subject: Materials And Costs Are Just Some Of The Ideas To Consider In Building A Deck For Your House [print this page] Just at the mention of the word decks, you will see home owners getting very excited; most of them probably thinking they can easily do it themselves. Well, what they never seem to envisage in all this is how to do the floors for the deck.
The bubble starts to burst when the project reaches the flooring level and reality gets to dawn on them. Here is when the ones with fat bank accounts simply choose to hire an expert to finish the construction for them.
The unfortunate ones will of course have to bear the taunts and ridicules from their friends and neighbors. This is the time to tell who your real friends are. Others will have the next option, which is to go through it alone and spend long tedious months trying to get the work done.
The flooring materials for building decks are very varied. They range from wood, vinyl, metal, plastics and a composite made of wood-plastic. The best, commonly preferred material is wood; it having been applied in deck building from time immemorial.
Wood is easily the cheapest and is very popular with deck builders, but is costly to maintain. This nullifies any gains one had made at the point of construction. The other two materials are more costly to buy but are cheaper and easier to maintain; which means the initial cost of construction is recoverable very fast.
Metal is the most costly to erect but is durable and easy to maintain, even though it is not very popular with home owners for residential decks. Despite its low maintenance costs, people do not like it due to the coldness and uninviting quality.
Wood-plastic however is almost a replica of plastic in both quality and texture. It is viewed as attractive to enhance color and ambience of the home. It is also easy to take care of, unlike wood which has a tendency of catching mildew which is not very easy to clean.
Wood is preferred over plastics and composites as these do not give the natural texture, feel and warmth of wood. Try to get a balance; is it costs, the look or feel of the material for deck flooring that will win the day.
The main factor that you should always take into account is the cost, maintenance, durability, and any other special characteristics as you go out to select the material to use for the flooring.
