Just read the forums from last December and see that a lot of you folks prefer IPE decking … but what about the composites? Are there better products than TREX? <!—-> <!—-><!—->
A salesperson at a local lumber yard was praising a product called Portico; says that it’s about the same price as TREX, and the builders are calling for it more than TREX – does anyone have good/bad experience with this composite?<!—-> <!—->
jimz <!—-><!—->
This window installation system allows most of the work to be done from the inside, making the process faster and safer for one person working alone.
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Replies
Ultra deck weathers too fast.
Weatherbest fades real fast, color inconsistent, gets that same staining
problem as cedar; you need to use a plastic snow shovel or you will
scratch the heck out of it.
elk decking has soft plastic biscuits which gives the deck a squishy(?)
not screwed down feel ; hollow, you need to consider it every step of
the way as to how to finish off edges
Trex fades at an OK rate and really needs to be supported (railing) alot
but is at this point my material of choice
Did I tell you the story of the customer who asked how much , I said
$10,000 and they said that's not too bad and I said that's only the
materials ma'am. Sometimes a tough sell.
Trex says 16" O.C. is fine for the framing, but I've seen it sag after a couple of years. I always go down to 12". The gaping requirements for thermal expansion can be tedious to work though as well if you're trying to picture frame stairs and trim.
Trex still has the 'name' & I have customers that want nothing but Trex - including the railing system...did a 500sq ft deck last summer and it worked out to almost $20k by the time I finished. It looked nice, but not $20k nice. Just my opinion.
-Norm
I've used Trex. Once. That was enough. I've used timbertech more and I think its a much sturdier product. Just an opinion, but I agree that I've seen a lot of Trex after a few years here that gets looking awful darn ragged and there's TTech decks the same age that look like you just packed your gear and got the paycheck yesterday.
"A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you." -Bert Taylor
See article in June/July '05 FHB.
Advocate
Edited 3/15/2006 10:53 pm ET by Advocate
I've done a few small projects with Evergrain (by Epoch) and have liked it a lot. Just like the Trex literature, they will say that 16" o.c. framing is OK for residential work, but the material is only 5/4 and I can definitely feel a bit a give between 16's so I always frame at 12" o.c for the more solid feel.
Like mentioned above, picture framing stairs or deck edges leads to a lot of interesting blocking just to catch all the edges, but the result is pretty nice.
Attached (hopefully - first time trying) are some shots of a small deck and a beach house "boardwalk" that I've done with Evergrain. Don't be too critcal - I'm just an architect that swings a hammer every now and then... But at least they show you what the material looks like.
Kevin:
Thanks and how is the board walk planking, the "stuff" generally expsoed to the sun, holding up - or is it too early to call?
Everything on the boardwalk is in great shape. Dad (it's the folks shorehouse) just needs to run a power washer over it every now and then to get rid of the algae, etc. (the wood that was there before was always green due to lack of direct sun, harsh wet environment 5 houses from the ocean...) but no material or structural issues going on about two years now.
The framing is just treated 2x half burried in the sand. We staked it off a few times to keep things in place during construction, but other than that it's free floating. We also made sure to use the Trap-Ease Type 316 Stainless Steel composite decking screws for that kind of exposure - a few more bucks per box, but well worth it for the long term durability. They also have color-matched screws for the standard color deck materials.
My friend's parents (the small deck) have also had no complaints at all about their deck. That one is in a very exposed location and everything is in great shape there as well.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:en&q=trex+law+suit
L
GardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!
Yes, Lawrence there's always the LAWYERS! Just think how many ambulance chasers would be unemployed if their clients had to pay for lawsuits that were contested & lost?
Wasn't my read of it.
LGardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!