How Much Does Decking Weigh?
Weight per square foot, per board, and per deck
Pressure-treated deck boards weigh about 3.5 pounds per square foot of surface, and composite runs closer to 5. A single 16-foot pressure-treated board is roughly 25 pounds; cedar about 15. The boards are the light part, though. On a tear-out, the concrete footings usually outweigh everything you cut off the top.
Decking weight at a glance
Per-square-foot figures cover the deck surface only. Add framing and footings for a full tear-out; see the tables below.
Decking weight by material
The material sets the weight, and the spread is wide. Cedar and redwood sit at the light end because they are low-density softwoods. Pressure-treated pine is heavier, partly because it is a denser wood and partly because it holds preservative and moisture. Composite and PVC are the heavy hitters: wood flour packed into plastic runs denser than any framing lumber.
| Decking material | Per sq ft (surface) | 16-ft board (5/4×6) |
|---|---|---|
| Cedar / redwood | ~2.1 lbs | ~15 lbs |
| Tongue-and-groove porch | ~2.3 lbs | ~17 lbs |
| PVC / vinyl | ~3.4 lbs | ~25 lbs |
| Pressure-treated pine | ~3.5 lbs | ~25 lbs |
| Tropical hardwood (ipe) | ~4.5 lbs | ~33 lbs |
| Composite (Trex-type) | ~5.0 lbs | ~37 lbs |
Board weights assume a standard 5/4-by-6 profile, actual 1 inch by 5.5 inches, at 16 feet. Composite works out heaviest on the pile because it also won't burn or chip down, so every board goes in the container.
What a full deck tear-out weighs
The surface boards are only part of the load. Under them sit joists, beams, a ledger, posts, and hardware, and all of that framing roughly doubles the wood weight per square foot. For a pressure-treated deck, budget about 7 to 8 pounds per square foot of deck for the wood, boards and framing together.
| Deck size | Area | Wood weight (boards + framing) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 × 12 | 120 sq ft | ~950 lbs |
| 12 × 16 | 192 sq ft | ~1,500 lbs |
| 16 × 20 | 320 sq ft | ~2,500 lbs |
| 20 × 20 | 400 sq ft | ~3,100 lbs |
Switch to composite and the surface weight jumps by roughly 40 percent, so add a few hundred pounds to each row. Then there are the footings. A raised deck sits on concrete piers, and those don't show up in the wood total at all. A 10-inch tube footing poured 3.5 feet deep holds close to 290 pounds of concrete; six of them is about 1,700 pounds. On a large deck, the footings can weigh as much as every board and joist combined.
That split is the whole story for disposal. Two very different materials come off one project: a lot of light, bulky wood, and a smaller pile of dense concrete. Size and sort your container around that split, not around the deck's footprint.
The footings are the weight, not the boards.
Deck wood is light for its bulk; a whole deck's boards and framing rarely trouble a dumpster's weight cap. The concrete piers are the trap. Toss six busted footings in with the wood and you can put a wood-sized load over its limit without filling it. Pull them separately and keep them out of the wood dumpster.
What this means when you rent a dumpster
Deck wood is volume-limited. Busted-up boards and framing pack loose at roughly 300 pounds per cubic yard; composite runs a bit denser near 400. Either way, you run out of space long before you run out of weight allowance, so size the container by how much wood you're pulling, not by the tonnage.
We recommend splitting the load. Concrete footings are clean, dense fill, and most recyclers take clean concrete cheap or free; mixed construction debris costs more per ton at the landfill. Set the footings aside as their own pile, and either haul them to a concrete recycler or drop them in a small heavy-debris container. Don't pay landfill rates to bury concrete that a recycler would take.
For the wood, a 15 or 20-yard dumpster covers most single-level decks. Composite tear-outs are the exception to watch: the boards are heavier and can't be burned or chipped, so plan on the full weight going in the box. If your deck predates 2004, the lumber may be CCA-treated (an older arsenic-based preservative); it's fine in a standard C&D dumpster, but check your local rules before burning or chipping any of it. Deciding whether to tear the deck out yourself or hire it out? Our guide to deck removal, DIY vs. pro, runs the cost math.
Reference Sources
Natural-wood weights come from published wood densities: western redcedar near 22 pounds per cubic foot, southern pine around 36 to 41, applied to a standard 1-inch-thick deck board. Composite and PVC figures come from manufacturer product data, which reports solid boards near 5 pounds per square foot. The loose-debris density reflects broken deck boards, framing, and fasteners packed in a container, heavier than clean milled lumber alone.
- Wood densities: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282), the federal reference for species density and specific gravity.
- Composite board weights: Trex product data and FAQ, reporting solid composite boards at roughly 1.5 to 2.5 pounds per linear foot (about 5 pounds per square foot).
- Loose debris factor: U.S. EPA Volume-to-Weight Conversion Factors (2016) lists clean dimensional lumber near 169 pounds per cubic yard; real deck debris packs heavier once treatment, framing, and fasteners ride along.
Related Pages
Know the weights; now size the container. These tools do the disposal math for deck tear-outs and the concrete that comes with them.
Common questions
How much does composite decking weigh?
About 5 pounds per square foot, roughly 40 percent more than pressure-treated wood. A standard 16-foot composite board (5/4 by 6) runs about 37 pounds. Composite is wood fiber bound in plastic, denser than solid softwood, so the boards feel heavy for their size.
How much does a pressure-treated deck board weigh?
A 5/4 by 6 by 16-foot board is about 25 pounds, or roughly 3.5 pounds per square foot. Freshly treated boards weigh more, since they leave the yard soaked with preservative and shed a few pounds as they dry.
How much does a whole deck weigh to tear out?
A 320-square-foot deck holds about 2,500 pounds of wood. The concrete footings add separately, often another 1,500 to 2,500 pounds on a raised deck. A mid-size tear-out lands around 2 to 2.5 tons total, split between light bulky wood and dense concrete.
Do I need a heavy-debris dumpster for a deck?
For the wood, no. Boards and framing are volume-limited, filling a container's space before its weight cap. The footings are the exception; busted concrete is dense enough to overweight a wood-sized load, so keep it out and dispose of it separately.
Disclaimer: These weights are estimates for common decking materials at typical moisture. Actual weight varies with species, brand, board profile, preservative retention, and how wet the wood is. Pressure-treated and rain-soaked boards run heavier than the dry figures above. For a large tear-out, or before mixing concrete footings into any load, confirm sizing and weight limits with your hauler. This is general information, not professional or legal advice. See the Terms of Use for full terms and disclaimers.