Composite Decking

[KansasArt]

In the process of removing the old PT 5/4 deck boards. Contemplating composite. They all look nice when installed, but what about after 10, 15 years? Is there much difference between the various brands? Does one brand stand out among the others? The main brands seem to be trex, deckorators, fiberon, and aztec. I'm sure there are more.
My main reasons for contemplating this are:

• Hidden fastening systems
• Appearance
• Less maintenance vs PT

My current dimensions are 16' X 26' but will probably reduce it to 18'-20'. 2X10 joist 16" OC. Actually about 1/2 of them are 12" OC in case we ever added a hot tub. Never did. Max span of them is 8'. It sits about 18" above grade.
I have no actual experience with any brand, so don't know if one is better than the other. Trex seems to be available everywhere so that makes me think it's an entry level performer. But that's just a WAG. Last time I checked 5/4 X 16' PT at the big box was about $16. There is a real lumber yard that carries kiln dried PT decking. I will probably use that if I stick to PT. If you have experience with the differences of multiple brands that would be great!

Thanks!

 

[tarmy]

I have used Trex and old one called timbertech (I think )

Trex works great for me in snow country…built this 2 years ago. My other decks are about 12 years old and still look great.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I've had Trex on my deck for 6-7 years, and the only thing I've had to do to it is hose it down.

 

[cgrutt]

I've used Trex and Timbertech (Aztec) both are good. There are different levels within brands the best are solid composite. Some are "capped" on three or four sides. Capped boards are significantly cheaper than solid composite but will leave exposed end cuts that either need to be painted or you should lay out with a "picture frame" around perimeter so you don't see any end cuts. Picture framing looks nice but requires more structure below it. 16 o/c should be fine unless you run diagonally check instructions with whatever product you select. Note capped decking in dark colors can become unbearably hot depending on location full composite stays considerably cooler.

 

[finn]

I have a 12x24 and a 10x20 with the Menards house brand of solid decking that I put up in about 1993, so it’s about thirty years old. Still looks good, and no maintenance except fo a pressure washing every five or six years. It’s on 16” centers, and just now is showing a little waviness. We used the then current hidden fastening system, but there are better systems available now.

We more recently put in a 10’x50’ dock, using one of the higher grade TREX products. It hasn’t been there for a long term report long term durability yet.

 

[Hank11]

Trex and similar boards get really hot in the sun. Hot enough to make walking barefoot not attractive to most people.

 

[finn]

Trex and similar boards get really hot in the sun. Hot enough to make walking barefoot not attractive to most people.

Composite decking is available in light colors.

 

[Higgins]

In the process of removing the old PT 5/4 deck boards. Contemplating composite. They all look nice when installed, but what about after 10, 15 years? Is there much difference between the various brands? Does one brand stand out among the others? The main brands seem to be trex, deckorators, fiberon, and aztec. I'm sure there are more.
My main reasons for contemplating this are:

• Hidden fastening systems
• Appearance
• Less maintenance vs PT

My current dimensions are 16' X 26' but will probably reduce it to 18'-20'. 2X10 joist 16" OC. Actually about 1/2 of them are 12" OC in case we ever added a hot tub. Never did. Max span of them is 8'. It sits about 18" above grade.
I have no actual experience with any brand, so don't know if one is better than the other. Trex seems to be available everywhere so that makes me think it's an entry level performer. But that's just a WAG. Last time I checked 5/4 X 16' PT at the big box was about $16. There is a real lumber yard that carries kiln dried PT decking. I will probably use that if I stick to PT. If you have experience with the differences of multiple brands that would be great!

Thanks!

As I recall the 5/4. PT decking can be installed on 24 “ center where the composit decking requires 16” On Center

 

[Mikeske]

I really researched this very thing ten years ago when I had my front 8’ x 48’ covered porch built and decided to do it in cedar.

I again researched using an engineered artificial wood products 7 years when I had my 10’x 62’ covered back deck and again decided to use cedar on the flooring.

It actually come down to cost factor for me as at the time Trex and similar products were one and half to two times more expensive. If my deck were not covered I probably would have gone with Trex or a similar product but since my decks are under an awning I went with cedar.

 

[Adaylate]

Trex and similar boards get really hot in the sun. Hot enough to make walking barefoot not attractive to most people.

Grandson ended up in the ER with blisters on his feet from Trex.
He was too young to tell us what happened and crying too hard but the granddaughter he was with could tell us where they'd been. She had flip flops on. He recovered nicely.
The deck and stairs were too new for us to know.
Be careful with bare feet and animals.
Good luck!

 

[TMcCay]

I don't know what the current prices are like, but 3 years ago when I built our deck ( 10 x 20 ) I used Cumaru. It is a Brazilian hardwood. The price was inline with the composite decking. I bought it from BWDepot in Georgia. Every board was great, the shipping reasonable, and packed very well. I would do it again without a doubt.

Might be something to look into.

 

[ludakris04]

I have a small deck, 10x10 ish, that is mostly in the shade.
years ago I went through this dilemma and ended up with Cumaru, as at the time it was between PT and Trex for cost.
I believed everything I saw about Cumaru that it could be oiled and would look new for at least a while.. it did not. It immediately turned black and green. Not supposed to pressure wash it but I did..
Also, I did camo hidden fasteners and everything had to be pre drilled because its a hard wood and would crack otherwise.
I eventually ran across a sale on Trex, replaced the Cumaru and could not be happier. I have one spot that gets green, and I just scrub it a bit and hit it with the hose.
In retrospect, the Trex was much easier to install and looks way better long term.

Again, this is all location dependent.. in regards to sun/shade.

 

[KansasArt]

@tarmy Nice pictures. thanks for sharing!
@Mikeske I looked into cedar. But at only 18" above grade I don't think it will properly dry out.
Sounds like all brands are similar in quality, even the store brand at Menards that @finn has and has lasted 30 years. That's impressive!
Appreciate all the feed back!

 

[kbuhagiar]

Twenty years ago we installed a 24' x 30' deck and did the same sort of research (natural vs. manufactured planking). In the San Francisco Bay Area at the time the overwhelmingly predominant decking material was redwood, and the redwood suppliers must've been giving kickbacks to all of the contractors, as everyone who provided an estimate was emphasizing the 'warmth' of redwood vs. the manufactured planking. When pressed for maintenance details, they would confirm the need to re-seal it every season, and that it was worth the effort for the 'warmth' and 'character' of redwood.

No thank you.

I finally found a fencing contractor who was experienced with both types of materials and showed no bias, but eventually he confided that the benefits of Trex were way worth it, and that he actually preferred it because it was easier to work with. Went with the Trex and never looked back, and it did not cost any more than redwood (at that time, not sure about now). Maintenance couldn't be easier; a good hose down once, maybe twice a year. We sold the SF house last year and our RE agent used the deck as a main selling point.

Still can't understand how anyone who is responsible for their own deck would prefer the redwood, but I guess that's just me.

 

[acer66]

Twenty years ago we installed a 24' x 30' deck and did the same sort of research (natural vs. manufactured planking). In the San Francisco Bay Area at the time the overwhelmingly predominant decking material was redwood, and the redwood suppliers must've been giving kickbacks to all of the contractors, as everyone who provided an estimate was emphasizing the 'warmth' of redwood vs. the manufactured planking. When pressed for maintenance details, they would confirm the need to re-seal it every season, and that it was worth the effort for the 'warmth' and 'character' of redwood.

No thank you.

I finally found a fencing contractor who was experienced with both types of materials and showed no bias, but eventually he confided that the benefits of Trex were way worth it, and that he actually preferred it because it was easier to work with. Went with the Trex and never looked back, and it did not cost any more than redwood (at that time, not sure about now). Maintenance couldn't be easier; a good hose down once, maybe twice a year. We sold the SF house last year and our RE agent used the deck as a main selling point.

Still can't understand how anyone who is responsible for their own deck would prefer the redwood, but I guess that's just me.

Not just you and as much as I like the feel and look of real wood the upkeep makes it not a good option for me too.

Most people focus on the initial price of a deck.
My last deck job was for a friend and I could not even convince him to seal the top the joists not even talking about anything but pt deck boards.

 

[Shiftless]

My 20x20 deck sits on flat 2x4 PT sleepers over a garage roof with only a slight pitch for drainage. I used a solid composite material called “Moisture Shield” 1x6 set on 12 inch centers.
I chose to have it attached with stainless steel screws through the top but you can use invisible clips.
Except for dirt, after 5 years looks as good as new.
Even though I picked light gray, direct sun still heats it up too hot for bare feet.
The stuff is available in an extra thick version for greater spans.

 

[dcg9381]

I got ours from CaliBamboo. They have a number of styles. It seems just as good as TREX as far as I can tell.

Only downside that I know about is that it can attract and retain dust.. But I'm never going back to wood again.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Did mine just last year in Menard's UltraDeck. Love it so far, but need to do the railing this spring.

 

[MarlynOC]

Look to Ipe as an alternative.

 

[Mike65]

We did ours 1 year ago, we used Trex. We also used the hidden fasteners.

 

[Youngandfree]

This is a "cool touch" composite decking

CoolDeck Technology: The Coolest Composite Decking

CoolDeck technology enables our composite decking to stay cool under the hot, summer sun. Create a comfortable outdoor living space with MoistureShield.

www.moistureshield.com

 

[zippyslug31]

Another Trex customer checking in. I don't recall the specific product of Trex's that we went with, but since we were doing a fairly small porch we went with one of their top-tier product. Installed it about 5 years ago and it still looks basically new.
For context, where I live it's fairly snowy in the winter and strong sun in the summer.

Some downsides that come to mind:
- in the snow, it can be pretty slippery
- super hot in direct sun
- due to the product's floppiness, you need to frame about double as compared to a wood deck
- factoring in both the product and the hidden fasteners we used the stuff is very expensive, per sq ft
- if self-installed, conventional saw blades dull pretty quick (they do make dedicated blades for composites)
- the hidden fasteners are a little fiddly to install

With those downsides mentioned, I'd still do it again today.

 

[Pluribus]

Best decking material I've ever used was Trex about 20 years ago. Supposedly, at some point they changed the wood fiber component from Maple(?) to Poplar(?) and that's when the problems began. I also surface-fastened and had no issues at the penetrations. The light gray that I used wasn't hot underfoot, and it was super-grippy when wet. I loved the radiused edges, and being the same material throughout, I radiused my ends with a router to match. Loved the look and feel, so I was a very happy customer! I've seen lots of later Trex that swelled up and delaminated with moisture, so I never bought or recommended it again.

Currently, it seems most manufacturers have gone to more plastic-y materials that are slicker than snot when wet. Living in a wet climate, I also hate the grooved boards for hidden fastener systems. The amount of **** and munge they collect is hideous, even when spacing out to almost 3/8" between boards.

TL;DR: Original Trex, no grooves, large spacing = win. As far as I know, it's not available any more = fail.

 

[KansasArt]

Thanks for the replies. Sold me on composite vs PT. Now just gotta settle on a brand/color. I like darker vs lighter but this will be on the south west corner. Lots of sun. So appreciate the heads up about hot boards. Thinking about a sun sail for shade.

Thank you again!!

 

[CraigStu]

We are researching right now. SIL used Moisture Shield brand last year. He is not a fan of the hidden fasteners. He is a perfectionist and wants perfect board gaps. The problem for him was the grooves in the board are not perfect so the 'T' part of the fastener isn't always bottomed out in the groove so the board can move. Some of his boards were slightly bowed (looking down at it when installed) and the fasteners had a hard time holding the board straight. The fasteners are also expensive. We used the original Trex on another house 20 yrs ago. Problem was it stained. My wife likes to set flower pots around usually growing spices in them. The Trex ended up w/ rings that bleach and power washing didn't quite remove. So thinking of that I am looking at the 'capped' styles. On some brands at the end of the board you can easily see the outer 1/16inch is a different color from the rest of the board. I think that will fix the staining but not sure yet how it would affect using flat head deck screws. The old Trex we just ran the screws down to a little below the surface and the material kind of sprung back after the screw head passed through. Didn't quite close the hole but was close. We will do our covered front porch first so not worried by the heat but the small deck out back is going to get the moisture shield cool decking that young and free linked to.

 

[MerlinsBeard]

I'm still on the PT side of the fence. My black lab loves to sun bath, kids go out barefoot. Just nervous of burning their feet in the summer since there's no deck shade. I pressure wash, sand and stain every 2-3 years. My deck is only 12' x 12' though, so I can get it done fairly quickly. 11 years in I have a small wood piece that split in half in the corner around a deck post, but the rest has held up. Some of the knots have turned to holes. Maybe in about 10 years when I'm ready to replace, if there's a cooler version of engineered wood I may try that.

 

[cgrutt]

I'm still on the PT side of the fence. My black lab loves to sun bath, kids go out barefoot. Just nervous of burning their feet in the summer since there's no deck shade. I pressure wash, sand and stain every 2-3 years. My deck is only 12' x 12' though, so I can get it done fairly quickly. 11 years in I have a small wood piece that split in half in the corner around a deck post, but the rest has held up. Some of the knots have turned to holes. Maybe in about 10 years when I'm ready to replace, if there's a cooler version of engineered wood I may try that.

There's something to be said about using P/T over composite, it can look very good, last a fairly long time with proper maintenance all the while being substantially more economical. Updated a pretty large 16 y/o deck for customer last Fall it was stained when new and never treated afterwards. Original decking and railing was shot but structure remained in fairly good shape only needed to replace a couple joists and the exposed rim joist. Customer wanted Trex and we spent a long time getting various quotes for both Trex and Timbertech the best grade coming in over $30k for materials alone. At end of day customer decided to stick with P/T (with Trex railing) at a materials cost just over $10k. Family has pets and wanted dark boards so heat was a factor in their decision as well. Need to stain this Spring and I told them if they keep up with the maintenance it should last as long as they keep this house (which at this point they only use during Summer).

 

[KansasArt]

I'm still on the PT side of the fence. My black lab loves to sun bath, kids go out barefoot. Just nervous of burning their feet in the summer since there's no deck shade. I pressure wash, sand and stain every 2-3 years. My deck is only 12' x 12' though, so I can get it done fairly quickly. 11 years in I have a small wood piece that split in half in the corner around a deck post, but the rest has held up. Some of the knots have turned to holes. Maybe in about 10 years when I'm ready to replace, if there's a cooler version of engineered wood I may try that.

My original had 2 levels of PT. Upper level around the pool. Lower level to the house. Stained mahogany flame from Cabot, Australian Timber Oil Line. It got very hot in the sun, to where you couldn’t walk on it barefoot. So I’m not expecting any different from composite.