Are herringbone, diagonal or inlaid decking patterns worth the extra cost and effort?

What a pattern is for

A decking pattern is a design tool, not decoration. Its job is to do one of three things: make a large, plain floor feel like it was designed; mark where one room of the deck ends and another begins; or make an odd shape, a bay or an angled edge, look intentional. If a pattern does one of those jobs, it is worth considering. If it is there because a photo looked nice, it will probably look like effort rather than ease. The simplest patterns, a border with a breaker board or a single change of direction, do most of the work for the least cost.

For the basics of board direction and the border board itself, see our answer on board direction and picture framing. This answer is about going further than that.

The patterns, from simple to demanding

A picture frame with a breaker board is a border around the perimeter and a single board across the deck where two fields of boards meet, so the field boards can change direction or simply break their length. It is the most useful pattern and the least fussy. A diagonal field runs the boards at forty-five degrees to the house, which lengthens the eye line and suits a deck that is wider than it is deep. A herringbone or chevron uses two diagonal fields meeting at a center line, and reads strongly from a second story window. Inlays, a contrasting board set into the field as a stripe or a panel, are the most demanding and the easiest to overdo.

What the framing has to do

Every seam in a pattern is a line of board ends, and every board end needs solid support. A border needs blocking along the perimeter. A breaker board needs a doubled joist or a flat block under its full length so both the breaker and the field boards land on wood. Herringbone center lines need the same. Diagonal boards span farther between joists than boards run square, so composite manufacturers typically require tighter joist spacing for a diagonal field, and that means more joists or a sistered frame. None of this is hard, but it has to be in the drawings and the lumber order, not discovered when the boards arrive.

Waste, labor and movement

Diagonal and herringbone fields create a cut at both ends of nearly every board, and the offcuts are triangles that cannot be reused. Expect noticeably more material than a square field of the same area, and more hours of layout and cutting. Wood decking that is not fully dry will shrink across its width, and a pattern makes that movement visible at every mitered meeting; composite and thermally modified wood move far less and hold a pattern cleanly. Hidden fasteners work well with patterns but need the groove orientation thought through at every angle change.

Where patterns work and where they do not

Patterns earn their place on a deck large enough to show them whole, roughly a deck where the pattern can repeat several times without being interrupted by a post, a door landing or a step. They also work when seen from above, from a balcony or an upstairs window, which is common in two-story North County houses. On a small deck, or one crowded with furniture, the pattern disappears under the table and leaves only the extra cost. A border and a well-placed breaker board give a small deck all the finish it needs.

A simple rule

Use the least pattern that solves the problem. If the deck is plain and large, try a border first. If two rooms need defining, add a breaker board and change direction once. Only if the deck is big and seen from above does a full diagonal or herringbone field pay for itself. A pattern that is restrained will look good for the life of the deck; one that is busy will date it.

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