have Millboard at two houses. You get what you pay for! It’s the best but it’s very attractive. We won’t get bowed anything and it will last. We have the pale limed oak. They also supply the sub frame. Nothing is cheap
now! To save money, we reduced the amount of Millboard and had a decorative gravel area. We don’t have DC at home now though. 10m3 isn’t that much!

We also looked at ceramic tiles for external
use. Laying them isn’t cheap either!

Is there much of a difference in quality between Trex, Millboard and Ecodek? And how much is installation usually as compared with the materials cost? (I'm in London zone 2...)

I think Millboard is the Rolls Royce of these. They have a system of installation that doesn’t include wood joists. Trex doesn’t have this and shows wood joists. These might rot. I think Millboard has lots more options regarding how you use it.

Installation isn’t cheap for any of them. You need a level dry surface that could take patio stones. So basically the prep is time consuming. You build the sub frame on top of this. Then lay the “timbers”. Millboard are longer and more like floorboards. I think if you look at the Millboard projects you will see it’s high class. Residential guarantee for 25 years. As does Trex.

You should consider the value of your house and whether a top class product is worth it. We have it for our decked area in Cornwall and it’s perfect.

I am presuming that plastic replacing wood is ok with all those who were kicking off about artificial grass last week?

Surely the correct answer for those people is to replace your decking with wildflowers and weeds so that the wildlife can enjoy the space. ;-)

Millboard can be found for around £75m2. However that doesn’t include installation components, prep of ground and labour.

@hydrama Thanks, we spent a long time planning the space and are really pleased. We have grey with an edging band in a bluey black. I havent noticed it being particularly hot in the summer but it was only put in last April.
There are various colours available. Ours matches a patio.

Just bumping this to ask those with composite how you make sure that rats don't move in? I have rotten decking and would like trex but am concerned about rodents!

@stillherenow can I ask why rats would like composite more than wood?