When you start shopping for deck materials, pressure-treated wood looks like a total steal.
A standard 400-square-foot deck runs about $2,800 to install with pressure-treated lumber, while composite materials push that to $7,200. That’s a difference of almost $4,400 just upfront.
I get it. Your eyes go straight to that number, and suddenly, the composite seems like you’re throwing money away.
Here’s the thing, though: that initial price difference is basically a financial trap that catches about seven out of ten homeowners.
Once you hit year five or six, that savings vanishes completely.
By year twenty, you’ll have paid dramatically more for the pressure-treated option, with nothing to show for it except worn-out wood.
Let me break down exactly why.
The Upfront Price Is Only Half the Story
Pressure-treated wood costs between $5 and $7 per square foot installed.
That sounds great until you realize you’re buying a product that will need serious attention before you hit your tenth year.
Composite decking runs $13 to $18 per square foot, yes, but here’s where it gets interesting: that price includes materials built to last twice as long with a fraction of the maintenance.
Most people stop at the upfront comparison and make their decision right there.
But a composite deck company will tell you something different.
They’ve seen the long-term math. They know that spending more now saves enormous amounts later.
Here’s a quick look at what initial costs actually look like for a standard residential deck:
| Cost Category | Pressure-Treated Wood | Composite Decking |
| Materials per sq ft | $4–$6 | $10–$15 |
| Installation labor | $1–$1.50 | $3–$4 |
| Fasteners/hardware | $200–$350 | $300–$500 |
| Total for 400 sq ft | $2,400–$3,200 | $6,800–$7,800 |
Yeah, composite costs more upfront. But skip ahead to year seven. Now look at what you’ve actually spent in total.
Maintenance: Where the Real Money Drains
This is where everything changes. Pressure-treated wood demands consistent attention, and each task costs money.
Every one to three years, you need professional staining or sealing.
That runs $450 to $850, depending on deck size and the contractor you hire.
Skip this step, and your wood starts absorbing water, which leads to rot, splitting, and worst-case scenario: structural failure.
Between the staining, you’re dealing with splinter repairs. Kids step on them. Adults complain.
A single repair might be $100 to $200, but multiply that by several repairs across multiple years, and you’re looking at $500 to $2,000 annually just keeping the surface usable.
Then there are pest treatments. Certain areas deal with termites or carpenter ants. Pressure-treated lumber is treated, but that treatment breaks down over time.
Pest control isn’t always necessary, but when it becomes necessary, it’s an urgent, expensive problem. Budget $300 to $600 when needed.
I’m adding all this up, and for a pressure-treated deck, you’re realistically spending $600 to $2,400 every single year just to keep it from falling apart.
Composite decking? You sweep it occasionally. Hose it down with water and mild soap once a year. Maybe once every few years, you use a deck cleaner for deeper stains.
Total annual cost? Between zero and fifty dollars if you’re doing it yourself. That’s the entire maintenance budget.
Most composite deck company professionals will handle a more thorough cleaning, but homeowners rarely need to pay for this unless they’re dealing with significant algae growth in humid climates.
The Replacement Timeline is the Real Game Changer
Here’s what actually happens with pressure-treated decks: between years five and seven, your deck stops looking new. The wood starts showing its age.
Stains don’t hide it anymore. Around year ten, you start looking at localized rot. By years twelve to fifteen, a full replacement becomes necessary.
When that time comes, you’re paying roughly $8,000 to $12,000 to tear out the old deck and install new pressure-treated boards.
You’re back to square one. You’ve got another twelve to fifteen years of maintenance ahead. The cycle repeats.
Composite decking? The boards hold up differently. I’ve analyzed properties where a composite deck installed twelve years ago still looks solid. At year twenty, these decks are still performing their job.
Most composite manufacturers guarantee their products for twenty-five to thirty years. Some warranties the boards against structural failure for life, which is a pretty clear statement about confidence in the product.
You’re not replacing a composite deck after fifteen years. You might never replace it during a typical homeowner tenure.
Let’s Talk About Total Twenty-Year Spending
This is where the real comparison matters. Let me walk through a real scenario.
For a 400-square-foot pressure-treated deck:
● Initial installation (Year 0): $2,800
● Maintenance years 1-10: $8,000 to $15,000 (staining, minor repairs, occasional pest treatment)
● Complete replacement around year 12: $10,000
● Maintenance on replacement (Years 13-20): $6,000 to $12,000
● Total twenty-year cost: $26,800 to $39,800
For the same size composite deck:
● Initial installation (Year 0): $7,200
● Maintenance years 1-20: $200 to $500 (annual cleaning, no replacement needed)
● Total twenty-year cost: $7,400 to $7,700
The difference? You’re looking at $19,400 to $32,100 in savings by going with composite. That’s not a marginal difference. That’s transformative.
When Does Composite Actually Pay for Itself?
The financial crossover typically happens around year five or six. That’s when your total spending on the composite deck matches what you’ve already spent maintaining and repairing the pressure-treated option.
After that point, every single year you own the composite deck, it becomes more obviously the right choice. The longer you own your home, the more dramatic the savings.
Climate matters here. In humid regions or areas with significant rainfall, pressure-treated wood needs more aggressive maintenance. Rot risk increases. Your maintenance costs climb.
A composite deck company in Georgia or Florida will tell you that composites just make sense. The humidity that destroys wood over five years barely touches composite boards.
The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions
Pressure-treated wood expands and contracts with temperature changes. Sometimes this requires re-fastening. Fasteners themselves rust.
You might need to replace a hundred screws every few years. Composite stays more stable dimensionally, so this headache disappears.
Composite boards retain heat more in dark colors during summer. This might mean more air conditioning use in some climates. It’s minimal, maybe thirty to fifty dollars annually in high-heat regions, but it’s real.
Repairing a composite is trickier. You can’t sand a composite board smooth or refinish it. If a board gets damaged and can’t be cleaned, you replace the entire board.
With pressure-treated wood, you can often repair it by sanding and staining. However, this repair frequency is dramatically lower with composite, so it’s almost a non-issue.
What Happens When You Sell?
Both materials return about sixty to eighty percent of the investment when you sell. But here’s the nuance: a well-maintained composite deck is incredibly attractive to buyers.
They’re explicitly buying the low-maintenance feature. A pressure-treated deck in Year Twelve that desperately needs replacement? That’s a liability.
Buyers see it and immediately think about the five-to-ten-thousand-dollar replacement cost they’re inheriting.
Real estate data shows houses with composite decks in good condition sell marginally faster. Three to five percent faster in some markets, which means lower carrying costs if you need to sell quickly.
Making Your Choice
Pick pressure-treated wood if your budget is tight right now and you’re confident about moving within eight years. It makes sense.
Accept that maintenance will be ongoing and potentially expensive after year seven, but you’ll keep costs down initially.
Choose composite if you’re staying in your home long-term. Seriously, if there’s any chance you’re there beyond ten years, composite wins financially.
The maintenance reduction alone is worth it. Add durability, appearance retention, and resale value, and it’s not even close.
The composite deck company perspective isn’t about loyalty to materials. It’s about having seen the twenty-year reality for hundreds of homeowners.
The math just works better when you look at the whole picture, not just the first invoice.
