Should a patio or decking be cheaper?

FloFlo

Hoping to our jungle of a garden sorted sortly. OH thought that decking part of the garden and having the rest to lawn would be cheaper than a patio and lawn. We had two quotes both for over £2000 for a small decked area and larger grassed area. I think the garden is approx 20' x 30'.

Would it be cheaper to have the paved patio rather than the decking?

Also which would be easier to maintain?

27col

Not quite sure why you are asking this question here. Surely the companies who quoted will be able to tell you exactly which would be cheaper. As to maintenance, I doubt whether either would require much in the way of maintenance. I suppose, nominally the wood might just require a bit more.

TomsMom

FloFlo wrote: »

Also which would be easier to maintain?

A paved patio will really only require something like an annual clean with a pressure washer to brighten up the paving and possibly a bit of weeding if any have come through the joints. We have a paved patio and this is all we do (although we haven't had any weeds appear).

Decking will require some kind of treatment of the wood, again probably on an annual basis. I think there is some kind of brush on treatment (similar to what you would paint fence panels with but probably more hardwearing). Can't give you exact information as we don't have decking.

Depends how much maintenance you want to do. I personally would go for the patio and annual pressure wash, but then again OH does it not me :rotfl:

Devon_Hippo

FloFlo wrote: »

Hoping to our jungle of a garden sorted sortly. OH thought that decking part of the garden and having the rest to lawn would be cheaper than a patio and lawn. We had two quotes both for over £2000 for a small decked area and larger grassed area. I think the garden is approx 20' x 30'.

Would it be cheaper to have the paved patio rather than the decking?

Also which would be easier to maintain?

Hi Flo, I would have said Decking would have been cheaper then a patio to install by a company.
£2000 sounds over odds for Decking, have to say - I would have thought a patio would have maybe come in at that price (and even then is a little high,but does depend on the finish)
The great thing about decking is that it is so easy to install over uneven ground - you don't need to backfill and tamp the ground down etc.
If you are looking to minimise the costs - and who isn't these days, there is a handy guide on installing decking Here It really is something that could be tackled yourself or with some friends and a couple of cases of beer :beer:

As far as maintenance goes - I have both decking and a patio (with pavers) in my back garden and I would say decking was the easiest to maintain actually. Looks wise, I like them both

Devon_Hippo

TomsMom wrote: »

A paved patio will really only require something like an annual clean with a pressure washer to brighten up the paving and possibly a bit of weeding if any have come through the joints. We have a paved patio and this is all we do (although we haven't had any weeds appear).

Decking will require some kind of treatment of the wood, again probably on an annual basis. I think there is some kind of brush on treatment (similar to what you would paint fence panels with but probably more hardwearing). Can't give you exact information as we don't have decking.

Depends how much maintenance you want to do. I personally would go for the patio and annual pressure wash, but then again OH does it not me :rotfl:

Just a little word of caution about the powerwashing - you need to be careful how you angle the powerwasher - the paviors/cobbles/whatever and the vast majority of patios are locked into place by sand (and it is a specific kind, btw, not the stuff on a beach :rotfl: ), and not a mortar or similar, so if you point the pressure washer wand too sharply at the joints you will flood the joints with water, dislodging the sand which will then fly up covering the patio and you - So by all means pressure wash - and it does a good job, but use with caution.

(just a word of advice for someone reading your advice about maintaining with a pressure washer and not realising)

TomsMom

Devon_Hippo wrote: »

the paviors/cobbles/whatever and the vast majority of patios are locked into place by sand (and it is a specific kind, btw, not the stuff on a beach :rotfl: ), and not a mortar or similar,

Oo-er, I believe our builder mortared them in. Was that the wrong thing to do? It was about 8 years ago and there's no sign of any problems.

Not too worried as we've sold the house and will be moving out in the near future but if we re-lay the path in the garden of the new house is mortar not the way to go then?

Devon_Hippo

It does depend on the type of pavers used - it is the small pavers that use a silicone sand that is kiln dried and then brushed into the gaps and that keeps everything in place - sounds a bit weird sand doing that, I know.

There is a great paving website - http://www.pavingexpert.com/ that may explain it. I used that website when I was having my patio done to "double-check" the guys were doing the right thing

Having yours mortared may exlain why you had little problems with weeds and things growing in the joints (not from underneath but blown in from above and taking root)

TomsMom

Devon_Hippo wrote: »

There is a great paving website - http://www.pavingexpert.com/ that may explain it. I used that website when I was having my patio done to "double-check" the guys were doing the right thing

Have saved that website for future reference. Thanks.