Hollow Vs Solid

Hollow vs Solid Composite Decking

Hollow Vs Solid

A lot of people hear composite decking and think of the issues that arose when composite materials first came on the market. The majority of which are associated with hollow composite decking, which was the main type originally on the market due to the reduction in weight.

Solid Composite Decking was the first way to improve these features

What’s the difference?

The 2 options available are either hollow or solid composite decking. Solid composite decking is simply a solid board of the composite material. Whereas hollow boards have a section, normally multiple cylinder or rectangular shapes, out of the centre of the boards. While this makes hollow boards lighter for transport and fitting purposes it can cause some stability issues, when not fitted correctly.

What are the possible issues?

The possible issues that typically come to mind when people think of Composite decking are warping, twisting and expanding. The stability issues centres around the hollow areas of the boards. Which when fitted incorrectly are susceptible to holding water and to insect nests. This can be made increasingly worse when the trapped water freezes and expands.

The resolution.

As Solid Composite Decking boards do not have the hollow centres it is a lot less likely for these issues to occur. Although a lot of composite manufacturers have been looking at ways to resolve these features with the hollow decking as it can be a competitively priced against timber and is cheaper in shipping.

M-BOARD offer you the benefits of the solid at a competitive price!

We created our M-BOARD with an innovative design using less composite material. Lighter than solid like the hollow board without risking the stability.  By keeping the board solid and taking some composite material out of the underside of the board, we retain the solid features while reducing the cost.

HOLLOW -SOLID – M-BOARD COMPARISON

HOLLOWSOLIDM-BOARD
PROCONSPROCONSPROCONS
WeightVXV
DurabilityXVV
PriceVXV
InfestationXVV
WaterloggedXVV

Whichever type of composite decking you chose always ensure you follow the manufacturers installation manuals carefully as fitting can vary between manufacturers and can be extremely different from timber.

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