NeoTimber’s Grooved Composite Decking Guide

Grooved composite decking is a popular choice for landscaping your garden. Most decking boards have two different ‘reversible’ sides, and many of our customers opt for the grooved side over the more smooth wood-grain texture as it is more slip-resistant and provides your garden with depth.

NeoTimber’s composite decking has two types of ‘grooves’, these include the surface texture grooves and the side grooves… both very different. All of the NeoTimber® deck boards come equipped with both types of ‘grooves’ each with separate benefits.

We have put this blog post together to help you with your decking decisions and educate you on the differences and benefits – don’t you worry, the research has been completed for you. Below outlines and explains the difference between both types and how they enhance the performance and finish of composite decking.

Firstly, let us tell you about NeoTimber’s surface texture grooves, which in traditional timber boards effectively have rows of lines cut into the wood, but in NeoTimber’s case – moulded into the composite. The benefits of having surface grooves face-up for your decking project is that it offers you that traditional decking look which many opt for.

Surface grooves also provide better slip resistance particularly with our range of anti-slip composite decking boards. Although no solution is 100% slip-resistant, NeoTimber’s range is the closest you will get. If you are looking for enhanced slip resistance, we do advise opting for grooves over woodgrain which again all NeoTimber’s deck boards have both.

The grooved side of our boards outperforms the woodgrain side when wet however laying your boards either side up or perpendicular to the general direction of traffic will elevate the low slip potential of your decking area.

Another benefit of opting for grooved composite decking is that this design aids water run-off on the surface of the deck. This only is effective if the composite deck boards are fitted with a slight fall and laid down in short lengths as opposed to longer length boards which can hold moisture. Water runoff is only effective if the boards are maintained correctly, and dirt hasn’t built up in the gaps.

NeoTimber’s grooved composite decking boards can be used hand-in-hand with woodgrain effect boards to create attractive contrasts. This technique we see time-and-time again in garden spaces and many want to create unique looking decking areas that become a focal point in their gardens. A prime example of this being done is with picture-framing. Our picture-framing guide should offer you with bundles of design tips if you are interested in this feature.

All our composite deck boards come equipped with side grooves that are designed to work hand-in-hand with our purpose-built fixings. This design is the industry standard for many composite boards and our solution is purpose-built to work excellently with our decking.

Our 3mm Metal FastClips work very well with our boards as they allow for adequate expansion and contraction between the boards. This process happens throughout the year with different weather conditions. Both our metal and 6mm plastic FastClips remove the need to fix with screws which prevents the boards from expanding and contracting which can cause them to buckle. Therefore instead – we suggest using concealed fixings that aren’t visible.

Another benefit of using our clip system is that these are hidden beneath your boards providing you with the exact same spacing gap between boards (unlike fixing screws which can damage the boards but also don’t look that aesthetically pleasing to the eye).

The above guide should have hopefully explained the difference between surface grooves and side grooves and provided you with some technical benefits to both. Now you have the 411 on composite decking grooves – why not order a sample of our products to see the grooves yourself and get a little more insight into the NeoTimber® range of composite decking that we offer?