One of the great frustrations associated with owning a beautifully crafted wooden gate is knowing that you will spend a decade or more maintaining it by repainting, re-staining, and/or watching as it slowly decays and splits despite your best efforts. Composite gates were designed as a solution to these problems by offering materials that mimic wood in appearance while offering a level of durability and strength that is rarely encountered in more conventional materials.
While composite gates have come a long way from their early counterparts that looked convincingly bad from three meters out, modern composites can fool even seasoned tradespeople when examined up close. This raises a rather pertinent point: when aesthetics are virtually identical and maintenance is minimal, what is the point of traditional wood gates anymore?
The Cost Calculation Gets Complex
Traditional wooden gates need to be treated every 12-18 months, depending on the UK weather. If the gates are in a more exposed position, this can be more often. That’s materials, labour, and often the disruption of restricted access whilst the gates dry. Multiply this by 15-20 years, and the cumulative cost of maintaining wooden gates can add up. Composite gates need only the occasional cleaning with soapy water, and that’s it.
The durability differential is also important to consider. A timber gate will last for 15 years before needing replacement. Composite gates have a warranty of 10-25 years, and the actual lifespan is far longer than that. The material doesn’t rot, split, or warp in a way that damages the integrity of the gate.
Resale value is another area where composite gates are not necessarily better than timber gates. The value of composite gates will depend on the market perceptions of the area in which you are selling. Some buyers will want period-specific timber gates and will see composite gates as a cost-cutting measure that damages the authenticity of the property. Others will appreciate the practicality of composite gates and see them as a positive improvement. Again, this is not a clear-cut answer and will depend on your market and how you read it.
The Environmental Question Nobody Asks Consistently
The debate over the relative environmental merits of timber and composite gates is not a simple one to answer, despite what some manufacturers may want you to believe. Timber is a renewable resource that is biodegradable and actually helps the environment by sequestering carbon while it grows. However, the process of harvesting timber and the chemicals involved in treating it are not environmentally friendly. The fact that a timber gate will need replacing every 15 years also doesn’t help in this regard.
Composite gates are made from petrochemical-based polymers and have a high energy requirement for production. Once a composite gate is finished with its use, it cannot be recycled and will end up in landfill, where it will last for decades. However, a composite gate will last for three times longer than a timber alternative and will have a lower overall environmental impact.
Composites using recycled materials change this a little, using less landfill space and using less virgin material, although there are huge differences in recycled material content from manufacturer to manufacturer, and sometimes quality suffers with increased recycled material.
It’s worth noting that anyone who says either option is significantly more environmentally friendly is oversimplifying things considerably.
What You Sacrifice
Composite gates cannot be repaired in any meaningful way if they are damaged. If a timber gate gets damaged by a vehicle, it can be repaired, or sections replaced. If a composite gate gets damaged, it needs to be replaced in its entirety. The fact that composites are modular helps this a little, so individual panels can be replaced, although this is still not as wide a choice as timber.
The look, while convincing, is still ultimately a bit dull. All boards look exactly right, which is a look that some people like and some people dislike. Real timber has a lot of variation in its look, with colours changing, grain varying, knots, and other features. This imperfect look is part of its charm, and this is exactly what composite materials aim to get rid of.
Extreme temperatures will cause colours to fade over time, especially in darker colours which are subjected to a lot of sunlight. The quality of the material will help this last a lot longer, with high-end composites having a much longer life than lower-end composites, although nothing will last forever.