So you’re ready to purchase your composite decking, but how do you know how many decking boards will cover the area you want to lay?
To estimate your decking requirements you need the following information:
- The amount of square metres of the area that is to be decked
- The length of boards required
- The type of fixings required
With the above you can start to work out how many boards you’ll need.
Your composite decking calculation
To work out how many composite decking boards are needed to cover an area, simply follow the steps below:
- Work out how many square metres the area is, this is done by multiplying the length by the width e.g. 6m x 4m = 24m²
- To cover 1m² with Ecodek composite decking you’ll need 7.1 metres of material. Therefore the next calculation is to work out how many linear metres is needed to cover this area e.g. 24 x 7.1 = 170.4m
- Once the overall total of metres is calculated, you can work out the number of boards required. Do this by dividing the total by the length of board e.g. 170.4 ÷ 4 = 42.6
- Once the answer is rounded up you have the number of boards required to cover your decking area. i.e. 43 boards at 4 metre lengths will cover an area of 24m²
- At Ecodek it is essential for the 25 year warranty that good stainless steel screws are used. We recommend 40 screws for every square metre. Therefore to work out how many screws you’ll need, calculate m² x 40 e.g. 24 x 40 = 960
- Ecodek sell screws in multiples of 200s therefore 1000 screws will be recommended for this area.
So for a 24sqm area you would need:
- Minimum of 43 boards at 4 metre lengths
- 1000 stainless steel screws
Remember to order slightly more boards than you will need. This way, if you find yourself one short for some reason, then you won’t have to go to the hassle or expense of ordering more.
Handy hint: any left over deck boards or off-cuts can be used to make smart planters that will match your deck.
If you’re still not too sure, give our customer support team a call and we’ll be happy to help!