Balau Decking: Strength and Beauty for Your Outdoor Spaces

Getting Balau Decking Quotes in Cape Town

Balau is the timber most Cape Town decks end up being built from, and there is a straightforward reason for it. The two things that destroy decks on this coast are relentless summer sun and salt-laden southeaster, and balau’s density is what lets it shrug off both.

It sits mid-range on price at roughly R2,250 per square metre installed. More than pine, marginally under garapa, well under massaranduba. For most homeowners it is the point where durability and cost meet sensibly in Cape Town.

What balau wood actually is?

Balau is a trade name rather than a single species. It covers several closely related Southeast Asian hardwoods, mostly from the Shorea genus, sold under one commercial label because they behave near enough identically.

Density is the whole story

At roughly 850 to 950 kg per cubic metre, balau is around twice the weight of South African pine. That density is what resists denting, what slows moisture ingress, and what gives the timber its working life. Nearly every practical characteristic of balau traces back to it.