Decking

Inviere

Hi all

Family member has a decent sized wooden decking in the back garden, which has gone to shambles. It's like an ice rink in the winter, and some of the beams are rotten & they bend/flex when walked on. Obviously it needs to go. The underlying frame looks to be fine, so I'm wondering if I can buy lengths of the composite decking & just fix them to the frame, in place of the old wooden ones?

Fine Cheers

I presume you are remvoing all the existing decking boards and leaving frame below in place ?
No reason why not once the frame below is in good nick.
However, no harm to investigate a bit into why original failed ?
Is there a cross fall to prevent ponding ? Was is just a lack of maintenance.
You say it is slippy - why so ? Are the boards ribbed or smooth ?
Decks need to maintained annually - cleaning and treating etc.
I'm in middle of cleaning and oiling my own in-between this crazy weather.

Inviere

Fine Cheers wrote: »

I presume you are remvoing all the existing decking boards and leaving frame below in place ?
No reason why not once the frame below is in good nick.
However, no harm to investigate a bit into why original failed ?
Is there a cross fall to prevent ponding ? Was is just a lack of maintenance.
You say it is slippy - why so ? Are the boards ribbed or smooth ?
Decks need to maintained annually - cleaning and treating etc.
I'm in middle of cleaning and oiling my own in-between this crazy weather.

Aye that'd be the plan, leave the original framework in place, and just replace the top wooden decking boards with the composite lengths instead. As for why the original one went to crap, I'd say a lack of maintenance really. The boards are grooved, and if the weather is any way wet it's like walking in ice. Some of them feel rotten and soft too.

So I was wondering can I just remove the old lengths, and fit new composite lengths onto the already existing wooden framework below, which seems in good condition?

Fine Cheers

Can't see why not. Have you checked how the composite is fixed - some have a clip system to conceal fixings but ultimately it still gets fixed to the subframe. Check that centres of your existing joists are compatible with your preferred composite decking board. Check also there is adequate cross fall to avoid pending.