Terrace and Balcony

      With so many options on the market for decks, it's hard to decide what would be best for us.  Our limited knowledge and extensive Internet investigations have convinced us that nothing can beat the feel and look of Real Wood.  

      We are willing to and actually looking forward to providing the necessary maintenance to keep our wood deck looking beautiful over the years.  Wood decks can apparently last up to 40 years  if maintained properly.  From what we can gather, maintenance involves applying a stain finish to protect against the harmful effects of the elements (rain and sun) and to highlight the natural beauty of the wood every six to eight months.

       We've also considered the idea of getting composite decking for the 2F balcony, but after reading up on these, we've changed our minds.  Composite decking is fairly new, as it was  introduced a couple of decades ago as a miracle solution to replace natural wood. 

     At first, Composite Decking was claimed to be 'maintenance-free' but manufacturers have had to modify their sales pitch over the years following complaints and law suits.  It is mainly composed of recycled materials including plastic and wood chips, and has a short life span of 5 years.  Cleaning composite decking involves splashing harsh chemicals and once you decide to replace the deck it goes straight to landfill.

     Neither our terrace nor our balcony can be done in concrete, as they would otherwise count toward the house's total surface.   So, the options we have for our 2F balcony are FRP Grating (FRP stands for Fiber Reinforced Plastics) or Aluminum.  FRP Grating didn't appeal to us for its large holes, and Aluminum gets real hot in summer so we also crossed that off. 

     Our architect provided a rough estimate for our terrace and balcony.  For real wood on our 18m2 terrace and 11m2, we expect to spend a total of 700,000 yens.  Interestingly, the other options (aluminum, frp grating and composite) are similar price wise.