WoodEvo Decking, Supplied and Installed Across Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs
WoodEvo is an Australian-owned decking brand, established in 2019, with its head office in Melbourne. That matters more than it sounds. The certificates that let these boards be used in a bushfire-prone area are held by an Australian company, so there is someone here to answer for the product rather than a distributor passing questions overseas. The boards themselves are made through overseas manufacturing partnerships — WoodEvo specifies and owns the brand, it does not run the factory. I would rather tell you that up front than have you find it later.
There are two decking ranges. HOME is a wood-plastic composite with a tough outer skin, made from 95% recycled material. ADVANCED is a different animal — no timber in it at all, a foamed PVC core with a flexible outer layer, and it is the one that goes down where the job is hard on a deck.
I am Greg. I build every deck myself, I hold builder’s licence 272840C, and I have been building decks across the Eastern Suburbs for 13+ years.
What a WoodEvo Deck Costs in the Eastern Suburbs
Most WoodEvo decks I build come in between $750 and $850 per square metre, supplied and installed. That is the finished deck you walk on — boards, clips, screws, framing, labour, the lot.
Where a job lands in that range comes down to the frame and the range you choose, not the board pattern. A flat site with clear access and sound bearers sits at the bottom of it. Slope, footings, stairs, awkward access or an old frame that has to come out lands higher. ADVANCED sits above HOME.
I quote fixed price after a site visit, so you are not working off a rate.
The WoodEvo Range
Two decking ranges are sold in Australia. Here is what each one is, in full.
HOME Range — wood-plastic composite
Made from 95% recycled material, with a hard HDPE outer skin wrapped over the board to take the everyday wear and the UV.
Boards
- Grooved board — 138mm wide, 23mm thick, 5.4 metre lengths, 17.93kg a board
- Edge board — 138mm x 23mm, 5.4 metre lengths, 18.9kg a board
- Fascia board — 180mm wide, 15mm thick, 5.4 metre lengths, 20.03kg a board
Colours — nine: Barossa, Basalt, Charcoal, Hampton, Nordic, Snow White, Tallowwood, Teak, Vic Ash.
Joist centres — maximums, boards laid square to the joists: 450mm residential, 350mm commercial. Lay the boards on an angle and those tighten — 400mm residential at 60 degrees, 350mm at 45. Commercial goes 300mm and 250mm. Fascia face-fixed at up to 600mm centres.
Warranty: 25 years residential, 10 years commercial.
ADVANCED Range — foamed PVC
No timber content. A foamed PVC core with an ASA outer layer over it. Lighter than the composite, and the range WoodEvo puts forward for hard-worked decks and bushfire-prone sites.
Boards
- 140mm wide, 25mm thick, 5.4 metre lengths, 12.69kg a board
- 200mm wide, 32mm thick, 3.6 metre lengths, 15.588kg a board
Both come grooved, for hidden clips, or square-edged for face fixing.
Colours — six, each in both profiles: Antique Silver, Blackbutt, Oak, Sandstone, Smoked Ash, Victorian Maple.
Joist centres — maximums, boards laid square: the 140mm board takes 400mm residential and 350mm commercial. The 200mm board takes 450mm, residential or commercial. On an angle the 140mm tightens to 350mm at 60 degrees and 300mm at 45; the 200mm to 400mm and 350mm. Fascia at up to 600mm centres.
Warranty: 25 years residential, 10 years commercial.
Cooler underfoot — the lighter colours
WoodEvo’s lighter colours carry a surface treatment they call NatureCool, which reflects sunlight instead of soaking it up so the board runs cooler underfoot. On the HOME range that is Basalt, Hampton, Nordic, Tallowwood, Snow White and Vic Ash. On ADVANCED it is Antique Silver, Oak and Sandstone. If bare feet in February matter to you — around a pool, on a west-facing deck — pick from that list and pick light.
I am not going to quote you a temperature figure. WoodEvo publish two different ones in two different places, and until they settle on one, a number on my page would just be their marketing repeated. What is not in doubt is that a light board runs cooler than a dark one.
What the Material Actually Gives You
Bushfire. Both ranges are certified to BAL-29 under CodeMark, Australia’s own certification scheme — HOME under certificate CM70164, ADVANCED under CM70187. Read the scope, because it matters: the certificates cover the boards as decking and floor surface only. They have not been tested as a wall or ceiling lining. If your job needs cladding or a soffit in a bushfire area, that is a separate conversation.
Grip. HOME is rated R11 for slip resistance under the Australian standard AS 4586. The ADVANCED board tests better — P5 and R13 — but one thing is worth knowing before you rely on it: the sample in that test report is a 200mm x 32mm board. The result on file is the wide board’s, not the 140mm one’s. I will tell you that rather than print a number across the whole range.
No timber in ADVANCED. Nothing in the board for a termite to be interested in, nothing to rot. The HOME board has timber flour in it, wrapped in a plastic skin — the warranty covers it against splintering, rot, termite damage and fungal decay in normal use.
No oiling. No sanding. No sealing. Not as a maintenance schedule you are allowed to skip — it is not to be done at all. Painting, staining, sealing or putting any surface treatment on these boards voids the warranty outright.
95% recycled — HOME. WoodEvo state HOME is made from 95% recycled material. For ADVANCED there is no recycled figure published, so I am not going to invent one.
How I Build a WoodEvo Deck
The boards are the part you see. The frame is the part that decides whether the deck is still flat in ten years, and composite and PVC are both less forgiving than hardwood.
Joist centres. HOME at up to 450mm, ADVANCED 140mm at 400mm, ADVANCED 200mm at 450mm — square to the joists. Those are maximums, not targets, and they tighten as soon as the boards go on an angle. Anything carrying real furniture traffic I bring in tighter than the book.
Three joists minimum under every board. No board bridges two and calls it done.
Expansion gaps at the ends. These boards move with temperature, and WoodEvo publish exactly how much. A 5.4 metre board wants 4mm at 15 degrees and 1mm at 30. Get that wrong on a cold morning and the deck pushes itself apart in February. I work off their table and the thermometer on the day, not a rule of thumb.
The side gap is decided when the clips are ordered — 3mm or 5mm, and that is the gap you have for the life of the deck. It gets picked before anything is bought, not on the day.
Clips and screws. Hidden stainless clips into the groove — QuickLock or TruLock depending on the frame, with starter clips at the edges. On a timber frame that is a 12 gauge 65mm colour-matched screw driven with a T20 bit. Never an impact driver, and never a nail gun — nails are not permitted on these boards at all.
Which way up. Every board goes down embossed side up. Sounds obvious. It is the sort of thing that gets missed on a rushed job and cannot be undone afterwards.
Clearance underneath. 150mm minimum over soil, 28mm over concrete, and the framing kept clear enough for water to get away. A composite deck that sits in trapped damp is a deck built wrong, whatever the board is made of.
Conditions on the day. Boards get a day on site to settle to the temperature before anything is cut, they go down under 30 degrees, and nothing gets trimmed for 24 hours after laying. On this site that means I plan the deck day around the forecast.
Fascia and edges. HOME has a matching fascia and an edge board for a finished edge. Fascia is face-fixed, at least two screws every 400mm, pre-drilled, screw head set below the surface. ADVANCED takes colour-matched plugs over the fixings on the square-edge boards.
A Contractor’s Take on WoodEvo
I install four decking brands and I do not pretend they are interchangeable.
WoodEvo’s case is a straightforward one. It is Australian-owned, the CodeMark certification is real and current, the clip system is stainless, and the boards land between the entry composites and Millboard on price. I set WoodEvo against every other composite brand I get asked about in my composite decking brand comparison.
Of the two ranges, ADVANCED is the one I put forward. There is no timber in the board at all, so there is nothing in it to swell, feed a termite or rot if water ever gets somewhere it should not. It tests better for grip, it is lighter to handle, and it is the range WoodEvo themselves point at for hard-worked and bushfire-prone sites. It costs more per metre than HOME and it is worth it.
HOME is a sound board and I install it — 95% recycled, nine colours, the widest colour choice in the range, and it does what a composite deck is asked to do. If the budget or the colour takes you there, say so and I will build it properly. But if you ask me which one I would put on my own house, it is ADVANCED.
Where I would be honest with you about the gaps: WoodEvo do not publish a written position on chlorinated or salt pool water, and their warranty specifically excludes damage from chemical substances put on the boards. Their marketing pages call the product suitable for pool areas; their technical documents do not address it. If your deck wraps a pool I will tell you that gap exists rather than quote you the brochure. In practice it means what it means for any composite — hose the salt and the pool chemicals off the deck rather than letting them sit.
There are a few other places where WoodEvo’s own documents disagree with each other — warranty length, how hard you may pressure wash it, how much cooler the light colours run. Where that happens I have used the technical document over the marketing page and said so on this page. You get the version that will still be true when you make a claim.
WoodEvo Decking — Common Questions
What does WoodEvo decking cost in Sydney?
Between $750 and $850 per square metre supplied and installed for most jobs in the Eastern Suburbs. The frame drives the number more than the boards do — access, slope, footings, stairs, and whether an old frame has to come out. ADVANCED sits above HOME. I quote fixed price after a site visit.
What is the difference between the HOME and ADVANCED ranges?
HOME is a wood-plastic composite, 95% recycled, with a hard HDPE skin over it — the everyday choice, nine colours, 138mm x 23mm boards. ADVANCED has no timber in it at all: a foamed PVC core with an ASA skin, in 140mm x 25mm or 200mm x 32mm, six colours, each grooved or square-edged. ADVANCED costs more and is the one I would put on a bushfire-prone or hard-worked site.
What colours can I get?
HOME comes in Barossa, Basalt, Charcoal, Hampton, Nordic, Snow White, Tallowwood, Teak and Vic Ash. ADVANCED comes in Antique Silver, Blackbutt, Oak, Sandstone, Smoked Ash and Victorian Maple. I bring samples to the consultation — colour reads differently in your own light than it does on a screen.
How far apart do the joists go?
Up to 450mm for HOME, 400mm for the 140mm ADVANCED board and 450mm for the 200mm, with the boards laid square to the joists. Lay them on a 45 degree angle and those come back to 350mm, 300mm and 350mm. Those are WoodEvo’s maximums. I usually build tighter.
Is it bushfire rated?
Yes. Both ranges are CodeMark certified to BAL-29 — HOME under certificate CM70164, ADVANCED under CM70187. The certification covers the boards as decking and floor surface. It does not cover them as a wall or ceiling lining.
What is the warranty?
25 years residential and 10 years commercial, covering the decking and the stainless clips against manufacturing defects — splintering, rot, splitting, termite damage and fungal decay in normal use, properly installed. It is for the original purchaser, claims go in within 30 days of finding the problem with proof of purchase from an authorised dealer and photos, and the remedy is replacement of the product.
Does the warranty cover fading?
No. WoodEvo’s warranty gives no warranty over variations or changes in colour. Any composite or PVC board will settle in tone over its first year or two in Sydney sun, and I would rather you hear that from me at the consultation than read it in a warranty document afterwards.
Does it need oiling or sanding?
No — and more than that, you must not. No sanding, no staining, no sealing, no painting. Any coating or surface treatment applied to the boards voids the warranty. Maintenance is soap and water with a soft brush along the grain, a sweep every week or so and a wash once a month.
Can I pressure wash it?
Lightly. WoodEvo’s installation guide allows up to 1400psi on a wide spray. Their maintenance article quotes a higher figure — I work to the installation guide, because that is the document the warranty is written against. For stubborn marks, white vinegar diluted in water. No bleach, no ammonia, no solvents, no abrasive scrubbers.
Is it suitable around a pool?
WoodEvo’s marketing describes both ranges as suitable for pool areas. Their technical documents and warranty do not address chlorinated or salt water at all, and the warranty excludes damage from chemical substances applied to the boards. So: yes in practice, with the honest caveat that there is no written manufacturer position to lean on, and the rule that pool chemicals and salt residue get rinsed off the deck rather than left to sit. I will walk you through it at the consultation.
Are the boards solid or hollow?
WoodEvo do not state it, so I will not guess. I have asked them. If it matters to your job I will get the answer in writing before you order.
Do you install it yourself?
Yes. I am Greg, I hold builder’s licence 272840C, and I have been building decks across the Eastern Suburbs for 13+ years. Every metre is designed and built by me — no one sent in my place.
Greg from The Decksmith just finished our deck and pergola in Eastlakes and we couldn’t be happier. He’s a proper craftsman – does the work himself, no shortcuts, and clearly cares about what he’s building. Communication was easy the whole way through and he stuck to what he quoted. The pergola has completely changed how we use the backyard. Highly recommend if you’re in the Eastern Suburbs.
Sophie Bormashenko — Google review
Talk to Me About a WoodEvo Deck
If you are weighing WoodEvo against the other composites, the fastest way through it is to stand on the site with the samples in your hand. I come out, measure, look at what is already there, and give you a fixed price — not a rate per metre and a guess at the frame.
Book a consultation.
Greg Weinbren — The Decksmith — Builder’s Licence 272840C — Sydney Eastern Suburbs