Timber decking is a natural way of adding that little extra to your house and garden, whether for extended outdoor living space or simply a place to dine with friends. Elevated wooden decking is gentle under foot, requires very little maintenance if properly treated and assembled from the onset, and it looks beautiful. As a cost-effective alternative to slabs or tiles on a ground or first floor terrace, timber decking can be installed with the minimum of fuss and without the messy business of laying concrete or screed.
A first floor terrace requires a waterproof membrane on a slightly inclining floor towards drain tubes, nothing more, on the ground floor, not even this. The wooden decking is laid with small gaps to allow rainwater to pass onto the membrane or earth; therefore, the wooden decking can be exactly level, which is not possible if using tiles or slabs. The actual decking can be made from composite materials (although there are concerns about the leaching of certain toxic chemicals used in the process of manufacture) or hard and soft woods.
Hard wood decking is very expensive and brings into play the moral issue of deforestation in tropical rain forests. Unfortunately, a great deal of hardwood is still felled illegally without replanting, causing untold damage to the environment. However, eco-friendly, good quality pine from managed forests in the colder regions of the world offer a near hardwood material ideally suited for decking and other outdoor use.
Timber decking can be used as a walkway connecting a gazebo or barbeque area to the house, or it can be tiered, creating different levels and thus adding character to a garden. Areas for children to play on also benefit from wooden decking: perhaps surrounding a Wendy house, a seesaw, rope climbs, Wooden Tree House etc. Timber decking can be easily extended or modified without the need for pneumatic drills and sledge hammers. In hotter climes such as Spain, southern France and Portugal, where temperature differentials between summer and winter are dramatic, wooden decking expands and contracts naturally: no cracking, no grout coming away, no loose slabs and nasty shards of broken tile to snag the feet. Although flat-pack factory produced decking is an option, using a professional carpenter to construct hand-made wooden decking to personal specifications is by far the best choice. It is then possible to make certain those little details have been duly catered for on a face-to-face basis, and not by phone, which invariably sends the blood pressure souring.
In the province of Murcia, close to Abanilla and Jumilla, Woodworks Direct offer excellent workmanship and top quality materials at sensible prices. So think-hand crafted wooden decking and you’ll be making a good choice.