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01 / 09Capped composite deck boards from entry to premium tier, laid on hidden fasteners with an optional mitred picture-frame border.
Composite decking is wood fibre and polymer, capped on the outside with a harder polymer shell. That cap is the whole story. It resists the scratch from a dragged patio chair, the ring from a spilled glass of red wine, and in a yard facing south, the fade from UV. Uncapped first-generation composite is what gave the category its bad reputation twenty years ago. Nothing we install is uncapped.
We quote entry through premium composite deck boards. The difference between tiers is mostly the cap: how many sides are capped, how convincing the grain embossing looks at close range, and how long the fade-and-stain warranty runs. A four-sided cap matters on a low deck where the underside sits in damp air. Composite deck board colours run from light greys through warm browns, and the darker ones absorb noticeably more heat, which is worth knowing before you choose one for a pool deck.
Owners who have already sanded and stained one wood deck and are not doing it again. Families with a pool, where sunscreen and chlorinated splash destroy a wood finish. Anyone whose deck is the main outdoor room of the house and needs to look finished in year eight, not just in year one. It is the most requested low-maintenance decking we install, and composite deck boards outsell every other surface on our quotes.
Boards clip into hidden fasteners that seat in the board edge, so the finished face has no screw heads and no plugs to pop out in year three. A picture-frame border, which is a perimeter board mitred at the corners, hides the cut ends of the field boards and is the detail that makes a composite deck read as built rather than covered. Framing underneath is pressure-treated on footings below the 1.2 m Ontario frost line, and joist spacing follows the board manufacturer's span table rather than a habit, because composite is less stiff than a wood board of the same thickness and will telegraph an over-wide span as a bounce underfoot. Where the finished surface sits more than 600 mm above grade the build also carries a guard under Ontario Building Code section 9.8.8.
No annual staining or sealing. Sweep it, and wash it with soap and water when it needs it. Composite does not need oil or a restorer the way a wood deck does. What it does need is drainage: leaves left to compost between boards will stain the cap over a season, so keep the gaps clear.
PVC costs more, has no wood content at all and runs cooler underfoot. Cedar looks better and costs less up front, but you will be oiling it. Pressure-treated is the budget answer and the highest-maintenance one. If the deck is shaded and permanently damp, skip composite decking and read the PVC page.
| Board | Wood fibre and polymer under a harder polymer cap; nothing we install is uncapped |
|---|---|
| Tiers | Entry through premium, differing by how many sides are capped, grain embossing and warranty length |
| Fastening | Hidden clips seated in the board edge, so no screw heads show |
| Edge detail | Picture-frame border, mitred at the corners, hiding the cut ends of the field boards |
| Joist spacing | Per the board manufacturer's span table, tighter than a wood board of the same thickness |
| Upkeep | Sweeping and washing; keep the gaps clear so leaves cannot stain the cap |
We are an installation contractor, not a manufacturer or a materials retailer. We build decks and fences on your property across the Greater Toronto Area: layout, footings below the frost line, framing, boards, railings, stairs and gates, finished and inspected. Composite boards are a surface option we install, alongside pressure-treated lumber and western red cedar, and the boards themselves are made by manufacturers we do not represent and whose brands we do not resell. If you already have material on site we can build with it; if you do not, we specify and source what suits the deck and include it in the written fixed price. What you are buying from us is the build and the crew that stands behind it, not a product off a shelf.
