Slippery Decking

We were recently asked to create a decked garden just outside Melton Mowbray, not an uncommon request however depending on the aspect this can often raise concerns for the future. Decking is one of those products that can look great if used in the right context however has been massively overdone in the past 10 years due to its lower cost and ease of installation; unlike paving it can often be considered a DIY product and gives instant impact and covers up all sorts of difficult sites.

However one of the biggest drawbacks of wooden decking is it can often be a bit of a slip hazard, especially if it doesnt get enough sun. I once went to a basement garden which had decking as its main flooring and rather than a pine or dark wood colour this was green (and I dont mean tanalised!). Water had clearly been sitting on the surface with no direct sunlight to dry it out and over a very short time the modern outdoor terrace had become a private ice rink.

Now there are many ways to try and avoid this happening, firstly I would only ever recommend decking used where it will get at least a few hours sun every day, clearly a north facing garden is asking for trouble. Most professional landscapers will recommend a slight slope as with most hard surfaces to encourage water run off however blocking the exit of the grooves with an end board often counteracts this so it is imperative to ensure the water not only runs off but has a way of leaving the deck at the end. Regular maintenance is always important and a quick pressure wash every spring removes most plant matter which may have accumulated over the winter. But even with all of these steps, when wet, decking can still cause a problem.

When we were asked to create this terrace the owner already had a bad experience with decking and although the garden was south facing she was keen for us to do everything we could to help avoid this in the future. After looking & asking around we decided a non-slip decking paint was probably the best solution. There werent many on the market, quite a few designed for boats and a lot of treatments to avoid surfaces from rotting but in the end the obvious option seemed to be Blackfriars Anti-slip decking paint which we bought for just under £30 for 2.5 ltrs and the tin advised this should cover up to 30 sq mtrs.

We put this on after giving the deck a good clean and it was fairly easily applied with a gloss roller, transparent and only darkening the colour of the wood slightly; we had to look closely to see where we had treated and where we hadn't. It dried within around 24 hrs however we left it 48 as it was Friday. When we returned on Monday the finish was much the same and underfoot we couldnt really tell the difference however when wet it showed a water repellant finish that felt firm when walked on.

We advised the client to still be cautious when wet all the same but so far we've had no complaints (or slippages!) and if this changes I'll be sure to let you know but I would suggest this is just one part of the solution and probably works best when used in conjunction with the usual precautions.

For more photos of this job visit our website at www.creativerootslandscaping.co.uk