Softwood is not necessarily soft - nor hardwood hard!
Both types of wood are suitable for decking, and a properly treated
and maintained softwood deck can last up to 40 years.
All timber used in an exterior situation, end up the
same colour if it is not treated or stained in some way - grey! A
softwood deck - if stained, can look similar to hardwood. Sometimes
even timber merchants cannot tell the difference. A large timber
supplier recently had a picture of a softwood deck on their website
- built by Top Deck Decking Ltd - claiming that it was hardwood! We
pointed out their error!
When new, most hardwoods will either have a golden
brown or red/brown appearance. Treated softwood will typically be
light green/brown, and after just a few weeks exposure to light,
will turn what is best described as 'honey-brown'.
The vast majority of decks in the UK are constructed
from commercially treated (tanalised) softwoods. Typically, the
guarantee against rot - providing that all cuts are properly treated
- will be 15 years. You can expect a properly constructed deck to
last many years longer than that.
A typical stack of good quality softwood decking. The
colour soon changes to honey brown
Below - A disaster of a hardwood deck!
A 6 month old hardwood surround to a swimming pool!
Note the splits starting - for bare feet!
