Who doesn’t love their deck? If you enjoy spending time outside, watching the kiddos play while grilling up some burgers, then a good deck is essential to your summer. All decks are not created equal though, so which one is right for you? We will examine the cost, environmental factors, and maintenance to help you make the right decision for your family.

Decking Materials

Norwalk Seasonal Services offer four main choices for deck materials, treated wood, cedar tone wood, cedar wood, and composite decking.  Each have different pros and cons for the wallet, Iowa climate, and maintenance they require.

Treated Wood

Treated wood is the most inexpensive material to build a deck out of and often what you will see on the most new construction houses. While the wood is treated to stand up to the elements it does require regular staining and sealing to prevent water from creating cracks in the wood and causing it to rot. If properly taken care of, this deck can last decades.

Pros: Least Expensive

Cons: Very Maintenance Heavy

Cedar Tone Treated Wood

Cedar tone treated wood is moderately priced. It is made to look like cedar wood so it requires less staining and more often than not only needs to be sealed annually. Cedar tone treated wood is a great compromise when you want the look of cedar wood but don’t want the price.

Pros: Moderately Priced, Moderate Maintenance

Cons: It’s not real cedar

Cedar Wood

Cedar wood is the cream of the crop when it comes to wood decking material. It has the highest price of the three woods we install because cedar wood lasts for a very long time with little to no maintenance. Most cedar wood doesn’t need to treated and will repel bugs and stand up to the elements without issue. It is recommended that you pressure wash and seal your cedar deck every year to help it last as long as possible.

Pros: Lowest Maintenance, Most environmentally friendly option because it isn’t made of plastic and it doesn’t release chemicals into the air, it actually aids in cleaning the air

Cons: Highest Priced Wood Decking (that we offer)

Composite Decking

Composite decking is definitely the lowest maintenance of the choices but it isn’t without it’s issues. Composite decking promises that it will “lat forever” and is free of maintenance, but that isn’t proving to be entirely true for composite decks in Iowa. Real wood is able to expand and contract with the changing temperatures and therefor doesn’t typically warp when exposed to 110 degree summers and -30 degree winters, but composite does. If your deck is shaded most of the day, then composite might be for you, but if your deck gets direct sunlight for a good portion of the day, we recommend going with wood.

Pros: Maintenance Free

Cons: Most Expensive Option, Might Not Last as Long as Promised

Our Decking Recommendation

Best Overall: Cedar If you are comfortable with the price of cedar wood and doing a little bit of maintenance each year that is what we suggest going with. We also recommend Cedar Wood because it is environmentally friendly.

Price Conscious: Treated Wood If you are price conscious, then treated wood is a great option, you will just need to commit to more annual maintenance to keep you deck in prime condition.

No Maintenance: Composite If price isn’t an issue and you have plenty of shade, composite decking might be the right choice for you if you don’t want to do any maintenance.

Middle of the Road: Cedar Tone Treated Wood If you like the look of cedar without the price, cedar toned treated wood is a great option, especially since it has the color infused, meaning less staining and therefore less maintenance.