Decking wood and otherwise

[ronocnikral]

I've never owned Trex, but I've unfortunately had experience with it.

My parents have owned 2 homes with composite decking. My mom swears by TimberTech over Trex. She didn't get the spots with TimberTech.

My BIL had a Trex deck. I traveled a couple thousand miles to visit family on thanksgiving, and he gave me the kind invite to come help him rip his trex deck off and put on new trex. The stuff was coming unglued and basically crumbling. Trex was kind enough to replace the material, but labor was up to him. Hence why I got invited.

My FIL/MIL have a trex deck which is falling apart (same thing BIL had). Trex will again supply new material, but the labor they won't. I am glad to see MIL is dragging her feet on this on.

[keegs]

I built our cedar deck about fifteen years ago. The cedar decking lasted about 10 years. I didn't want to spend the extra money for the composite so I put down PT 5/4. I use bleach and a scrub brush to clean it once a year or so. It's gotten a nice silvery color. It's fine with me. I think the 12x24 deck cost me approx. $500 to redo with PT.

[Tree-dweller]

Update: We went with a product called Moistureshield. "Rustic Cedar" is the color, and we love it. Only a year in, so it's difficult to rate it properly, but it was easy to install, is comfortable under bare feet, and cleans easily. Not cheap, a little under $50 per 16 ft 1x6, but I supplied the labor.

[Chuckanut]

I built a deck 30 years ago with treated wood and some untreated wood. The untreated wood has all been replaced. Some of the treated wood is now showing signs of rot, but 80% of it is still good.

I have read that the fungus that rots wood will eat the wood particles in many of the man made composite materials, maybe not as fast as untreated wood, but they do eat it. So... when I replace the deck I might put in pavers, very little maintenance required, they don't rot, and they are self draining. So, I'm told.

[CaliforniaMan]

A lot is personal preference I guess. Have a friend who installed the composite stuff, after a few years it just looks "plasticy" to me with some boards warping and bending. I just rebuilt an old deck this spring and chose redwood (stained and sealed) with pressure treated supporting structure underneath. Need to make sure only pressure-treated touches soil. I just love the look of real wood, redwood especially. When it is new it looks great, when it is old and turns grey it still looks great. I don't know, I just really dislike the plastic stuff. And later if the wood starts to look bad, I can resurface it. Can't do that with plastic. Sure I will have to seal it every couple of years, but hey, I am retired now, what else am I going to do? I just LOVE the look of the redwood, and how the color changes with the changing angle of the sun and shadow and light, the interesting texture, no two boards alike. So pleasing to the eye and the touch.

[Live Free]

After years of annually cleaning, re-staining, and removing splintering boards on two wood decks, when we bought our new house I insisted that we go with Trex for our new deck. DH complained about the higher cost but now, after 10 years of zero maintenance (other than an annual hosing down to wash away spring pollen) he is sold. We used the medium brown color and there has been light fading, but it still looks fabulous. Also, I never worry about splinters. Yes, it gets warm in the hot midday sun, but so did our old wood decks. It feels great on the feet - very smooth. We have no mold issues at all.

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut I built a deck 30 years ago with treated wood and some untreated wood. The untreated wood has all been replaced. Some of the treated wood is now showing signs of rot, but 80% of it is still good. I have read that the fungus that rots wood will eat the wood particles in many of the man made composite materials, maybe not as fast as untreated wood, but they do eat it. So... when I replace the deck I might put in pavers, very little maintenance required, they don't rot, and they are self draining. So, I'm told.

That is good to know. My deck is 10 years old. I did replace a few planks this year from splintered ones, no rot. I am no handy man, but even I could do this. I figure I will replace 6-7 boards a year, and have them all replaced over the coming 10 years, then start over. I was lazy and only stained and waterproofed every couple years when I first moved in. Now I do it every year to protect it.


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