14 Jul Different Kinds of Deck Woods Explained
Decking adds a beautiful touch and can enhance your garden in a variety of ways. We’ll talk through the best species, styles, costs, and maintenance, as well as a few other helpful hints and tips.
Decking creates the ideal space for al fresco dining and socialising, adding value to your property. Elevated decking can be used to even out a sloping garden terrain.
What is the best wood for decking?
The best types of timber for decking have to look the part — of course — but they also need to be suited to the outdoors and all the destructive natural elements encountered. We all know how unpredictable Cape Town weather can be! Cape Town is known to have 4 seasons in one day!
Fortunately, we are gifted with many beautiful hardwood species in Cape Town that are extremely strong and naturally resistant to rot, decay, moisture, and UV — perfect for a high-impact outdoor area like a deck.
BALAU
Balau oozes class, as well as has exceptional technical performance.
“Beautiful, strong, stable, durable, water-resistant — when it comes to the best hardwood for a deck, Balau leaves no box unticked.”
Balau has a consistent reddish-brown colour —
With exceptional water resistance, Balau is the ideal pool-side decking choice.
Ideal for: A higher-end timber with fantastic technical properties; decking areas requiring water resistance.
THERMOWOOD
Thermowood is a good choice as a decking material.
“Thermowood Decking is a heat-treated redwood pine. This decking is resistant to rotting. Oiling is not required.”
The surface is smooth and hard with little or no splintering. Walking on a Thermowood deck barefoot is not a problem. Durability is achieved by heat treatment and steam. Thermowood is dimensionally stable and resistant to decay.
Garapa
Garapa decking is extremely resistant to shrinking, splintering, twisting, cupping, fire, and insect damage – From a durability standpoint, Garapa decking is extremely hard and will resist most types of punishment.
Like a hardwood floor inside your home, no two pieces of Garapa decking are alike. Each Garapa decking board showcases this species’ diverse colour range and graining patterns.
Garapa’s all-natural beauty is what differentiates it from factory-made decking materials and makes it a perennial favourite for residential and commercial decking projects alike.
CLADO CALYX (SUGAR GUM)
It is particularly suited to situations requiring high strength where appearance is also important. If left untreated externally it will turn a silvery grey colour over time. It has a fine interlocked grain.
Sugar Gum is exceptionally dense and hard and is perfect for outdoor timber. It has been used as a replacement for Balau for those who appreciate the silver/aged/weathered look. Unfortunately, like most Eucalyptus trees, their water consumption rate is way too high and has been classified by the SA Department of forestry as an invader species. For this reason, a lot of them are cut and available on our market at fair prices.
MASSARANDUBA
Massaranduba has a rich deep brown finish and is a very dense timber.
Massaranduba Decking will maintain its structural integrity as it ages. To retain the rich ruby red colour, we recommend a high-quality penetrating oil finish with ultraviolet inhibitors. Regular cleaning and reapplication of finish will ensure that the wood retains its beauty for many years.
Teak
Its grains are typically straight (although sometimes wavy, or even interlocked) with high natural oil content. This generally makes for favourable working characteristics, although the wood does possess a high silica content.
“If cared for correctly a teak deck will wear naturally and should not require overhauling for between 10 – 15 years. Our advice is to wash it regularly as you would with any deck with fresh or salt water using only a soft brush”
Genuine Teak is one of the world’s most well-known and coveted woods. Its heartwood is light-medium to medium brown, with a tint that can range from muted gold to a pale red. (Its colour darkens as it ages.) Sapwood colours are pale white, off-white, or a pale yellowish-brown. But it is the wood’s great toughness, rot resistance and durability — versus some rather bland aesthetics — which makes it so popular.
Decking Pro carries many of these woods, with the outstanding ability to create a deck area that you will fall in love with. Contact us today to find out how our expertise can bring your home entertainment to the next level.