Increasingly these days, modular interlocking deck tiles are becoming a popular means of resurfacing an existing porch, balcony patio or deck. Compared with alternative options, installing wood deck tiles can be a very attractive option. Nevertheless, if you have a particularly large area to cover, it can still be a significant outlay, so you’ll want to make sure that the deck tiles you select are most appropriate for your specific location and your requirements. Apart from the aspect of price, probably the most important factors you should consider when choosing a wood deck tile are as follows.

Durability – Most importantly for a tile which will be exposed to all weather, is whether it will survive the extreme climatic variations in your local region. So if the tiles will be fully exposed to the weather all year, then check the durability rating of the wood species to ensure that the wood is rated as high as possible in durability. One good place to check this is with the USDA Forest Products Laboratory who maintain a database on most of the major wood species available in the world.

Wood thickness – Many tiles are manufactured to meet a specific price point dictated by the Big Box stores so this involves somewhat of a compromise in terms of appearance and function. Whilst a tile with thinner slats may be perfectly OK from a structural viewpoint, it may look rather flimsy or cheap and potentially could have more problems under certain climatic conditions with twisting, warping and cupping.

Style options – Some manufacturers offer different styles or size of wood deck tiles, which enables you to create more interesting designs such as borders or centrepieces. But even with a standard deck tile with all slats running in the same direction, you can create different designs by aligning the tiles in different directions, creating an alternating brick pattern, a straight run design or any combination of these two.

Accessories – If you have a ground level patio and want to provide a neat finish around one or more images, then you would probably consider the tile manufacturers who are able to offer click on transition will edging strips. These accessories provide an angled transition from the tile height to the ground level, so are also useful to reduce any tripping hazard if you are likely to be walking over the edge of the tiled area.

Plastic base – Whilst the composition of the plastic base may not be the most obvious factor that you would consider, once again there are differences between manufacturers. The most commonly used materials are polyethylene or propylene which give the best combination of stiffness, strength and durability. But other materials are also used such as EVA and PVC. Irrespective of which material is used for the plastic base, it’s important that the polymer is specifically designed for external use and has UV stabilizers incorporated in the polymer.

Wood to base attachment method – The most common method of attaching the wood slats to the plastic base is with screws. On lower cost tiles with short warranties, corrosion resistant screws are normally used, but if you are intending to install the tiles in locations with more severe weather conditions or in seaside applications, then stainless steel screws will always be the best option for maximum lifetime of your tiles. Another less common method of attaching the wood slats is by means of plastic pins which are inserted into holes drilled into the wood pieces, although the long term reliability of at this attachment method has yet to be confirmed

Interlocking method – The majority of tiles on the market use an interconnecting method which is possibly better known as the loop and pin style. With this particular design, the tiles have loops or pins on two sides of the tiles which are matched to the corresponding pins or loops on the other two sides of the tiles. The other interlocking method used by a few manufacturers uses a totally symmetrical design where the connections on any side of one tile will mesh with the connections on any side of another tile. This latter design has advantages in terms of ease of installation and also the ability to remove a single tile from the centre of a deck which has been laid.

Warranty – Warranties offered by most companies can vary quite significantly from just 12 months to up to 10 years, so it’s important check with the tile manufacturing company before you make any purchase. Generally speaking, you can probably assume that a manufacturer who only gives a short warranty does not regard their tiles as having a particularly long lifetime, compensated to some extent by the lower initial cost.

In your research, you will probably note that the prices of wood deck tiles can vary quite considerably and the above notes will hopefully give some pointers as to why there is a difference in the price points between the cheapest and the most expensive tiles.

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