Timber vs Composite Decking in the Hunter Climate

This is the first decision on any deck and it affects cost, appearance and how much of your weekends you spend maintaining it.

Australian hardwood

Spotted gum, blackbutt, ironbark and merbau.

Cost: $500 to $700 per square metre installed for low-level work.

Looks: Nothing matches it. Real grain, real depth, and it improves with age if maintained.

Maintenance: Oiling every 12 to 24 months. More often in full sun or near the coast. Budget half a day plus around $150 in product each time, or $600 to $900 to have it done.

Lifespan: 25 to 40 years for a durability class 1 or 2 species, properly detailed.

Watch for: Merbau leaches tannin heavily for the first year and will stain anything below it. Some hardwoods are prone to surface checking in extreme sun.

Treated pine

Cost: $350 to $500 per square metre installed.

Looks: Fine when painted or stained. Never going to look like hardwood.

Maintenance: Staining or painting every 2 to 4 years, and it needs it. Neglected pine greys and splinters.

Lifespan: 15 to 25 years if the correct hazard level treatment is used and it is kept coated.

Watch for: Make sure the treatment level suits the application. H3 for above ground, H4 for in-ground contact. Getting this wrong is a common shortcut.

Composite

Wood-plastic composite or capped composite boards.

Cost: $600 to $850 per square metre installed.

Looks: Modern products are genuinely good. Older or cheaper ones look like plastic. There is a real quality spread in this category.

Maintenance: Wash it. That is essentially the whole maintenance regime.

Lifespan: 25 to 30 years, with most reputable products carrying a 20 to 25 year warranty.

Watch for: It gets hot underfoot in direct sun, noticeably hotter than timber. Dark colours are worse. It also expands and contracts more than timber, so gapping and fixing detail matters, and cheap uncapped products can fade and stain.

The 15 year cost comparison

For a 30 square metre deck:

Composite starts dearest and finishes roughly level with hardwood, and you spend none of your own weekends on it.

What we recommend around here

Coastal and lake-front, Belmont, Nelson Bay, Warners Bay: composite, usually. Salt air and UV are brutal on timber coatings and the maintenance interval shortens considerably.

Inland and shaded, Maitland, Cessnock: hardwood makes good sense. Less UV stress, longer intervals between oiling.

Tight budget, will be painted: treated pine, with the correct treatment level and good detailing.

You genuinely enjoy maintaining timber: hardwood, every time. Nothing looks better.

The part that matters more than the boards

Whatever you choose on top, the substructure decides how long the deck lasts. Correct joist spacing for the board type, stainless or hot-dip galvanised fixings near the coast, adequate ventilation underneath, and bolting to the structural frame rather than the cladding.

We have replaced plenty of decks where the boards were fine and the frame had gone.

We build in all three materials across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens and will give you a straight recommendation for your site.