If you’re considering building a deck for your house, to spruce up the backyard, then you’re going to want to select a material for it as well. While there are tons of choices out there, it’s important to know both sides of the picture, so that you can make the right selection. Many deck builders suggest composite. Is it good enough? Here are the pros and cons of composite decking.

Pros Of Composite Decking

It’s Environmentally Friendly

An advantage of composite decking is that it is an eco-friendly material. It doesn’t radiate or absorb harmful chemicals, there’s no emission of toxic gasses and it’s a healthier alternative to other man-made materials. If you’re worried about your and the atmosphere’s well-being, then you can go for this material.

It’s Expensive

The biggest downside of composite is the price. Since it is a newer material, it can cost a lot and that’s just the upfront expenses.

As for installation, a lot of contractors can charge more because it requires skill and technique to be installed seamlessly as a deck. This feature of composite makes it hard for people to commit to buying it because it’s just too expensive and there are other, more reasonable options they can go for.

Composite deck buying and installation can cost you anywhere between $1500 to $10,000, depending on the deck size and design you’re going for.

It Requires Less Maintenance

No one likes a material that is just too high-maintenance. Luckily, composite will not be making a lot of fuss, as far as annual care is concerned. There’s not a lot that goes into maintaining composite decks, because they’re already quite durable.

hey don’t need to be polished and freshened up like wood decks, they don’t need protective coating against rust like metal decks and so on. Composite is one of the few materials that you can just set and forget about for the majority of the time.

It’s UV Resistant

Not a lot of decking materials have this feature, but composite, fortunately, does. Since a deck will be exposed to the outside, about 100% of the time, it is better if it is a UV-resistant material. You might think that it’s a far stretch, but UV protection is very important for decking materials to be efficient and long-lasting.

With all materials, you’ll need to go the extra mile and coat it with UV-resistant paint or sealant, but with composite, you can easily skip this step and install it without giving anything a second thought.

It Doesn’t Absorb Water

Composite decks also have quite a low absorbency rate. Although this material is not waterproof, by any means, that doesn’t mean that it’s going to get spoiled or ruined by water. A lot of the time, materials rot with constant exposure to water and moisture, because of penetration, and that can damage the material from the inside out.

Composite doesn’t allow a lot of water to be absorbed within its surface, so that makes this material a much better choice. If you also want to install a pergola, composite is a good choice because both the deck and the pergola won’t be affected by rain and moisture. However, avoid making any final decision before consulting a pergola contractor Long Island.

It Doesn’t Rot

Rotting and rusting are two very common problems that a deck has to go through, especially if materials, like wood and metal, are concerned. With composite decking, however, there’s no need to worry about rots. Composite material is not a natural material and it’s also not porous, so there’s no chance of allowing moisture and bacteria to settle into the material and cause immense internal damage.

Composite is one of the few materials that will retain its look even after years, so this quality makes it a great investment.

It Has Friction

One of the biggest features of a deck should be that it’s slip-proof. Since the deck is going to be outside and exposed to rainwater, you want to ensure that you’re going for a deck that has zero slip and a lot of friction.

Fortunately, composite is a great choice to go for, because its surface has small grooves and patterns, on which the foot can settle without any chances of slipping, even if there is the presence of water or moisture. Composite decking won’t cause your feet to slip, no matter what shoes you’re wearing.

Cons Of Composite Decking

You Can’t Customize The Deck

This is a huge bummer for all of the creatively skewed people out there. Composite might be one of the few materials that just can’t be customized. You can’t even paint the decking and you just have to make do with the available color choices.

This can be a hit or miss for people, as a lot of people love the idea of having variety, while some don’t mind the limited options. But still, there can be times when you wish to paint your deck, but you can’t, because paint doesn’t stick to composite surfaces at all.

It Doesn’t Add Value

You might think that since composite is an insanely expensive material, it might add some value to your house because it is popular among people, but that’s not the case at all. Usually, this perception is true for stone and wood decks, but for composite, the value of your home will be more or less the same.

This is also another reason why people don’t go for this decking material, because they can’t seem to justify spending a lot of money on a certain decking material and not getting anything out of it, as profit. So, they tend to go for other options like hardwood decks that add reasonable value to your property.

It Can Fade

This is a huge disadvantage, especially in darker colors of composite. Usually, when you buy dark composite, the color payoff is extremely rich and it looks vibrant too, but after some time, you can see that the color will start fading. This is because of a couple of reasons. Some dark colors absorb way more UV light as compared to lighter colors, so that’s why fading is a normal thing to happen.

Other times, there might be issues with the placement of the deck, where its surface is exposed to a lot of natural damage and that can cause fading to occur prematurely.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

A lot of the time, retailers can manipulate buyers into buying composite for their decks, because it “looks similar to wood”. That’s not true at all. Composite and wood are nothing alike and if you ever hear a retailer talking about this quality of composite, then it’s probably fake.

Composite is dense in appearance and it doesn’t resemble wood at all, and this can lead to a lot of disappointment, especially if you’re anticipating the similarity of wood in composite. To make a deck look like it’s made out of wood, the closest option you can go for is to make the deck from wood, otherwise, there’s no hack to make other materials look like wood.

Conclusion

Composite is a unique and popular material and it’s being used in outdoor spaces a lot recently, but it also has its set of disadvantages as well. You should hire an expert deck contractor Port Jefferson for the installation of a composite deck to avoid installation mistakes.