Whether you’re in the planning phases of building your contemporary garden hideaway, looking for a sturdy outdoor floor for your balcony, or after a dependable and long-lasting solution for a public walkway – composite decking has the ability to both transform and compliment almost any outdoor space. Outdoor flooring must be both dependable and easy-on-the-eye. It has the power to stand out as the statement piece or form a blank canvas of any outdoor space and it is important that you pick the right solution for your environment and requirements.
Thankfully – we have taken the stress and strain from this process with our NeoTimber® decking buying guide, where we have dissected our product range to assist you with choosing the best composite decking for your next project. Below, we provide a comprehensive overview of what to look for and what to take into consideration when making your decision…
Choosing The Right Type Of Composite Decking
Hollow Composite Decking
What is it?
As the name suggests – NeoTimber’s hollow composite decking ranges have material removed from their core, making them a lightweight and more affordable alternative to our solid options. In removing only 40% of the material within the board, we have ensured that they retain their performance, as well as their good looks.
What is it best suited for?
These best-selling and top rated composite decking ranges tend to be the pick of the bunch for most home and garden projects, where the stresses and strains of high footfall don’t tend to be a concern. In most cases – we find they deal with home life just fine. While this product is versatile and considerably stronger than most, we find that our solid composite decking may be the choice for those home projects where large, heavy furniture or items such as hot tubs are concerned.
Solid Composite Decking
What is it?
A solid composition deck board which excels in reliability, year-after-year. We pack the boards with a dense composite material that provides the board with strength and durability in abundance.
What is it best suited for?
The board’s superior strength and durability makes this solid option the board of choice for both busy commercial projects (with a high footfall) and those residential builds that require additional strength. Solid options are also chosen by those who require a little more “peace of mind” on the strength and durability of their decking area.
Traditional Composite Decking
What is it?
The original upgrade to wood, our traditional composite decking is made from the perfect blend of recycled plastic and wood fibres. The result is a deep, textured finish with enhanced performance that guarantees low maintenance.
What is it best suited for?
Easy to cut, versatile and our most affordable decking type, this decking also comes equipped with excellent slip-resistance. An excellent choice for all budgets.
Capped Composite Decking
What is it?
Our latest generation of composite decking – this is our most weather-resistant product of all. Wrapped in a tough outer shell that offers 360-degree protection from the elements, as well as a distinguished two-tone appearance, our capped composite decking ranges oozes style and excels in performance.
What is it best suited for?
The ultimate in hassle-free outdoor flooring for those who are seeking long-lasting looks, superior stain resistance and a finish that is dual-toned and distinctive.
Which Composite Decking Features Are Relevant For My Project?
Features of our boards remain an important consideration and we want to ensure that what we provide you is truly the best fit for your proposed decking area. We believe that taking the time to think about the features you require in your outdoor flooring solution is a wise decision and we are happy to assist you with that.
Anti Slip Decking
The slip resistance of your outdoor flooring is important. The composite nature of our boards ensures their resistance to the likes of algae or fungal growth, which can often leave timber decking feeling like an ice rink. It is worth noting, however, that some of our product ranges perform better than others on the slip-resistance front. The texture and finish of our traditional boards makes them the best-performing range when it comes to slip-resistance.
Low Maintenance Decking
Composite decking has been engineered to reduce the hours of maintenance commonly associated with timber decking. Our entire range of decking offers protection from weathering, but like most things, there are levels to our composite range. Our capped composite decking comes with additional resistance to staining and fading, as well as additional resistance from organic growth such as algae. Opt for this solution if you are seeking the ultimate weather-proof deck.
Stain Resistant Decking
Stain resistance is a feature that varies between our composite decking ranges. Our Essential and Classic boards, while still having a 25-year warranty, are not fully stain resistant. However, with appropriate cleaning and care, marks can be easily removed. The outer shell of our capped decking boards (Advanced and Deluxe ranges) provide the boards with an easy-clean surface, meaning stains simply sit on the deck boards as opposed to permeate through the material.
Fade Resistant Decking
A major bug-bear of owners of timber decking is its inability to maintain the colour that makes it initially so desirable. Our composite boards on the other hand, are designed to offer improved fade-resistance. Our capped decking board’s protective shell technology stands up to the effects of ultra-violet brilliantly and will not fade throughout their long lifespan. Our traditional boards are designed to go through a weathering process in the opening 6-months of installation, whereby they will lighten-up and then stabilise, ensuring the rate of colour change plateaus.
Wood Effect Decking
All our boards come equipped with an authentic woodgrain finish. We continue to perfect and improve the authenticity of our boards in order to create high quality woodgrain finishes across our entire range, however the aesthetics of this finish does vary between our decking ranges. Our traditional boards having a deeper more three dimensional textured finish to that of the capped options, which come equipped with a distinctive dual-tone colour appearance. We find that the best way to decide between the ranges is to see for yourself, and you can order samples here.
Reversible Decking
The material finish of your composite decking is an important consideration for any project and we aim to give you a little more choice by ensuring all our boards come with a reversible, two-sided functionality. After more slip resistance? It may be worth choosing the grooved-channel finish. After a more authentic finish that mimics timber? Opt for the woodgrain finish of our boards. Whether its looks or performance you require, NeoTimber’s reversible decking ranges have you covered.
Choosing The Best Composite Decking Colour For Your Project
Looking for a blank canvas or a striking outdoor statement? The colour of decking you opt for is important and often comes down to personal preference. Go for a traditional finish with one of our teak or chocolate brown colour options or opt for the more contemporary finish of our grey deck boards – the choice is yours. For help making that choice, why not explore our colour inspiration section.
Have You Considered Your Decking Subframe?
Your framework is, as the name suggests, the building blocks for which you create your decking area. It is an important consideration of all decking projects and one that should be thoroughly considered in the planning phases of projects big or small. NeoTimber offer a series of long-life subframe solutions made from either composite material or recycled plastic which are designed to complement our composite deck boards perfectly. While NeoTimber recommends opting for one of the above subframe options, users of our decking are free to also use alternative subframe materials such as metal or timber.
No matter which NeoTimber products you use, or what queries you have regarding installation, we offer in-depth and clear instructions on each aspect of the process in the installation resources section of our website.
Need Further Support or Advice?
If you’ve still got questions that have not been answered here, or you would like additional advice,
support or assistance then please give one of our friendly experts a call and we’ll be happy to help.
Just give us a call on 01509 323 170.