Wood Deck Resurfacing


by malkay - Date: 2010-08-25 - Word Count: 584 Share This!

Eventually, most wood decks will become looking quite tired and weather worn. Even though there are some chemical products which can rejuvenate a faded deck to some extent , there's not a lot that can be done when the surface begins to splinter, crack or show other obvious signs of weathering and wear and tear.

Normally the only solution in this case is to rip up the existing boards and substitute them with new decking material , preferably a high durability timber species such as Ipe, which has a typical life of up to 40 years even in fully exposed outside locations, and is extremely hard and resistant to splintering.

But these days there is another alternative which permits you to both change the material for resurfacing the deck, and give you the opportunity if you have an upper level deck, of creating a waterproof area on the surface below . Interlocking deck tiles such as those supplied by HandyDeck and other suppliers are modular tiles constructed with an inbuilt interconnecting plastic base, which can be easily installed over the top of an existing structurally sound deck , so there's no need to even take up the existing boards . Needless to say this will raise the surface to some degree, so you need to make certain that any outward opening doors will clear the extra height of the deck tiles.

Aside from the simplicity of installation, outdoor tiles are now offered in a wide range of materials including stone , ceramic , composite wood and of course a number of diverse wood species, so you have a number of alternative options if you wish to modify the look of your deck. And with tiles from some makers you can blend different materials, so for example you could have a wood deck with a feature panel of slate in the center .

As the tiles have connecting tabs on all four sides , they don't need any fixing materials but are just snapped in place over the current deck. Around the perimeter of the deck, edge reducers or transition strips are often available to give a neat professional finish.

If you have an upper level deck and wish to make a waterproof area underneath, an uncomplicated way of achieving this without the cost of installing specialist under deck waterproofing systems , is to simply lay down a seamless EPDM sheet over the top of your existing deck, ensuring that the EPDM sheet is properly sealed next to the boundary walls. Then you lay the deck tiles over the top of this sheet. The only important point to note if you are proposing to use this method of creating a dry under deck area, is that the surface of your deck should slope slightly away from the house, so that water draining off the sheet would flow away from the house walls.

Just remember also that if you are using wood deck tiles for resurfacing , that the wood colour will fade if exposed to direct sunlight and turn to a silvery grey over time just the same as for a conventional wood deck. Whilst the repeated application of a good quality decking oil will help retard this process , if your deck is entirely exposed to the sunlight , it will never eliminate the color fading entirely .

But if the thought of ongoing maintenance is a worry to you, then the advantage of using deck tiles for resurfacing an existing deck is that you can select from other materials such as composite wood which will not involve the equivalent degree of upkeep.

Related Tags: deck tiles, decking tiles, discount tile, outdoor tile, patio pavers, interlocking tiles

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