Hi I would check that your deck can take extra weight like tiles and additional cement sheet products as well. It looks to me like a light timber frame structure but it does have steel beams holding the cantilevered weight. I would get a designer or draughtsperson to look at it and give you some ideas. If you use a hardwood it will grey off naturally but you will have no maintenance. If you stain the timber the maintenance is every 2yrs really...

I actually had a marble counter in a flat I lived in in Europe for a while. I knew nothing about maintenance so just treated it like any other hard surface, and it looked fine (and I wasn't the first person to live in that flat, I assure you). It's more common in Europe, and not so much trendy there as classic. But Europeans aren't quite as finicky as North Americans and Australians seem to be about flawless and unblemished finishes.

Apart from the Barestone cladding and the sub-floor brickwork, what are your choices for guttering and downspouts? What is style of house-I'm thinking modern.?? Single floor, double-storey, or other? All of the external materials need to be considered in order to achieve a cohesive style. You want them to work well together. You may want merely to blend, recede into its environment, or you may want to make a dramatic statement. It would help to know style of house and what other materials & specific colours you have already selected or are presently considering. Answers to these questions will help with further comment. Cheers.

I've been looking for reviews for Heartridge and couldn't find any either, so hard to choose them without that information!