You’ve installed your composite decking and of course, you are enjoying it.
Composite decking
But then that one accident happens and you get scratches on your deck. It’s a terrible feeling but things like this can happen to anyone. Composite isn’t impervious to scratches unfortunately, they can even be a bit more visible on composite than on wood.
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Scratchs on composite decking
So, what can scratch composite?
Anything that is harder than composite could scratch composite and the heavier it is the higher risk of deeper scratches. Scratches are most common when something is dragged across the surface of the decking.
So in short the main causes of scratches are Pets, Kids, and Dragging furniture around.
Keep decking safe
How do I avoid this?
Well, When it comes to pets, Have their nails well-trimmed and don’t have them play too much on the decking itself. That’s better suited for the lawn anyways.
Don’t let kids play with a sharp object (good advice generally) on the decking such as pens and cutlery.
And of course, don’t drag furniture around on the decking. Simply lift the furniture and place it back down. It also helps to have dampening feet on your furniture or simple felt pads.
Get rid of Scratches
So, you’ve got some scratches. What do you do to get rid of them?
You could fill the scratches with some form of wood plastic epoxy filler or you could heat up the area around the scratches to soften the plastic and gently smoothen them out. This can greatly improve the look and hide the scratches so that they aren’t completely visible.
Another possibility would be to sand away the scratches. This causes the scratches to be removed along with some other material of the boards. This can show great results when done in moderation but the more it is done, the more visible the sanding itself can show.
Note that this method isn’t recommended when using capped decking since you can then remove the encapsulating effect itself and cause a worse appearance than originally.
Conclusion
Finally, the best way to remove scratches or other damages to the boards is to simply just replace the board and make it as new again.
Read more: What you need to build a deck with composite decking
