Decking - Flat side up or grooved side up?

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nthused

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Hi All,

Just about to lay 40m2 of softwood decking and have been swaying from laying flat profile up or grooved profile up. It seems a lot of designs tend to go with the flat profile these days, I think to emulate the look of hardwood decks, but I'm worried that this may be too slippy.

The deck is fully exposed to the sun so should not encourage too much organic growth - which I understand is one of the main reasons decks start to become slippy, even with grooves up.

Mrs Nthused wants the flat side up so it may be a foregone conclusion! ...however, I'd appreciate anybody's input on this.
 
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You're right, without regular cleaning any decking can become slippy, some would argue that grooved side up even more-so as you have even less contact with your footwear than flat side up. Personally I'd do what you like best and do an annual clean or so. It will look better anyway.
 
Thanks for that FMT.

That's a good point about the grooves making less contact with peoples footwear - I didn't look at it from that angle.

I think flat side up could be the way and might be easier to clean as well.
 
however the grooves stop the water from standing on the surface, I've only ever seen groove side up.
 
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nth - if Mrs Nthused wants it flat side up she should get the annual job of cleaning it.
 
Cover it with plastic sheeting - it'll never get wet nor dirty then :LOL: :LOL: ;)
 
I've just taken all my timber back to the merchants and swapped it for a load of cement, chippings and sand.

I'll get Mrs Nthused on the job tomorrow to lay a nice plain concrete slab. Much cheaper and harder wearing than decking!!!

Only joking....I wouldn't be physically be able to write this if the Mrs had seen me taking the decking back....

It's early to bed for me to let the neighbours awake with the mitre saw dawn chorus (weather permitting...).
 
If you are walking perpendicular to the grooves then you have a much better grip than if it is the smooth side.

IMO the grooved side is the side to be up.

Smooth side can be extremely dangerous if your going to go on it when it is wet etc.
 
Comments taken on board Mattylad... I might have another think about this now.
 
we always advise a customer from having it smooth side up from a safety point of view.
 
groove side up always..

it's the same reason shoes soles and tyres have grooves..

more grip..

flat soled shoes tend to be slippy.. so does flat decking... especially when wet..
also the reason why F1 cars change out of "slicks" when it starts to rain..
 
By the way, when I moved into this house, the decking out back had obviously not been cleaned for yonks.

It took me a week on my knees scrubbing with decking cleaner (mild bleachy stuff) and scraping the crud out.
It did not appear to be coated with much in the way of any protective coatings (although I'm sure it must have) so I'd suggest giving it a damn good coating of some good stuff! (the others can recommend some good coating I'm sure) and redo it at the required "redo times" :D
 
I don't see what the problem is.
The cost of the decking timber includes the cost of machining the grooves in one side, and they are there for a purpose so they go on top.
They wouldn't go to the trouble of cutting grooves just to have them fixed face down, because they serve no purpose that way.
 
Thermo said:
we always advise a customer from having it smooth side up from a safety point of view.
Click to expand...

You could visit some boatyards or sailing clubs on the Norfolk broads when the smooth boards are wet. It's like a skating rink unless it's regularly cleaned.
 
I think he means advise against having boards smooth side up.
 
D

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