Hardwood, Softwood or PVC are your options

Installing decking is a great way to revitalise your garden, but what type should you go for – hardwood, softwood or PVC?

Garden decking is a great, versatile landscaping feature. It can be used to create an outdoor dining or seating space, a poolside or hot tub area or even a path or steps. There are a variety of decking materials and designs to choose from – read on to find out which decking material is right for you.

Advantages of wooden decking

Wood is the most popular decking material for many reasons, including the following:

- It’s a natural material, suited to the outdoors
- Wood is a sustainable resource, which makes it more eco-friendly than manmade  decking
- No two pieces of natural wood look the same, each has a different pattern, hues or colour
- Wooden decking is cheaper than PVC or composite decking

The main disadvantage of wood as a decking material is that it is susceptible to rot, warping and cracking – especially if it’s exposed to the elements. To avoid this, you need to choose your timber wisely, which means considering both hard and soft wood decking.

Hardwood decking

Hardwood comes from broadleaved trees such as birch, elm, oak, teak, cherry or maple. These types of wood make good hardwood decking materials because they are naturally quite dense and durable; lasting at least 25 years. Hardwoods also come in a variety of attractive colours – but they are more expensive than softwoods.

Softwood decking

Softwoods such as cedar, pine and spruce come from coniferous trees and are less dense so will need to be pre-treated with a wood preservative in accordance with British Standards EN 335. Once treated, softwood decking will also last around 25 years and is generally cheaper than hardwood.

PVC decking

PVC decking has increased in popularity over recent years for the following reasons:

- It doesn’t rot or decay, which means it has a very long lifespan
- PVC requires very little maintenance
- It can be made to look like wood
- PVC is an extremely robust material

The downside to PVC decking is that it costs a great deal more than wood and because it’s a manmade material, it’s less eco-friendly. In addition, PVC has more of a uniform appearance than wood, which many people find less appealing.

Before choosing which type of decking to install, make sure you weigh up all the options and check that you don’t need planning permission first. This is unlikely to be the case, but it’s best to double check if you live in a listed building, near a boundary or in a conservation area. For best results and to ensure your decking looks great and lasts as long as possible, make sure you hire a professional to install your decking.

To work out the cost of your wood flooring itself, you’ll be able to get a pretty accurate price by working out the number of square meters of flooring you’ll need and multiplying it by the price of the flooring per square meter.  If you need help to work out the number of square meters in your room, you’ll find a useful guide here on how to measure your room.  Once you’ve calculated how much flooring you’ll need, it’s important to factor in wastage.  Generally speaking, between 8 and 10% will be fine.

Thereafter, once you know the cost of the floor, you need to think of the cost of fitting.  Labour costs vary enormously from company to company and one really important thing to make sure of (again) is that the fitting quotes you get are for the complete job and not just part of it.  It’s essential that you double check that the fitting quotes you obtain are for all labour aspects and all materials and not just labour alone.  Even then, it’s worth cross checking that the quote you get includes such extras as disposing of your old flooring (if required); leveling your subfloor (if necessary) and any required alterations to doors and skirting boards as well as the provision of any accessories you might need such as finishing beads or bars.

If you’re planning to fit your new wood flooring on a DIY basis, in some ways you need to be even more thorough in your planning process.  Remember to check, check and double check that you’ve included everything you’ll need to complete the job.  If you’re in any doubt, ask your floor supplier to help with your check list and most importantly make sure you include the cost of any tools you’re going to have to buy to do or to finish the process.  For more DIY floor laying tips, check out our guide to installing wood flooring.

- Free case of three stunning wines when you spend over £1300 on any of our products
- Free solid wood butcher block when you spend over £800 on worktops
- Free high quality flooring underlay when purchasing over 55M2 of engineered floors
- 8% Off hardwood decking (ending November 21st at Midnight)
- 8% Off engineered wood flooring (ending November 21st at Midnight)
- 6% Off solid wood flooring (ending November 21st at Midnight)
- 4% Off solid hardwood worktops (ending November 21st at Midnight)

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A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W

A

African Teak - also known as Iroko Wood it is used as a base for iroko decking and originates from Africa. african teak wood is extremely durable and often used in the boat making industry.

African Walnut - type of wood originating from africa and used in the construction of furniture including african walnut worktops and hardwood flooring.

American Black Walnut – durable and strong type of wood used in the construction of furniture including worktops and american back walnut flooring.

B

Bamboo Wood - mistaken for wood by many it is in fact a type of rapid growing grass which is considered to be environmentally friendly as it could be harvested every 3 years unlike wood (every 15 years).

Beech Wood – sourced from a beech tree, it is extremely strong wood which is used in the construction of flooring, beech worktops, chairs and other types of furniture.

C

Cumaru Wood - commonly used as the base for garden hardwood decking cumaru wood originates from South America and is extremely strong (5 times harder than pine, cedar and redwood).

Concrete Subfloor – type of subfloor also known as cement screed used as the subfloor for hardwood flooring.

D

DIY – also referred to as do-it-yourself it is a type of work done without the intervention of a 3rd party contractor.

E

Engineered Hardwood Flooring – also known as semi solid floors they are a type of wooden floor made up of plywood or HDF core with a hardwood top layer.

Decking – the act of surfacing an area normally a garden with timber decking boards and making practical use of slopes in garden by creating different levels and steps.

F

Finger Jointing – used in the making of timber worktops it is the process that gives a stable durable construction to the worktop panel.

Foor Joist Subfloor – type of subfloor also known as battens used as the subfloor for hardwood flooring.

Floating Installation – type of hardwood flooring installation method often used for engineered hardwood floors installation.

G

Glue Down Installation – type of hardwood flooring installation method often used for solid hardwood floors installation.

Garden Decking – type of wooden timber normally ipe, iroko or teak covering a surface area in the garden. often used to cover holes and other garden imperfections.

H

Hardwood Flooring - type of flooring made from pieces of timber.

Hardwood Flooring Underlay – a thin layer of soft materials such as sponge and rubber. Flooring underlay is placed beneath the floor boards to provide comfort, to reduce wear on the floor, and to provide insulation.

I

Ipe Wood – used as a base for ipe decking the wood originates from South America and is three times harder than oak.

Iroko Wood – also known as African Teak it is used as a base for iroko decking, worktop and flooring. It originates and from Africa. Iroko wood is extremely durable and often used in the boat making industry.

K

Kitchen Worktop – surface area used for preparing food located in the kitchen and often made from timber or granite.

L

Lumber Decking – also known as decking boards it is the timber substance from which wooden decks are made from.

Laminate Flooring – a type of flooring made from a multi-layer synthetic flooring product, fused together with a lamination process.

M

Mahogany Wood – type of tree native to Brazil used in the furniture and worktops industry. Mahogany worktop is very popular because of its unique rich reddish-brown colour.

M^{2 –} measurement unit often used to calculate the total surface area.

N

Nail-Down Installation – type of hardwood flooring installation method often used for solid hardwood floors installation it requires a high skill level.

O

Oak – type of strong wood widely used in the construction of furniture including oak worktops and hardwood flooring.

P

Premium Oak – type oak wood with extra wide staves used in the construction of furniture including worktops and hardwood flooring to give enhanced durability.

Prime Engineered Wood – the highest grade of wood flooring with a unique uniformed look due to having slight color variation between the boards.

R

Rustic Wood – timber wood normally made from oak with a distinct rustic rural and natural look to it.

S

Sanding – the first stage of wood refinish sanding is the process of removing any wood coating imperfections.

Solid Floors – also described as solid hardwood floors they are a type of wooden floor made from one piece of hardwood timber.

Semi Solid Floors – also known as engineered hardwood flooring they are a type of wooden floor made up of plywood or HDF core with a hardwood top layer.

Staves – the process of laying planks of wood one on top of the other to create one homogenous panel.

Staining – the second stage of wood refinish staining is the process of re-coating the wood.

Staple-down – a type of flooring installation method which is similar to nail-down, however staples are used instead of nails.

T

Teak Wood – used the basis for teak decking the wood originates from Indonesia and is golden in color with dark markings.

W

Worktops – timber wood worktops are made from strips or staves of solid wood. These strips are cut, selected, graded and kiln dried before they are glued together to form one homogenous panel.

Worktop Oil – a type of treatment which leaves a durable and water-resistant seal on the worktop. Worktop oil also ensures that the worktop is not vulnerable to scratching or chipping.

Wooden-Plywood Subfloor – type of subfloor also known as chipboards used as the subfloor for hardwood flooring.

Wood Refinish – the process of rejuvenating the wood appearance using sanding, staining and chemicals.

Wenge Wood – a type of wood with a distinctive figure and a strong partridge pattern. Its heaviness, durability and strength make it popular as a Wenge worktop.