Before you can begin the process of transforming your garden, you'll need to know how much decking to order. We've put together the following guide to help you purchase the right number of boards.
Pictured: WeatherDek Aged Oak Composite Decking
By following these steps carefully, you can get an accurate estimate of your decking area. These steps work best if you're trying to calculate the area for a square or rectangular deck. If you are interested in installing an irregular shaped deck, please contact the DeckPlus team for advice.
Before you get started...
We recommend you take a look at our installation guides. These will help you to get a feel for the different boards, clips and accessories and give you a good overview of the installation process. This should aid you as you calculate how much composite decking you need.
1. Work out the area of the deck in m2
To answer the question 'how much composite decking do I need?', you will first need to work out the area of the deck in m2. To do this, multiply the length of your deck by the width.
For example: The length of your deck will be 5 metres, and the width will be 4 metres. 5 x 4 = 20, so the total area of your deck will be 20m2.
2. Decide which composite decking boards you wish to use
Here at DeckPlus, we don't just offer one type of composite decking - we have a number of appealing ranges for you to explore. The board lengths vary from one decking product to the next:
3. Calculate the area of each deck board
Now that you've chosen what type of decking you want to use in your garden, it's time to calculate the area of a single board. To do this, you need to multiply the length of the board by the width.
For example: You've chosen our EvoDek+ Grey boards. These deck boards are 3.6m long and 0.158m wide. 3.6 x 0.158 = 0.5688, so the total area of each deck board is 0.5688m2 (or 568.8mm2).
4. Divide the area of your deck by the area of one board
Finally, to determine exactly how much decking you will need to create your new deck, you need to divide the area of the deck by the area of a single board.
For example: As we previously calculated, the total area of this deck will be 20m2. The area of each EvoDek+ board is 0.5688m2. 20 ÷ 0.5688 = 35.1617. We then round this up, so...
For a 20m2 deck, you will need 36 EvoDek+ boards!
Our decking price calculator will do all these sums for you - all you need to do is enter the area of your deck (see step 1), then we'll tell you how many boards you need and calculate the total cost.
5. Account for accidents, waste and offcuts
When calculating how much composite decking you need, it's important to allow a few extra boards just to be on the safe side. Accidents can happen while you're cutting boards down to size. To allow for this, you should always add 10 to 15% excess onto the total number of boards you order.
If you're not sure how much decking to order for your project, please don't hesitate to get in touch - the DeckPlus team will be more than happy to assist you.
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