Cheap decks can be just as effective as expensive timber in a garden or patio setting. Whether your deck is holding plants, or tables and chairs, the main requirements of decking materials are strength, durability, and an affinity for outdoor finish or paint.
Decking materials are available as ribbed or grooved for better water drainage, as well as plain boards, or boards with enhanced grip.
Narrower decking board or grooved boards are a good choice to prevent timber rot from improper drainage, and for this same reason, any board wider than about 150mm is not recommended.
To find good timber WPC decking at cheap prices, ask suppliers to look at overstock inventory, or look for companies that make quality boards out of less material. High quality kiln-dried boards can be much less expensive when they are slimmer, and will still be pressure treated and covered in tanalith-e wood preservative.
Search for alternative resources to your local home improvement stores as well. Buying direct from a lumber distributor may save a significant amount of money, and provide more readily available variety of inventory.
Carefully select your cheap outdoor decking boards to find the least distorted wood available. Select boards with low moisture content, and straight grain. Too much moisture content encourages warping as the wood dries, and buying boards with a slight warp to begin with creates more work to make them true.
Buying properly chamfered boards contributes to water drainage, and treating timber both above and below the deck prevents water from penetrating and causing rot in the supporting framework.