Special Terrace floors : wood versus composite

BEAUTY WITHOUT BOUNDS

COMPOSITE INSTEAD OF HARDWOOD FOR THE CLASSIC TERRACE

Photo – La San Marco Profili

Clients want an attractive outdoor terrace and wood probably springs to mind first. Yet several alternatives do exist which have been on the market for many years now, so the choice does extend beyond tropical hardwood. Broadly speaking, we can also tell clients that a composite terrace is certainly worth considering. Alternatively, they can even opt for thermally treated wood, which is basically a soft sort of wood artificially ‘upgraded’ by means of a treatment.

In this article we consider particularly the benefits and drawbacks of composite terraces as compared to wood. We hope this will help parquet fitters to determine the ideal outdoor floor for their clients.

What is composite?

Obviously, we need to make it clear what a composite material for use as a terrace actually is. In short, you could say it’s a material which reconciles the positive features of wood and synthetics. Composite is a mix of synthetics and wood or bamboo fibres. This means there are two sorts of composite planks, namely WPC (wood plastic composite) and BPC (bamboo plastic composite). What this amounts to is that during production the wood or bamboo fibres are mixed with synthetic grains before the mixture is sprayed into a cast under heavy pressure. WPC consists mainly of wood fibres and recycled polyethylene. The wood fibres usually come from saw mills, furniture factories, or other woodwork industries (e.g. laminate or parquet makers). The principle is that the more wood fibre is used, the harder and stiffer the end product will be. BPC is produced in exactly the same way as WPC, but, obviously, bamboo is the main component instead of wood fibre. Using bamboo makes this product a little more expensive since bamboo fibres cost more than wood fibre. However, BPC has the advantage of being both harder and stronger than WPC.

Benefits and drawbacks

Generally speaking, a composite terrace can stand up better to natural tensile forces. This is because the synthetics keep the fibres together and ensure that the material can withstand pushing forces. Moreover, you also have the obvious benefit that a composite terrace preserves the warm and natural look of wood and requires much less maintenance than wood. Sweeping, brushing or spraying with the garden hose from time to time will suffice to remove leaves, sand, and dirt. Other big advantages of composite are that it doesn’t go mouldy or rot, it is insect-proof, it has a long lifespan, and it can often be fully recycled. For the rest it is splinter-proof and, thanks to a special finish, the surface can be made anti-slip in all seasons. Finally, you also have to consider

the price. In comparison with wood (and certainly tropical hardwood), composite is sometimes cheaper, partly due to the usually rapid fitting, often with invisible fastening. On the other hand, a drawback of composite is that it can become discoloured over time under the influence of sun and rain. If you put heavy items on a composite terrace, this can cause scratches and, unlike with wood, you cannot sandpaper scratches away. Note: Composite planks, too, can swell and shrink considerably under the influence of sun, rain, air humidity, and temperature. And so, make sure you leave enough space between the planks to create a natural air stream to ensure rapid drying and counteract warping.

Thermally treated wood

As a compromise, you could opt for thermally treated wood. If you do so, pay attention to the following points: Don’t forget that thermally treated wood will also age. An advantage is that a thermal treatment often means less expense than with composite. Finally, something not to be underestimated, thermally treated wood swells and shrinks less than composite.

Terrace in tropical hardwood

All this takes nothing away from the fact that tropical wood is still a much coveted choice of wood for fitting terraces. Exotic wood (preferably certified wood, of course) does have lots of benefits. It has a long lifespan, requires little or no maintenance because you don’t have to treat the wood with varnish, it ages nicely over time, and has greater natural resistance to rotting and mould. Yet perhaps the best of all is obviously the guaranteed natural look. Note that not all sorts of wood are equally suitable for use with a terrace. Note in particular that you use wood which shrinks or pulls as little as possible and which is quarter sawn (this means the wood will have had ample opportunity to dry thoroughly after cutting, and that ensures the right degree of moisture). As regards ideal wood sorts, there are a number of safe choices and afzelia and teak appear in just about every list. Afzelia and teak score highly because they are particularly resistant to the biggest enemy of all wood, namely damp. The fact is that damp accelerates the swelling and shrinking of wood. Add to that other benefits, such as Asian teak which gives you a beautiful brown to orange shade after planing and turns a smooth shade of brown after a few weeks in the sun.

Other commonly used wood sorts are padauk, afrormosia, ipe, massaranduba, azobe, bilinga, and bangkirai. With those other wood sorts you do need to take care that you don’t just fit any wood haphazardly. For instance, with bangkirai, which is popular with consumers due to its price-quality ratio, you have to take account of shrinking and pulling (bangkirai is processed in ready-for-use products when has been wet sawn) and it also contains the less coveted sapwood. A nice choice in this row is ipe, originally from Latin America and with a typical fine grain. It doesn’t have any splinters and is thereby popular for use around swimming pools. Are you looking for quality at a somewhat more favourable price? If so, the highly stable African wood sort padauk is a choice well worth considering. With padauk, the attractive coral red to purple-brown heartwood ensures a unique look.

DENDERWOOD

Specialized importer in high-end exotic woods

J.Cardijnstraat 3 | 9420 Erpe-Mere - Belgium T +32 (0) 53-73 74 74 | F +32 (0) 53-73 74 75 | E info@denderwood.com

www.denderwood.com

What’s on the market ?

Burger & Cie

Photo grad-2019-1

The best-selling wood sort at Burger & Cie is kebony, a gnarl-free sort of wood which becomes harder, more durable, and more stable through the injection of vegetable ingredients. Thermo-wood also accounts for a good proportion of turnover. As an alternative to wood, Burger & Cie offers the composite NEKKO, which is available in chestnut brown and grey. As this is in the classic co-extrusion segment, the price is comparable to that of a top quality wood sort. Due to the basic concept which Burger offers for terraces, any professional (carpenter, parquet floor fitter, landscape specialist, swimming pool fitter, etc.) can do the fitting. The wooden terrace and composite market is thriving and studies suggest this will continue in the next five years with forecasts of about 17% growth.

Denderwood

Are you also dreaming of a nice terrace in your garden? You can’t make up your mind because there are so many wood species suitable for decking? There are indeed a lot of possibilities. Denderwood can help with high-end tropical hardwoods: Ipe, padouk, afrormosia, teak … or maybe you are looking for decking in WPC. As exclusive distributor of UPM for the Benelux, Denderwood is also your partner for WPC material. Features of UPM: Low maintenance, scratch resistance, recylcled and recyclable, quick to install, splinter free. Don’t look any further and contact Denderwood to discover their large product range in tropical hardwoods en WPC.

Eurotec

The Eurotec Stone-System – Multifunctional installation system The multifunctional installation system Stone System from Eurotec minimizes the effort involved in constructing a patio. With this system, different products from the categories of patio supports, substructures and fasteners are put together to build the optimal, individual patio. The ability to combine different patio coverings is particularly attractive. The user only needs a load-bearing substrate, the Stone System from Eurotec and the desired patio coverings. The advantages of the Eurotec Stone System are therefore obvious: enormous economic efficiency ensures time-saving and uncomplicated installation. Various combinations of stone slabs with e.g. timber or WPC boards are possible, whereby the long-lasting durability of the patio is basically ensured.

FUTURA FLOORS

SOLID IS OUR DNA!

Our solid exotic wood for terraces comes as raw material and in finished form from Bolivia and Brazil. Cumaru, Ipe, Garapa and Marfil are the core of our program. Our customers have a choice between various surfaces, including smooth, rilled and rough rilled. We offer a custom made special profile (Wechselfalz), so the under construction cannot be seen. To guarantee the highest quality, all our decking is sanded twice. We also offer the possibility to oil every plank to highlight the long lasting deep color of the precious exotic wood. Rounding off our outdoor decking assortment is WPC, a wood plastic composite which is very popular in heavy-traffic areas. We offer these in a variety of popular colors for you to choose from. Futura wants to satisfy all your under construction needs so we offer advise and material to build this very important base structure for your terrace. We supply all the items you might need including wood or aluminum for under construction, pads, bases, clips, maintenance oil etc. Please call us! www.futurafloors.com

La San Marco Profili

At La San Marco Profili, we offer both timber and composite deck. Regardless which material you choose for your decking project, you can count on us to deliver superb quality and workmanship. The important thing to remember is that your deck choice should be done first according to the place where the decking is going to be installed, rather than according to aesthetical reasons. Therefore, in your decision on which type of deck you prefer, knowing the core differences between timber decking and composite decking, and the various

features of both, will be helpful to avoid any problems and to make the right choice among the many different options within each of these categories. That is why we always do an accurate quality selection of materials we supply to our customers and we help them finding the right decking solution according to their needs. Among timber decking La San Marco offers the following woods: Teak, Ipe, Garapa, Iroko, Angelim Amargoso, Cumaru, Thermo Ash. All woods that could easily been installed in almost every places, of course considering all their specific characteristics and properties. Regarding composite decking after several researches we decide to propose to our customers an innovative highly resistant material made up mainly of Rice Husks and therefore 100% recyclable and eco-friendly. Another very important aspect to remember, whatever decking typology you will choose, is that the installation must be left up to experienced professionals (carpenters or parquet fitters). Choosing an inexperienced or unscrupulous decking fitter is a recipe for disaster. Therefore, we believe that the figure of the installer is extremely important for a good job result.

NOVOWOOD

THE ITALIAN WAY

Novowood is a wood plastic composite developed by Iperwood s.r.l., an Italian company with a 15 years experience, that has become a veritable point of reference for the market. The material has been studied with the collaboration of the Italian University of Ferrara, in order to achieve a great quality which has been proven by many installations in more than 30 countries in the world. The R&D department continuously looks for new solutions in order to provide a material which is strongly appreciated by designers and final users for its quality and also for its sustainability. Novowood is in fact recyclable and can be produced in different sections and lengths, allowing a strong waste reduction. Novowood has many advantages against natural wood, especially a better durability, dimensional stability, the possibility to be produced in different colours and no need of maintenance. These features make it a great material to be used in the outdoor, for applications such as terraces, wall cladding and louvers.

Five generations of timber trading

Our investments for engaged partnerships

Post Brexit: we set up a company in the UK – Vandecasteele Timber LTD to facilitate our collaboration with UK partners New website – with online portal for customers.

We continue to build our story in 2021 and hope to have a fantastic cooperation with you!

Contact

Bergstraat 25 8511 Aalbeke Belgium vandecasteele.be genevieve@vandecasteele.be dave@vandecasteele.be

Jouplast®

JOUPLAST® provides for outdoor design projects thanks to a complete range of bearers for fitting terraces in wood or composite material. The range is in conformity to DTU 51.4 and is designed in such a way that heights from 10 up to over 460mm are possible without any disruption in the height. The company does all types of projects e.g. renovation or new construction. Due to their manual adjustability without using tools, the design of the JOUPLAST® pedestals makes it possible to carry out precise adjustments. Apart from an ingenious system for furnishing the sides of the terrace, JOUPLAST® has completed an innovative solution for the invisible fastening of wooden terrace planks. It’s called FIXEGO® and it has been designed not only for the embellishment of wooden terraces with no visible screws, but also to extend the lifespan of terraces by providing the installation with good ventilation. As a universal product, it makes it possible to fit a durable wooden terrace. Ravaioli Legnami – Rhinowood™

Rhinowood™, Ravaioli Legnami’s new 2020 decking product, for which is Europe exclusive distributor, has an exceptional durability and dimensional stability, gained through the innovative and patented production process consisting in impregnation by means of a blend of waxes. Thanks to it, a material such as pine, which is slightly durable and stable in its natural state in the outdoors, acquires the typical characteristics of exotic woods. The special treatment changes its physical and mechanical properties without altering its aesthetics. The maintenance of Rhinowood™ is fast and cheap, as wood turns grey over time, it is sufficient to clean the flooring or cladding with the pressure washer in order to restore its original aesthetics. Rhinowood™ does not contain toxins nor other volatile organic compounds, it is produced using pine originated from sustainably managed forests, and has some improved technical and mechanical characteristics compared to traditional exotic woods, keeping the aesthetics of resinous woods unaltered.

IN LOVE WITH DECKING

www.q-floor.com • sales@q-floor.com • +32 16 90 45 15 O-Floor O-Profile O-Panel

WOODEN FLOORS FOR OUTDOORS

LA SAN MARCO PROFILI SRL

Viale Europa 63 - 31010 Soligo, TV - Italy Tel. +39 0438 980106 r.a. - Fax +39 0438 980176 info@lasanmarcoprofili.com - www.lasanmarcoprofili.com