Decking are popular garden landscape features fitted to create more space for socialising and entertaining. Their slightly raised nature is useful for countering uneven gradients and making more areas in the garden accessible for use and enjoyment. If you are considering garden decking, you will soon come across the three main decking materials, hardwood, softwood and composite. The difference between the three is often blurry, therefore this guide it meant to explain the pros and cons of each type.

Types Of Decking Materials

Hardwood – These boards are made from slow growing deciduous trees that feature natural oils to cope with the outdoors. Due to the slow growing process, hardwoods are incredibly strong (measured in density) and therefore slow to wear.

Softwood – These boards are made from fast growing evergreen or coniferous trees making them particularly affordable. Softwood is less dense compared to hardwood and must be pre-treated with preservatives in accordance with British Standards EN 335.

Composite – These are syntactic boards that are typically made from recycled plastic, sawdust and wood fibers. Once the various materials are glued together, the boards are painted to achieve the look of wood, or increasingly popular, painted in bold colours such as black, grey and even white.