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cracks and warping

Decking boards can crack over time. In addition, they can warp or be warped before installation. Here you can find out how you can prevent nasty surprises and how your wooden terrace ages gracefully.

Why do decking boards crack and warp?

Cracks and warping in decking can occur as the wood adapts to its environment and changing temperatures and humidity levels. Two factors are decisive in ensuring that decking boards remain as straight as possible and without cracks: the natural wood properties and gentle drying.

The drying

Drying is a decisive factor for the dimensional stability and dimensional stability of outdoor decking. With the right type of drying, warping and cracking can be minimized by adapting the wood to changing climatic conditions. Two drying variants dominate on the European market: technical drying in a drying chamber and drying in the air. In kiln drying, the wood is dried in an electronically controlled drying kiln to a moisture content of around 15%. This process significantly reduces the swelling and shrinking behavior of the wood. Kiln dried wood is superior to air dried wood in terms of quality and dimensional stability. All Decking boards at Betterwood are kiln dried.

The wood properties

Another factor in the dimensional stability of wood is its natural tendency to warp. There are woods that tend to twist very strongly, and others that are characterized by high dimensional stability and dimensional stability. In this area, teak has the best technical values. You can find an overview of the technical properties of the best-known decking wood in our Wood LexiconAt Betterwood, when selecting our decking boards, we pay particular attention to good values ​​in this area so that you can enjoy your terrace for a long time.

prevent cracks

Unfortunately, even the best wood outdoors can crack and splinter. As a preventative measure, the wooden terrace should therefore be treated with a terrace oil. This prevents surface cracks on the decking boards. On the cut edges, the decking should be treated with a front edge wax. The suitable wood care products against cracks and splinters can be found in our wood care.

The General Association of the German Timber Trade has one Information leaflet about cracks in wood released. Here it is defined which cracks are normal and are part of the natural aging process of the wood and which cracks are due to incorrect drying or storage.

Install crooked decking boards

Even crooked decking boards can be installed straight. You can find out how this works best and which tools are available in our Laying instructions for decking boards.