Opinions/experiences with composite type decking

muncybob

Well, the time has come that both of us are done staining the pine deck e/o year or so. Tried several brands of stain and the best we got was 3 years before needing to restain. Looking at Trex, TimberTech, etc deck products and even though it will be a lot of $$ it will be worth it, we hope. I've heard stories of warping, extreme hot to the touch and others, but I don't know anybody who has had this type of deck for several years that I can get an opinion from. Anybody out there that can give me first hand experience over the long run or maybe you know somebody?

Jstas

I don't have first hand experience but a few years ago, my parents had their cedar deck replaced with some Trex that looks pretty much the same. My mom's only complaint is that instead of sanding and refinishing, she's having to mop. Otherwise it's been ok. They don't walk around in bare feet or anything and the deck is in the shade most of the time (hence the reason it needs to be cleaned, tree funk) but once cleaned it looks the same as it did when they had it put in.

One thing about any of the composites, they aren't structural. They can't take a lateral load. So if you're like me and have spring strap stanchions for your pool cover, composite decking isn't an option or you have to do something like put blocking under the decking so you have something to screw the stanchions to underneath. Otherwise they will rip right out.

stangman67

Can't give you any long term opinions or really any first hand experience at this point but I bit the bullet and bought Timbertech decking for our island deck. I will be building it here in the next month. Certainly not cheap and the companies have pretty decent warranties.

The small local company I bought the timbertech from said ventilation is very important, if you fascia down to the ground, moisture gets trapped and in heat high situations cause terrible humidity issues which is why you see cracking and warping sometimes (it also voids the warranty if the deck isn't ventilated in three sides). We fully expect the color to fade over the years, just something that comes with the territory

gudnoyez

I chose Azek over both Timbertech and Trex on our new deck and glad I did it turned out great and so far has lived up to its reputation.

We had a huge hail storm and a Drecho a month later lost trees, roof on the garage and house severely damaged, fence was damaged, siding on the house was damaged. The deck was left unscathed even after chunks of shingles and storm debris fell on it, it was the only thing on the property that made it through both storms.

VR3

We installed a trex type board on our front porch floor and it has been performed great so far. It has only been 6 months or so.

I built a crawl space door out of trex ten years ago... It looks exactly like it did ten years ago, hardly faded as well.

pearsall001

I have a 900 sq ft (approx) Trex deck around my 24' above ground pool that pretty much makes it like an ingroud pool & it's also tied into my lower deck coming off of the house. Between the top & bottom decks I can handle 40-50 people ( trust me!!! 🍻🍻🍻🍹🍹🍹) It's now 15 yrs old & looks like it was just put down. I also went with white vinyl railings that have aluminum inside for strong support. The railings also look as if they were just installed no sagging or fading. I paid good money back 15 years ago for the entire package but that was the best money I've spent on a project. No complaints at all. Also back then you could get Trex in any color...as long as it was gray!

Easy as pie to clean... liquid pool chlorine with a sprayer & simply hose it off.
I'll never considered a wood deck again.

Willow

Interesting, we are currently getting quotes to do about 740sq ft. First one came in at 33k. Getting another tomorrow and the day after. We stopped at 740 but in a dream world we'd like to have 1300sq ft done but I'm not ready to sell my body parts yet

OleBoot

We have a Trex deck that's about 25 years old and was installed when Trex was a new thing. The only complaint I ever had about it was that when we decided that we wanted to extend the deck a few feet. the extra Trex came from a new batch that they couldn't guarantee a color match, so we have 3 feet or so that is a bit lighter. Maybe in more recent years this isn't a problem. Other than that I'm deeply impressed by this stuff. Apart from some mold removal where the deck doesn't get sun, it looks brand new.

Toolfan66

We used Veranda on our new deck 15 years ago, still love it. Keeping it clean is easy, once a year I power wash it (spring), and in the winter I keep the snow off of it as much as possible, the north side of the deck is open not covered so a heavy snow can take a while to melt, and I feel better knowing it's not melting, and freezing under everything. I figure keeping things as dry as I can will help..

muncybob

Well, if ever I needed convincing that this is the right move, I have no doubt now. It seems these materials have come a long ways in quality over the last few years and almost seems if I stick with one of the major players I can't go wrong.

On a side note, this new format would look a lot better if the background was grey composite decking!

shawn474

I have built two wood decks that I eventually replaced with Trex deck boards. The only complaints I ever had were:
1. We live in a wooded, shady and damp area. Algae would collect on the boards. BUT it is much easier to clean the composite then the wood and doesn’t degrade the product at all.
2. Most wood decks have joists that are spaced 16” apart. This, in my opinion, is too much for the composite. In hot august days, the boards would flex in between the joists (I weigh 200lbs). If you’re going to do a composite deck and live in areas where it gets hit in the summer I would be prepared to brace every 12” or so to decrease the amount of flex / stress you put on the boards.

Also, use the high quality stainless screws. There is no reason to cheap out on the fasteners. If they rust they look awful.

muncybob

Just spoke with a neighbor and he was looking at TimberTech...was concerned that the boards seemed warped. Salesperson said they will go down easily and stay straight once secure. I don't doubt that they will straighten with screws, but it seems measuring warped boards may be tricky.

Is it common for the longer boards to be like this?

stangman67

if you go into Home Depot or Lowes and look at Trex boards, they are all warped to some degree. The warps are usually minimal and if necessary, you can always rip the ends of the boards once they are down to ensure they are perfectly uniformed in length although I doubt the minimal warping is really going to cause too many measuring issues.

Toolfan66

shawn474 wrote: »

I have built two wood decks that I eventually replaced with Trex deck boards. The only complaints I ever had were:
1. We live in a wooded, shady and damp area. Algae would collect on the boards. BUT it is much easier to clean the composite then the wood and doesn’t degrade the product at all.
2. Most wood decks have joists that are spaced 16” apart. This, in my opinion, is too much for the composite. In hot august days, the boards would flex in between the joists (I weigh 200lbs). If you’re going to do a composite deck and live in areas where it gets hit in the summer I would be prepared to brace every 12” or so to decrease the amount of flex / stress you put on the boards.

Also, use the high quality stainless screws. There is no reason to cheap out on the fasteners. If they rust they look awful.

I went every 12 inches, defiantly don't cheap out on hardware. I still have half a buckets worth of those screws... Warping is not an issue as they will flex in place..

invalid

The 12" on center is a good idea, even if they feel really strong when you first install them, they can weaken over time. The only option that is better for longevity and strength is extruded aluminum decking planks, they actually have a nice looking coating on the aluminum planks now.

stangman67

We looked at IPE, its gorgeous and a fantastic option if you are willing to spend the extra. Decided against it to save some money and for ease of care