Patio or Deck?

GreeBo

Hey all,

thinking about putting *something* in at the bottom of the garden to catch the long summer sun.
The back of the garden slopes sharply down. In the space of about 12 feet it drops by 4 foot to a drain which is fenced by the adjoining school.

I reckon a deck is easier as I wont need to level the ground (just use longer posts on the lower side) but which do you advise, deck or patio?

Its going to take a bit of work for either as the ground is currently scrub and loose soil.

Which adds more value to a property? Im guessing a deck!

littlemissbusy

Hi Greeboo,
I have both in my garden, slaps/patio outside the doors followed by decking to the end of the garden. My own garden raised up towards the end and as we already had the patio area I thought it would be easier to go with the deck.......... however if I were to do it again, I would use some type of decorative slap for the whole back garden. Our patio area was laid before we moved in and it I demoss it once or twice a year and put down path clear, the patio still looks relatively new, the decking on the other hand looks old and tired and really has to be maintained or will look very shabby very quickly (like mine) Our decking is down about 2 years and it needs a serious sand down and repaint, and I'm dreading doing it. so purely from a long term easy option (not necessarily cheaper option) I would go with the slab.

GreeBo

I have a slab about 8x10 outside the french doors, its just a lump of concrete but I find that the runoff makes a mess of the garden (need to put in a drain/soak pit, I know!)
To get/pout a slab down the end of the garden I think Id have to doa lot of re-inforcing work to get the ground level, probably as far as building a 3-4 foot retaining wall to hold the earth + slab back.
I want it to go as far back as possible as this gets the most of the setting summer sun.

I have a sandstone path from the existing "patio" to the shed and they are slippy and greasy most of the time, but look a lot nicer than plain concrete.

I was hoping that decking would drain a bit better but I have no real experience with it, does it really need *that* much work every year to keep it nice?

hippychippy

I have put in a lot of decks and they are not easier than a patio, in my opinion a patio looks very hard towards the softer look and feel of timber. They do have to be maintained though, before the summer arrives (if ever) you will have to give the deck a lift with a stain or just wash it down. The great thing about decking is that you can cope with slopes etc, and make more of a feature out of it. hope this helps your decision

bmaxi

If you go for the deck option, be prepared for the armies of little (and not so little), furry beasties who will come for the holidays, think, "this place is great for raising a family" and decide to stay.

hippychippy

Old wives tale, very, very rarely do any animals live under a deck, unless you have trolls in your area, don't make that a consideration. It is more likely for rodents to try get into the house than to settle for a bit a shelter from a deck

Sonnenblumen

hippychippy wrote: »

I have put in a lot of decks and they are not easier than a patio, in my opinion a patio looks very hard towards the softer look and feel of timber. They do have to be maintained though, before the summer arrives (if ever) you will have to give the deck a lift with a stain or just wash it down. The great thing about decking is that you can cope with slopes etc, and make more of a feature out of it. hope this helps your decision

Unless you talk of large embankments, patios constructed from natural paving are probably more sympathetic to prevailing site elements/characteristics, more flexible and generally but not always marginally more expensive than traditional decking materials (excluding the newer composite decks which are very expensive). Like many examples of decking there are also poor examples of poorly installed stone patios, this is down to design and quality of workmanship. Fundamentally patio are more robust, more versatile and definitely more resilient than decking.

The popular spruce decking is a most unsuitable material for Irish weather conditions, which if you wish to avoid treacherous slippy conditions demands regular maintenance and given its relatively poor weathering attributes is a poor investment.

Although deisgning and constructing seating areas on sloping sites requires careful consideration, it is possible using some skill and imagination to achieve attractive results with stone.

GreeBo

hippychippy wrote: »

I have put in a lot of decks and they are not easier than a patio, in my opinion a patio looks very hard towards the softer look and feel of timber. They do have to be maintained though, before the summer arrives (if ever) you will have to give the deck a lift with a stain or just wash it down. The great thing about decking is that you can cope with slopes etc, and make more of a feature out of it. hope this helps your decision

Im only saying its easier as I will not have to build a retaining wall to level the ground (like I would for a patio) from my OP I have a sharp slope/drop off a the end of the garden leading to some railings so that would need to be leveled for a patio and I cant just level it against the railings.
cheers

Trapattoni

Approx whatwould it cost to deck out an area 11 x 10 feet??

joejoem

Trapattoni wrote: »

Approx whatwould it cost to deck out an area 11 x 10 feet??

I would also love to know this! With baulastrades going around 80% of the border??

the chippie

Trapattoni wrote: »

Approx whatwould it cost to deck out an area 11 x 10 feet??

around 800 i would say , depends on what type of deck board you want to use , spuce ,redwood , hardwood
will handrail add another 300 or so

hippychippy

Top of the range decking for 100 square feet, could cost you up to 2000, bottom of the ladder stuff will cost between 5 and 800,
hope this helps

hippychippy

Top of the range decking for 100 square feet, could cost you up to 2000, bottom of the ladder stuff will cost between 5 and 800,
hope this helps

Eyeballs

I've put down a few decks and 2000 seems a bit steep, keep looking you should get it done for around 1400-1500

adds

the chippie wrote: »

around 800 i would say , depends on what type of deck board you want to use , spuce ,redwood , hardwood
will handrail add another 300 or so

I have a 18 x 12 decking in redwood only 3 years old , and it looks old and dirty , fed up of cleaning it, I am thinking of geting composite decking, but I dont know if I can put it on top of old deck, can anyone give me advice please,

jwshooter

decking , a nest for rats