Patio or Decking - Opinions please

[Bluebear]

We have had to remove the original patio in our garden to get access to a cracked drain - now the drain is fixed and we want to sell the house so we were planning on replacing the patio with something similar, however, we had an estate agent around today and he recommended we put in decking instead.

Estate agent view was that decking was more modern, cheaper, and we wouldn't have to replace the path as well (since path is crazy paving so would reallly need to match patio paving)

My thoughts were that with all the publicity about rats living under decking, with our 'target market' being families with primary school or younger age children who would like paving to play with outdoor cars etc, and with decking getting slimey and slippery, that paving would be more attractive.

So I thought we could let mumsnet decide

[hercules1]

I was just going to post a nrew thread about whether we should have decking or paving. Will watch with interest.

[Glassofwine]

I would prefer decking, but I do have very modern taste.

[iota]

patio

decking is just a fad

[Pinotmum]

Decking is out apparently

[blueshoes]

I prefer paving, for all the reasons you mentioned, but not really into crazy paving. If all you want to do is sell, then the just go for the cheaper option - which is presumably decking. Brand new decking looks fantastic.

[sweetheart]

I'd go with patio - once it's down it doesn't require any maintenance and decking gets slippy in the wet - not good for little ones running around. I also agree that decking is a fad and in 5 years it will look really dated. You can get some really nice paving slabs now too - we have just done ours in a heritage range and it looks great.

[Bluebear]

So patio winning so far - we wouldn't do a crazy paved patio - we would use some sort of slab and replace the crazy paved path with the same slabs (it's a straight down to the shed sort of path so not too hard to do)
Any more votes?

[Bluebear]

And if anyone has any ideas about nice patio slabs they will be appreciated

[noddyholder]

Only really high spec expensive decking looks good.Better to go with a decent paved patio.Decking is a bit faddish and can look changing rooms if not done well

[southeastastra]

paving, our neighbour had tons of decking last year and it looks a bit slippy in the rain

[Bluebear]

Paving def. winning.
Think dh can be persuaded too.
Now I need to price up the slabs.

[Caligula]

Re decking, apparantly one of the reasons against it is that it makes a lovely environment for rats. (One of my latest obessions)

[handlemecarefully]

I would be mildly put off by decking in the garden. I prefer low to no maintenance.

[hercules1]

Just googled rats and decking. Dont do it, we're not now.

[Bluebear]

Yes, I mentioned the rats nest risk in my OP! Have to say if we bought a house with decking I wouldn't rest til it was up!
Ok, paving it is (for us and for hercules )

[southeastastra]

thinking about it, it'd make a perfect home for rats or mice, our neighbours decking is like a stage about 2ft off the ground

[Wolfgirl]

WE had extensive decking done last year, and have to agree, that new decking does look fab. OUr patio doors open out onto a wide decking area, that links round the side of the house to the back door. Then (back to the main upper part of the decking) the main decking steps down onto a massive curved area for us adults to eat. Can send pics if you would like to see.

My kids have been out there playing - not when its totally wet, but not long after rain, more like when its damp, and they have been fine - not slipped, my DS even rides his scooter up and down (not much of area for him to do it, but still he likes it), and we have the toddler trampoline and little tikes climbing cube - and anyother outdoor toy etc, that they play with.
I was shocked to hear about the rats just after we had it done (no one told us b4!), but I have seen nothing to date. I thought I might, especially as we have those wretched brown recycling bins full of old food too, and I know quite often I am a bit lapse and a few peelings might fall to the side, or other bits of food, and cant see at night time etc to pick up. But the food is still there in the morning (for instance) and I would have thought rats would have scurried off with it. We also have cats in our garden, and thats always a good deterrant.

Back to the decking - it went in last summer, and we have yet to 'treat' it. Decking oil/treatment costs a fortune, and you need a good amount of time to apply it, but once done, it keeps the decking looking good for years. With all the rain we have had so far this year, I also have to say that some of the wood has started to turn green, but will come out with treatment. We just didnt get time last summer to do the treatment, but I would def. recommend that you do, if you go for decking.

I keep saying over and over and over, that the decking has been a life saver for us, becasue we just fling open the doors and the kids go out and play (3 and 1).

We had a fab company who installed our decking - with railings and LED marker lights, and very very reasonable rates, and exceptionally quick. CAn recommend if you live in the Bristol/south Glos area.

Now then, ive said enough, and my fingers hurt. LOL xx

[sazzybee]

I used to do gardens for a living and we built solid frames where nothing could live underneath the deck. Decking timber should be pressure treated so that it doesn't rot - the timber we used was guaranteed for 30 years. It isn't actually slippery when it's wet if you get grooved timber.
So there you go - that's probably just confused matters!

[southeastastra]

quick hijack

sazzybee how can you be sure nothing can live underneath? interested as we have mice probs at the moment and i'm suspecting next door's decking!

[Kbear]

decking is attractive and a selling point I would imagine. In reality, rats like living under decking and it's slippery as hell after a year or so!

[BettySpaghetti]

We've got a courtyard area next to the back door that we need to tackle this year - originally I wanted to deck it but then remembered how the decking area in another part of our garden gets really crazily slippy when wet. Its a PITA to jetwash etc.

We're going to use some block paving from a company called Marshalls (available at Travis Perkins) -they do some nicer looking aged stones IYSWIM.

[sazzybee]

Well the deck I built had a massive solid wood frame with the decking boards laid directly on top. No gaps for rats to get through. I guess if you didn't construct it like that, rats could live underneath.

[beckybrastraps]

Decking - yuck.

But there's lots of it around.

Most of the houses we viewed had decking.

We bought one with a patio...

[ChocolateTeapot]

OMG, hadn't thought of rats living under there

We have a big deck which is about 4 foot off the ground covering over some knackered, crumbling steps. Purely because it was hugely cheaper & easier to do this rather than having builders dig out the old steps and build foundations for a patio area.

It went in a year ago and it has been great as it gives us a big area to sit out on that before wasn't usable. But in your position I would definitely do a patio.

Ewwwww, I feel ill now, I shall be out with a torch tomorrow trying to see if I can spot anything under there.