Backyard swimming pool sales have skyrocketed this year as public swimming pools remain closed and vacation plans have canceled. As a result, families have focused on renovating their backyards in anticipation of spending more time there throughout summer and the year.

“Our business went up 270 percent,” says Ashley Campbell of Decked Out Construction and Outdoor Living in Gilmer, Texas. “A lot of people we are dealing with are putting in pools or got a pool and want to put a deck around it.”

According to a survey of Pool and Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA) member builders, 45 percent forecasted their overall summer season revenue to be up 10 percent or more. Forty percent said that in April, their sales were already up by 10 percent or more from the same time a year ago. Sixty percent forecast overall sales to be higher than 2019.

Just as important as the pool is the deck around it.

According to the Cleveland-based research organization Freedonia Group, decking sales have been positive this year, despite the recession. It projects that demand for decking will exceed $7 billion by 2023.

Decking has always served a dual purpose: it has to be attractive and also functional. To accomplish both, a deck has to withstand many elements, including water, chemicals, wear and tear, and weather. Wood decking has always been a popular look for decking, and particularly trendy in recent years for its natural beauty.

Thanks to engineered decking materials, builders can recreate a rustic, natural wood-looking deck around swimming pools without worrying about splinters, slipping, shrinkage and rot associated with actual wood. Not only that, such decking materials have become lighter and easier to install as well. Many are designed with lines and grooves to mimic actual wood, and come in a variety of colors.

Fortress Building Products’ Apex PVC Decking provides all the advantages of an alternative decking without any of the hassle. There’s no need to stain or sand it. The product is also anti-microbial, meaning it’s difficult for mold and algae to adhere to it. It is also incredibly strong, expands and contracts 25 percent less than other PVC decks, so warping is less likely. It’s also highly-rated slip-resistant, so people don’t have to worry about falling on a wet deck. Apex also comes in a wide array of colors and shades, so builders can help select a wood variety that coordinates seamlessly into the backyard landscape and the home’s design.

Using heat, Apex can be curved and manipulated around the rounded edges of a pool, Campbell notes, and accomplished much more easily than composite decking. “It’s a much nicer-looking deck using Apex,” he says. “When you see it installed, from a Pinterest point of view, it looks like a real, high-end wood deck.”

To learn more about decking for your pool projects, visit Fortress Decking.