Technical Information

About The Board

Champagne Light Oak is part of our Elite capped range, which sits above our standard uncapped boards. It’s a fully shielded composite, meaning the protective surface wraps the board on all four sides rather than just sitting on the top face. This is what gives the board its UV-locked colour, its wipe-clean surface and its longer-term resistance to staining. The board is reversible, with two light oak surface finishes. One side carries a fully embossed wood grain that closely mimics natural sawn timber. The reverse has a plain pattern that suits more contemporary installations where a smoother visual line is wanted. The core composition is the same 60% plastic and 40% recycled wood blend used across our range. The cap is bonded during manufacture rather than applied as a separate layer, which is what stops it lifting, peeling or delaminating over time.

Board Sizes & Weights

• Length: 2200mm
• Width: 145mm
• Depth: 21mm
• Weight: approx. 5.6kg per board
• Coverage: 0.319m² per board

These dimensions are slightly different to our standard 150mm x 25mm uncapped boards. If you’re working out coverage from a previous Tough Decking quote, do recalculate against the Elite spec.

How It Performs

Stains and spills: This is where the capped construction earns its money. Red wine, oils, sun cream, BBQ drips and the usual garden party hazards wipe off the surface rather than soaking in. On an uncapped board these can occasionally leave a faint mark even after cleaning. On the Elite range they don’t.Colour: UV-locked during manufacture. No initial weathering period, no settling-in, no fading over time. The Champagne Light Oak tone is consistent from day one and stays that way under our 15-year guarantee.Surface scratches: The cap is hardwearing under normal garden use, including furniture, BBQs and pets. Worth understanding that capped boards can’t be sanded out the way our uncapped boards can, so a deep gouge would need a board replacement rather than a fix-in-place repair. In practice this is rarely an issue, but if you have a particular concern (heavy commercial traffic, large dogs, frequent furniture moves), it’s worth a conversation with us before ordering.Heat: Champagne Light Oak is a lighter tone, which means it handles direct sun better than a darker capped board would. It’s a sensible choice for poolsides and any deck likely to see bare feet in summer.Underfoot: The textured surface gives genuine grip in the wet, the same as our standard range.Looking after it: A wipe-down with warm soapy water is all that’s normally needed. No staining, sealing, or annual treatment.

Fitting

The Elite range has one important installation requirement that’s different to our standard boards:Joist centres must be no more than 300mm apart to keep the warranty valid. This is tighter than the spacing some installers default to with composite, so worth checking your sub-frame spec before ordering. If you’re working from an existing sub-frame built for our standard range, you may need to add additional joists. For most domestic decks we recommend allowing 10% wastage. Simple shapes can usually run on 5%, anything with curves or mitres needs 15%. The boards work with all our clip systems:

• X-Clips are our preferred fixing for a tight 3 to 4mm joint, and the right choice for vertical risers under step nosing or when cladding.
• Stainless steel T-clips are the standard hidden fixing for the main deck area.
• Plastic T-clips are a budget option for domestic jobs.
• Starter clips are for the first board against a wall or edge.

Trims, Fascias and Step Nosing

Two things to know before you order:L-Profile Corner Trims and Fascia Skirtings are fully compatible with the Elite range, but they’re produced through a different manufacturing process to the capped boards. An exact colour match isn’t possible. Most customers choose a complementary tone, a darker brown or a warm grey depending on the look they’re after, rather than trying to match the oak directly. We’ll happily send samples to help you decide.Step Nosing isn’t a flush fit out of the box because the Elite board is 21mm deep rather than 25mm. This is solved by adjusting the sub-frame heights and clipping the step nosing sections independently of the deck boards. It’s a straightforward bit of carpentry once you know about it, but you don’t want to find out about it after the joists are down. Give our technical team a call on 01803 313211 before you start the sub-frame and we’ll walk you through it.

Where It’s Used

We supply Champagne Light Oak for high-end residential gardens, contemporary architectural builds, restaurant and pub terraces, hotel courtyards and any project where the brief is “a wood-look deck that won’t ever look tired”. It’s particularly popular with customers who’ve looked at real timber and decided the maintenance schedule isn’t worth it, but who didn’t want to settle for a grey composite as the alternative.

Warranty

Every Elite board carries a 15-year guarantee, subject to the 300mm joist centre requirement above. If you have a question about the warranty or want to talk through an installation before ordering, give us a ring on 01803 313211 or drop us an email at sales@toughdecking.co.uk. You’ll get someone who actually knows the product.