Every October our phone begins to ring. The heat finally breaks, people start sitting outside again, and somebody looks down at a deck that's gone gray and fuzzy and full of splinters and thinks, okay, that's enough.
If that's you, good timing. Honestly.
Summers here are rough on anything that lives outdoors. Fort Worth, Arlington, Keller, doesn't much matter which part of the county you're in. The sun bakes everything from June into September, then a storm rolls through and soaks it. Boards don't love that. Some materials take it a lot better than others, and picking the right one now saves plenty of grumbling (and Saturdays) down the road. Here's how we size up the options, and yes, why most of the decks we build these days are TimberTech and AZEK.
First, a Quick Reality Check on the Weather
Nobody around here needs a weatherman to say it's hot out. Ask anyone who mowed a lawn in August. Still, the numbers are kind of wild. Going by the National Weather Service, DFW averaged about 20 triple-digit days a year from 1991 through 2020, and 2011 alone had 71 of them. Seventy-one!
Heat by itself isn't really the deck killer. It's the combo. Sun cooks the top of a wood board until it turns that tired silver color and little cracks show up. Then it rains, the board drinks it up and fattens, and a dry week later it shrinks back down. Do that a few hundred times and the screws start creeping up out of the wood. Throw in one of those sticky May weeks where nothing ever dries and you've got mildew camping out underneath. Wood takes the worst of it. Synthetic-based boards shrug off most of it, though not all.
Wood: We Still Build It, but Go In With Eyes Open
Treated pine is less expensive up front, which is why you see so much of it around the Metroplex. Cedar is prettier and smells great the day it goes down. It's also soft enough that a dropped cast-iron skillet leaves a mark. Ipe? Gorgeous, hard as a brick, priced like it. Our saw blades aren't fans either.
The part nobody brings up at the lumberyard is upkeep. Out here a wood deck needs a good scrub once a year, plus new stain or sealer every year or two (maybe three if it's got decent shade). Skip it a couple of times and the boards getting the most sun give out first. Cupping. Raised grain. The splinter your kid finds barefoot on the Fourth of July.
None of that makes wood a bad pick. Tight budget, or you just really want real lumber? We'll build you a good one. We'd just rather you hear about the chore list now than discover it in year three.
Composite, for Folks Who'd Rather Be Fishing
Think of capped composite as a core of ground-up wood and recycled plastic with a tough plastic skin over the top. That skin is what keeps grease, sun and rain from ever getting a foothold. You don't sand it. You don't stain it. Hose it off, maybe go over it with soapy water and a soft brush in spring and fall, and that's about it.
We install two families from TimberTech. PRO boards (Reserve, Legacy and Terrain) have the cap on all four sides and come with a 30-year limited warranty plus 30 years of fade and stain coverage. EDGE (Prime, Prime+ and Premier) is capped on three sides and sits at a friendlier price, with 25 years on both warranties.
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One honest caveat. Since there's wood fiber in the core, composite can run warm underfoot on a July afternoon. Not "hop to the shade" warm in most colors, but you'll notice. Which brings us to the boards we reach for most.
TimberTech AZEK Advanced PVC: Our Usual Recommendation
Ask anybody on our crew what they'd put on their own house, and you'll mostly hear this answer.
Advanced PVC has no wood in it anywhere. Not the core, not the cap. When the air feels like soup for half of May, that counts for a lot, because mold needs something organic to feed on and there just isn't much here for it.
Then there's the heat. TimberTech says these boards stay up to 30° cooler than competing composites. They're also upfront that every deck gets hot in direct sun, and we'd say the same thing. Nothing stays cool at three in the afternoon in August, not even the dog. Still, the gap is real, and you feel it walking out to the grill.
Some other stuff we like. Grip, for one. TimberTech rates it up to 40% better than competing composites, wet or dry, and around a pool that's no small thing. The fade and stain warranty runs 50 years, with a limited lifetime warranty stacked on top. And the grain on the Vintage, Landmark and Harvest boards can pass for real wood from a few feet away.
Is it the priciest of the three? It is. But figure in 25 years of not buying stain, not renting a pressure washer, and not paying somebody to rip out rotten boards, and the gap shrinks a lot more than most people guess.
Side by Side
Making Any Deck More Comfortable in the Heat
A few things come up in nearly every design meeting we have.
Go easy on the dark colors. A charcoal board in full sun gets downright mean by mid-afternoon, which is why even TimberTech nudges hot-climate folks toward lighter shades. We agree.
Shade changes everything. Put a pergola over even one corner and it feels like a different deck. Want to go further? A covered porch or screened porch is how plenty of families out here end up eating dinner outside in July without melting.
Check which way the deck faces. West-facing means full afternoon sun, so we'll usually shift the seating, add cover, or do both.
And don't forget the frame. Great boards on a tired, poorly ventilated frame are like new tires on a bent axle. Our deck safety standards cover the part you never see.
Why Bother Starting Now?
Crews and materials both behave better at 70-degrees than at 102. Spring also books up fast around here, since everybody wakes up in March wanting a deck by Memorial Day. Start the conversation in October and you'll likely be using your new deck when the warm weather comes back, instead of waiting in line for it.
Bottom Line
So, what's the best decking for Texas? For most homeowners in Arlington, Bedford, Colleyville, Euless, Hurst, Keller, North Richland Hills and the rest of our service area, we keep landing on TimberTech AZEK Advanced PVC. TimberTech composite is a solid step down in price that still gets you out of staining duty. Wood still has its place too, if you like that classic look enough to put in the elbow grease.
Ready to learn more? Simply scroll through our photo gallery, download the free design guide or check out financing if budget's the sticking point. Everything we build is backed by our warranty.
Want to talk it over?
Reach Archadeck of Northeast Fort Worth online or call (817) 587-0059 and we'll set up a free design consultation.
Also Read:
How to Choose the Right Deck Size for Your Northeast Fort Worth Backyard
What Sets Archadeck of Northeast Fort Worth Apart? Straight Answers from the Owner
How Archadeck Of Northeast Fort Worth Stands Out Among Local Deck Builders
