Deck Safety: It's More Than the Surface | ChoiceDek Blog

Deck Safety: It's More Than the Surface

Safety is important when entertaining friends and family, especially outdoors. When you build a new deck or remodel an existing deck, choosing high-performance decking materials like ChoiceDek® composite decking will give you peace of mind and allow you to enjoy your outdoor living space more freely.

Problems on the Surface

Problems on the Surface

To begin, it is important to schedule regular deck inspections to ensure that no problems go unnoticed. Although many deck inspections stop after evaluating the foundation, posts, joists and hardware, a deck’s surface can experience just as many problems as the structure. Many of these problems are caused by high exposure to moisture like rain, snow or humidity. You have probably seen examples of this in the form of cracking, splitting or rotting. When water penetrates the wood fibers in a deck board and experiences a freeze/thaw cycle (or any extreme changes in temperature), they will likely expand and contract. This expansion and contraction can cause gaps between boards and compromise the integrity of the entire deck surface. Further, when this moisture gets trapped inside a deck board, the result is mold and rotting of the wood.

Moisture-Resistant Decking

Moisture-Resistant Decking

When deck boards experience these kind of damages as a result of moisture, the entire surface of a deck is subject to failure, and anyone on the deck is at risk of falling through. There are alternatives to traditional wood decking, though, that are completely resistant to moisture. The problem is that many of these materials, like aluminum decking and PVC decking, lack the traditional-wood look that many people want. High-performance composite deck boards like ChoiceDek offer the best of both worlds. These boards can be highly resistant to moisture, and are also created with natural wood-grain embossing and coloring.

High-Performance Composite Decking

High-Performance Composite Decking

Although all wood-plastic composites are made to be moisture-resistant, not all are created equal. Only certain composite decking brands, including ChoiceDek composite decking, make boards that truly withstand moisture. ChoiceDek can even be installed with ground or water contact without voiding its warranty. Using moisture-resistant boards can strengthen the surface of your deck and give you one less thing to worry about so that you can spend your time enjoying your deck or outdoor living space with friends and family.

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