A common question that homeowners have regarding aluminium decking is whether it gets too hot in the sun. AliDeck, a manufacturer of aluminium decking, has performed side-by-side heat testing to compare aluminium decking with timber and composite deck boards. The findings are surprising; with the testing being performed on the hottest day ever experienced in the UK, aluminium decking was by far and away the best performing material!
As the ongoing Building Safety Crisis continues to influence construction to switch to non-combustible building products in external walls, aluminium is increasingly recognised as the ideal material for architectural metalwork.
The swift uptake of aluminium, though, has led to many feeling unfamiliar with its capabilities. As the new de facto standard material for decking boards, one common question from homeowners and industry has been; “does aluminium decking get hot?”
AliDeck, the leading manufacturer of aluminium decking and balcony components in the UK, has now answered this question. During the hottest day of the year in the UK, with temperatures reaching 40°C, AliDeck conducted practical testing to prove the heat-resistant properties of aluminium balcony decking material.
Preparing a test rig with lengths of aluminium, timber, and composite decking boards, testing consisted of simply exposing the decking boards to direct sunlight and taking regular temperature measurements.
At all stages of the test, the aluminium decking was the coolest of the three materials, averaging almost 10°C cooler than the timber and composite boards across the three hours of sunlight exposure. The aluminium boards also cooled quickest once the test rig was moved into the shade, a feature of aluminium’s excellent thermal conductivity.
Richard Izzard, AliDeck managing director, said, “Testing of this type is essentially “unofficial” as it was performed in-house, but it provides useful indicative data capable of helping specifiers understand the benefits of aluminium decking.”
“The key finding, though, is that when exposed to direct sunlight aluminium decking gets less hot than both timber and composite decking.”
An overview of this experiment is available in full on the AliDeck website: https://www.alideck.co.uk/does-aluminium-decking-get-hot-alideck-perform-heat-test-comparison-timber-composite-decking/