Composite decking has advantages, such as not requiring maintenance to look good all year around. Priced comparably similar to timber decking, it may be attractive to the DIY buyer. Unfortunately, it is required to be adequately installed, otherwise it may become non-functional very fast. The deck I saw last week had many poor DIY issues, resulting in movement of the decking boards. Some areas of the decking was completely unsupported as the decking had slipped off the joists. Sewer inspection points were decked over without thought to access points, resulting in quite a few decking boards that will require removal to access if required. The composite decking boards were attached with DIY concealed fix clips, which gives a nice clean look, but also resulted in every board sliding out of position. This is not common, although composite decking boards are reactive to temperature variations, the boards can change in length once cut. Some brands recommend picture framing or breaker boards that help reduce movement as they are fixed with screws into the underside of the deck. Other brands such as Modwood allow for surface fixing, that would resolve this issue. When installing, a 2mm gap between the cut ends is required, due to expansion on some brands. Another notable issue, is that the decking can get very hot under foot, if installed as a low level deck with limited ventilation. Some brands require 300mm clearance others
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