Walking around barefoot on your own deck is one of life’s simple pleasures…but not if it leaves you with blisters and scorched soles! When the temperature rises, so does the heat radiating from your deck’s surface. Save you family’s feet (including your pets!) this summer and read on to learn about heat resistant decking options.
Whether you've got pressure-treated wood boards or composite decking, there are three factors that cause your deck boards to absorb and retain heat: the color of your decking, the amount of direct sunlight on your deck, and the temperature of your space.
Just like wearing a dark shirt on a sunny day will cause you to sweat, dark-colored decking will absorb more heat and sunlight than light-colored options. That means a deck with dark brown decking will tend to heat up more than one with a light gray color.
The more direct sunlight your deck gets, the more your deck boards will heat up. A bright, sunny deck is an amazing luxury that's great for entertaining, relaxing, and gardening…but it also makes for a much hotter deck surface.If your deck space gets a lot of direct sunlight, you could consider a shade structure to help keep your surface cool.
The air temperature around your deck will also affect how much your deck boards hold heat. On a cooler day, deck boards might absorb heat from direct sun, but they'll also cool down quicker. On a hot, humid summer day, your boards will retain heat longer. There's not much any of us can do to control the climate, but the principles above still apply: choose light-colored decking and add shade structures to help keep the temperature around your decking lower.
While early composite decks were notorious for getting uncomfortably hot, new composite decking materials are much more resistant to heat. High-quality modern composite boards don’t become hotter than traditional wooden deck boards, and often boast cooler temperatures to the touch. In addition, the lighter the color of the composite deck boards that you choose, the cooler they will stay in direct sunlight. Here are two of our favorite options for composite wood heat mitigation.
TimberTech Advanced PVC decking is engineered to be cooler to the touch, even in direct sunlight. TimberTech PVC decking features advanced materials science in its core and cap that makes it more heat resistant than other composite decking products. The PVC deck boards are made with proprietary polymer material and absolutely no wood, which makes it less dense than traditional lumber or decking made from composite material (recycled plastic and wood flakes). Less density means boards absorb and retain less heat. The bottom line? TimberTech PVC decking is engineered to stay up to 30° cooler than competitive composite products.
Transcend Lineage is engineered to keep your deck cooler, even on the hottest days. Engineered with heat-mitigating technology in the shell, Lineage boards reflect the sun and stay cooler than other composite decking offerings of a similar color. Lineage boards are engineered with a proprietary, high-traffic formulation and ultra-durable integrated shell that resists stains, scratches, mold, and (as much as possible) rising temperatures.
Webfoot is your source for everything deck related. Our team is made up of true craftsmen who specialize in the design, layout, care, know how, and maintenance of decks and outdoor living spaces in Bend and surrounding areas. You won't catch us remodeling kitchens or building homes, but when it comes to natural wood decks and composite decks like Trex- we're the seriously great team for the job.
