Comparing Important Features of Wood Deck Tiles

Increasingly these days, modular interlocking deck tiles are becoming a popular means of resurfacing an existing porch, balcony patio or deck. Compared with alternative options, installing wood deck tiles can be a very attractive option. Nevertheless, if you have a particularly large area to cover, it can still be a significant outlay, so you’ll want to make sure that the deck tiles you select are most appropriate for your specific location and your requirements. Apart from the aspect of price, probably the most important factors you should consider when choosing a wood deck tile are as follows.

Durability – Most importantly for a tile which will be exposed to all weather, is whether it will survive the extreme climatic variations in your local region. So if the tiles will be fully exposed to the weather all year, then check the durability rating of the wood species to ensure that the wood is rated as high as possible in durability. One good place to check this is with the USDA Forest Products Laboratory who maintain a database on most of the major wood species available in the world.

Wood thickness – Many tiles are manufactured to meet a specific price point dictated by the Big Box stores so this involves somewhat of a compromise in terms of appearance and function. Whilst a tile with thinner slats may be perfectly OK from a structural viewpoint, it may look rather flimsy or cheap and potentially could have more problems under certain climatic conditions with twisting, warping and cupping.

Style options – Some manufacturers offer different styles or size of wood deck tiles, which enables you to create more interesting designs such as borders or centrepieces. But even with a standard deck tile with all slats running in the same direction, you can create different designs by aligning the tiles in different directions, creating an alternating brick pattern, a straight run design or any combination of these two.

Accessories – If you have a ground level patio and want to provide a neat finish around one or more images, then you would probably consider the tile manufacturers who are able to offer click on transition will edging strips. These accessories provide an angled transition from the tile height to the ground level, so are also useful to reduce any tripping hazard if you are likely to be walking over the edge of the tiled area.

Plastic base – The most commonly used polymer in the manufacture of plastic bases is either polyethylene or polypropylene because both of these materials gives a good combination of stiffness, strength and durability. Polypropylene will generally result in a stiffer plastic base than polyethylene but polypropylene tends to become much more brittle at low temperatures than polyethylene. The polymer is that are sometimes used are PVC and EVA, but if possible, check with the manufacturer that the polymer is specifically designed for exterior use.

Wood to base attachment method – If the tiles are to be fully exposed to rain or the underneath of the tiles will be in contact with water for at least some periods, then the method of attaching the basic base to the wood slats can be quite important. Lower cost tiles often use cheaper “corrosion resistant” or electro plated wood screws rather than stainless steel screws as used by the more expensive wood tiles. If you are living in a marine environment in particular, you would probably only consider tiles which use stainless steel screws. There is however an alternative method used by a few manufacturers which involves inserting plastic pins into holes drilled into the wood slats.

Interlocking method – The most common interlocking mechanism is probably the loop and pin design whereby the tile with loops on one edge is meshed with another tile which has corresponding pins on the edge. So on each tile there are two sides with pins and the other two sides with loops. The alternative interconnecting method involves a tile which is totally symmetrical. This has advantages in terms of the ability to lift up a tile from the centre of the deck without moving any of the surrounding tiles, and it’s also somewhat easier and quicker to lay the tiles than with the loop and pin design.

Warranty – Typical warranties offered with deck tiles are around 5 years but some manufacturers may offer warranties up to 10 years with specific wood species such as Ipe. Other manufacturers may offer a warranty of just 12 months where the wood species have a lower durability rating, such as some species of Acacia or where the attachment method uses lower cost, non stainless steel screws.

In your research, you will probably note that the prices of wood deck tiles can vary quite considerably and the above notes will hopefully give some pointers as to why there is a difference in the price points between the cheapest and the most expensive tiles.