Composite or wood

Both are reasonable choices. The wrong one is whichever you buy without knowing which trade you accepted. So here is the trade, plainly: composite costs more up front and gives you back the weekends. Wood costs less up front and asks for them.

Up-front cost

Installed pressure-treated pine generally runs somewhere around twenty to forty-five dollars a square foot including the framing. Capped composite lands higher, PVC higher again. On a 350 square foot deck that difference is substantial, and on a large deck it is the difference between two quite different projects.

Worth noting: the frame under both is the same treated lumber built to the same code requirements. The premium is on the surface, not the structure, which is why resurfacing an existing sound frame in composite is one of the better value jobs available in this trade.

Maintenance, and what that means in this climate

This is where the comparison turns, because north central Florida is unusually hard on a wood finish. Ultraviolet light breaks down the surface fibres and the pigment protecting them, water cycles into and out of the wood on most summer afternoons, and in shaded damp spots algae colonises the surface. Those three work simultaneously, which is why a deck here needs re-coating on a shorter rhythm than the product label assumes.

Capped composite and PVC take that cycle away. They still need washing, particularly in shade, but there is no stripping, no brightening, no waiting for dry weather, and no coat to fail. If the reason you are building a deck is to sit on it rather than to look after it, that is the argument.

Heat, which is the composite weakness here

Dark composite in full unshaded sun on a July afternoon in Alachua County gets hot enough that most people stop walking on it barefoot. This is not a brand defect and no manufacturer escapes it, it is what a dense dark surface does under this sun.

Two things change the outcome. Colour makes a real, noticeable difference, so lighter tones are the sensible choice on a deck with nothing overhead. And shade changes it entirely: under canopy or under a roof, surface temperature stops being a factor at all. Wood runs cooler than dark composite in the same exposure, which is a genuine point in its favour on an open lot.

Under canopy, the argument flips

On a shaded lot, the sort common in the Duckpond, out toward Millhopper, or around Micanopy, temperature stops mattering and moisture takes over. A shaded deck dries slowly between storms, which means algae on the surface and a finish that is fighting a losing battle if the deck is wood.

There, the argument for composite or PVC is not about heat, it is about not maintaining a coating on a surface that never gets a proper dry spell. And PVC, having no wood content at all, has nothing in it for anything to grow on beyond what lands on the surface.

Appearance and how each ages

Wood looks like wood, which is the point, and it ages visibly: it silvers where the finish has gone, it splinters as it gets older, and the grain shifts as the boards move. Some people like all of that. Capped composite holds its appearance far more consistently, which is either the attraction or the objection depending on taste.

Cedar sits between the two on appearance and cost, and tropical hardwood sits above everything on both. The materials guide covers all five.

Warranty, and how to keep it

Composite warranties are long, and they are conditional. Joist spacing has to match what the manufacturer requires for that board, including the tighter spacing normally needed for a diagonal pattern. Expansion gaps have to be set for the temperature at installation. Hidden fasteners have to be the system the board was designed around. Cleaning products have to be ones the manufacturer names. And most warranties require registration.

A composite deck installed outside those instructions has a warranty that will not be honoured, and the customer usually finds out years later. This is the main reason installation quality matters more on composite than on wood.

How long you plan to stay

Over a long ownership the cost of the two converges, because the maintenance cycle on wood adds up in both money and weekends. Over five years it does not converge at all, and the cheaper deck stays cheaper. If you expect to move reasonably soon, that is a legitimate reason to build in wood and look after it.

A short decision rule

• Open, treeless, west-facing lot and you want low maintenance: light-coloured composite or PVC, and consider shade.
• Open lot and you want the lowest build cost: treated pine, and accept the re-coating rhythm.
• Heavily shaded lot: composite or PVC, because a finish on wood there is a long fight with algae.
• Existing sound frame: resurface in composite, which is where composite is best value.
• Selling within a few years: treated pine, cleaned and coated properly before listing.