Deck replacement- Composite material recommendations

[Mrxyz]

Hi
My wood deck is falling apart. I live in the Midwest. Tired of repairing and staining it. What are the 'latest' recommendations for composite deck material?
Thanks

[spectec]

I'm looking into this myself, and would be interested in input from others. Our contractor recently took measurements and made some recommendations regarding materials, but we are awaiting a quote from him. Looking forward to what this thread reveals.

[Pranav]

I am also interested in a similar topic. Our deck's wood is in decent condition, but paint is coming off in some areas and some areas looks slightly dirty due to tree sap / pollen that has fallen over the years. I am curious what we should be doing for maintenance or improvement.

[Green Nut]

Having heard complaints about Trex from my friends, I found this http://zuri.royalbuildingproducts.com/z ... m-decking/ while researching. Expensive, but supposed to be great.

[BolderBoy]

I had my deck replaced with Timbertech 10 years ago. It is located on the south side of the house in Colorado so gets VERY hot in the Summer.

I'd do it again without hesitation.

[Emergent_Order]

We have a 5-year old Azek Timbertech deck in Northeast US. This material is 100% PVC with no filler. It has held up really, really well. Our contractor countersunk the screws and then I pounded in thousands of little plugs to cover the holes. You can't even tell that they are there. The only maintenance is a powerwashing once per year to clean off pollen and dirt. I would highly recommend this material.

[jebmke]

We replaced our deck with Timbertech about 4 years ago. Ours was done with hidden fasteners - no screws. Wood doesn't hold up around here. TT does get hot in the late part of the day but the deck is unusable then anyway due to western exposure. Easy to clean and we have had no structural problems.

[DoTheMath]

Having heard complaints about Trex from my friends, I found this http://zuri.royalbuildingproducts.com/z ... m-decking/ while researching. Expensive, but supposed to be great.

What sort of complaints have you heard? We in the midst of selecting materials for a covered porch and were thinking of Trex or other composite decking for the flooring. I would be glad to hear anyone's experiences with various products. One thing in particular that I'm interested in is scratching. We have dogs and I hope to avoid a scuffed up floor.

[Green Nut]

Having heard complaints about Trex from my friends, I found this http://zuri.royalbuildingproducts.com/z ... m-decking/ while researching. Expensive, but supposed to be great.

What sort of complaints have you heard? We in the midst of selecting materials for a covered porch and were thinking of Trex or other composite decking for the flooring. I would be glad to hear anyone's experiences with various products. One thing in particular that I'm interested in is scratching. We have dogs and I hope to avoid a scuffed up floor.

fades fast, stains can't be removed, molds quick, gets chalky. Scratching, don't know.

[FCM]

Last year we installed a Lowe's variant of Trex composite on our front steps. The only complaint we have is that the boards are cupped slightly upwards like a trough, thus holding rain water until it evaporates. I'm not sure if the boards were that way when installed or became cupped later on even though they were firmly screwed into the wooden supports. Also, since we replaced 2 X 10 planks, which are actually 1 1/2" thick, we had to make adjustments to all the trim that was originally flush with the planks as the new composite is only 1" thick. That was very time consuming and laborious.

[dcdowden]

We replaced our cedar deck four years ago with Timbertech Capped Composite decking with hidden fasterners. Looks great and has held up well. We just powerwash it (instructions say not to exceed 1500 psi powerwash) and it cleans up great.

[teacher]

After putting in a new deck several years ago, if I had to do over, I would look into Brazilian wood instead of redwood. I have seen it once at our neighbors, and even though it was put in around the same time as ours, it looked brand new. Ours has lost all the beauty of a new redwood deck. Apparently, Brazilian wood is low maintenance, termite, fire, mold and fungus resistant and is advertised as having a service life of over 50 years.

[rebellovw]

I'm going with Trex on my new large deck due to recommendations from my Contractor - he says they have the best warranty and that one of his customers had a deck issue (here in AZ) that Trex was going to replace until they found out it wasn't Trex - that customer was out of luck.

I'm sticking with Trex.

[Broadway2018]

I recently had a 150 sq ft deck built w/ fiberon material and vinyl rails. It is very low maintenance and looks great. No refinishing and painting ever needed. We paid $9500, however, when comparing to wood it was only slightly cheaper (like $7k). I would not go with Trex. Either fiberon or timbertech

[htdrag11]

We have Trex for close to 20 years done by professionals, not the one from HomeDepot (a lower grade). It is also cooler to walk on, than pressure treated.

[iamlucky13]

I just looked at the Zuri product somebody mentioned up-thread. It seems to look nicer than most composites like Trex, but wow is it ever expensive - sounds like it runs ~5 times the price of cedar.

I am also interested in a similar topic. Our deck's wood is in decent condition, but paint is coming off in some areas and some areas looks slightly dirty due to tree sap / pollen that has fallen over the years. I am curious what we should be doing for maintenance or improvement.

The usual recommendation is every few years when it seems like it needs it, pressure wash it or give it a really good scrubbing to remove any flaking coating, let it dry, then put a fresh coat on it. Most likely you have a solid stain on yours, rather than a paint. Stains soak into the wood (although solid stains minimally so), show the wood texture better, and don't require a primer. Paints bond to the top of the wood, and generally should be used with a primer. If you have any rotting boards, this is also a good time to replace them. I've found I have to use a small pick to clean stain out of the screwheads in order to remove the old boards.

If the coating is mostly in good condition, but the deck is dirty, do a scrub or light pressure washing, and touch up any small bare spots you might find due to flaking, wear, or splinters.

[2 bits]

You may want to do a search on familyhandyman.com . That's the kind of topic they cover well.
But, it is good to reference the above recommendations as nobody here is also collecting advertising dollars.

[Majoritay]

We live in the PNW, and just had a new deck installed with a brand of decking called "Deckorators", which was the brand the contractor we used installs (switched over from Trex, iirc). We are very much looking forward to the 1-2 months out of the year the weather will be nice enough for us to use it!

I don't know if all decking does this, but apparently the "Vault" type we got makes the decking actually fibrous like wood, so it's strength or weight ratio is higher.

I don't know much about that, but we love the deck and it comes with a 25-year structural, stain, and replacement warranty!

Here is their website: www.deckorators.com

[PatrickA5]

Tamko Envision decking. I had this put in about 5 years ago. It's really good. Closest thing I could find that looks like real wood. Still looks like new 5 years later. I will say it's pretty expensive, BUT you don't have to do anything to maintain it other than washing it off a couple times a year.

http://www.evergrain.com/our-products/e ... stinction/

[jakepeters]

Tamko Envision decking. I had this put in about 5 years ago. It's really good. Closest thing I could find that looks like real wood. Still looks like new 5 years later. I will say it's pretty expensive, BUT you don't have to do anything to maintain it other than washing it off a couple times a year.

http://www.evergrain.com/our-products/e ... stinction/

What part of the USA is this deck installed?

I'm in the PNW so looking for products that minimize mold/moss issues.

JP

[protagonist]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFNXN5z0Rg8

[wfrobinette]

We replaced our cedar deck four years ago with Timbertech Capped Composite decking with hidden fasterners. Looks great and has held up well. We just powerwash it (instructions say not to exceed 1500 psi powerwash) and it cleans up great.

I prefer good old fashioned soap and water with a brush. Same for the house(though I contract that out). Power washing destroys things.

[wfrobinette]

Hi
My wood deck is falling apart. I live in the Midwest. Tired of repairing and staining it. What are the 'latest' recommendations for composite deck material?
Thanks

Or you could go teak or other natural wood that withstands the test of time.