While most decks use pressure-treated wood lumber for the understructure (posts, beams, joists, etc.), the decking can be a completely different material. The three most commonly used materials for decking are pressure-treated wood, wood-composite (a mixture of wood fibers and plastic), or an all-plastic decking made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
Pressure-Treated Wood Decking
The classic and still the most popular deck material, wood decking is usually pressure-treated softwood, such as hemlock, fir, or pine. More expensive wood decking types include redwood and exotic hardwoods, such as teak or ipe. These premium woods typically are not pressure-treated but must be finished (as does pressure-treated wood) to keep it from weathering to a dull gray color.
Pros
Natural wood is your best bet when you want to save on costs, you don’t want anything complicated, and you wish to install the decking yourself. Standard wood decking is sold at local lumberyards and home improvement centers, while exotic woods (and sometimes redwood) must be ordered through specialty lumber dealers. Real wood decking also has a natural look and feel that the other materials lack.
Cons
You should avoid natural wood decking if you’re not willing to regularly maintain your deck by scrubbing or power-washing and restaining it every two or three years. Also, be aware of the cost of refinishing over the life of the decking. The long-term cost of maintenance on a wood deck should be factored in with the initial cost of the material. Wood decking also is likely to need replacement sooner than the other decking materials because it is prone to decay and rot over time.
Cost
Pressure-treated wood is hands-down the cheapest way to floor your deck. Redwood decking can be comparable to wood-composite materials, and exotic hardwoods can be much more expensive. Pressure-treated wood is also the cheapest material for the non-decking components, such as stairs, guards, and rails.
Wood-Composite Decking
Wood-composite decking is a mixture of high-density polyethylene and wood particles, along with preservatives and binders. Wood-composite can be (but is not always) eco-friendly when it is made with leftover sawdust from furniture manufacturing and plastics recycled from milk jugs and detergent bottles.
Pros
Choose wood-composite decking when you want a low-maintenance material. Some composites can also resemble exotic wood species, giving you the best of both worlds. If you have children or just like walking barefoot, wood-composite ensures that you will avoid splinters. But the best benefit of wood-composite decking is that it is guaranteed not to rot or split, and it never needs a stain or other protective finish.
Cons
Wood-composite decking may look somewhat like wood at a distance, but up close it looks like something else, and it feels like its primary ingredient: plastic. Composite decking is more expensive than wood and comes in a limited (but ever expanding) range of colors. Once installed, it is impossible to change the deck color without removing and installing new material. Many composite products require joists that are spaced no more than 16 inches apart; if your joists have 24-inch spacing, you’ll need to add more joists for composite decking.
Cost
Wood-composites are roughly twice the price of pressure-treated wood.
PVC Decking
Also called plastic or synthetic decking, this material is made of cellular polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the same material that is used for plastic fencing. It is lightweight and has the same density as white pine, a softwood. Some PVC decking is capped, meaning that a protective shell is added to the surface that also gives it a wood-like look.
Pros
You may wish to purchase PVC decking if you want a lighter-weight material that is easier to handle than wood-composite. Like wood-composite, PVC decking does not rot and never needs to be finished. Some homeowners simply like the look of PVC more than with the other materials.
Cons
PVC decking tends to look the least like wood, when compared to natural wood and wood-composite deck boards. In addition, it comes with all of the same drawbacks as wood-composite.
Cost
PVC deck materials typically are 10- to 15-percent higher than wood-composite.
