Decking material?

[Eric D Matson]

I am getting ready to finally build my deck. It is going to be 524 sq ft. I have been set on tigerwood. We like the longevity of it and the contrasting colors. I was getting ready to order it and somehow got to looking at composites. I am looking for maintenance free but am still having a hard time grasping the whole composite idea, since we do have a "wood" shop. Does anyone have any experiences with either? If you do, what do you like/don't like about it? Thanks

[Jamie Buxton]

Wood looks much much much better than plastic when it first goes in. Ten years down the road, especially with zero maintenance, the plastic will look better.

[joel cervera]

I agree with Jamie. Freshly finished wood is the bees knees. But doesn't stay that way over time when exposed to the elements.

For my deck built 7 yrs ago I picked Azek . Pure pvc decking. No maintenance. Still looks great. If I want to look at beautiful wood grain I go inside and look at my QSWO wood floors or build another piece of furniture..

Less maintenance means I spend more time doing things I'd rather be doing. Ymmv

[Cary Falk]

I put on a Trex deck almost 4 years ago. I have done zero maintenance to it. I need to hos it off sometime. Here in the Pacific Nortwest, we get a green slime that grows on things in the winter. It doesn't stick as well to the Trex as it did to the wood. I would have to power wash the wood. The con is it gets a little hotter than a our wood deck did, but we have a darker color. They say it is slicker in the rain but the green slime on the deck made the wood pretty slick so I don't notice and personally wouldn't worry about it. Still looks as good as the day I put it in. One of the best choices I made. I won't be building a new deck in 10 years.

I will say that the one downside is that it takes more planning because you are always trying to cover up a cut end. There were a couple of times I thought " if this was real wood I could have just made the cut and have been done".

[Jim Finn]

I once built a Trex deck for a neighbor. All the tools I needed was a miter saw, circular saw, screw gun (drill) and labor. I installed the Trex at 45° angle to the house and it looks great.

[Rich Enders]

It may be plastic but...........090626_Decking Photo.jpg

[Ralph Okonieski]

I have composite decking and am very happy with it. The deck is on the north side of the house and does show mildew due to the lack of sun to dry it. A power wash every year makes it look just like new. It is at least ten years old and shows virtually no wear. I would use composite again for my application.

[Eric D Matson]

Does anyone cook with charcoal on your Trex? I guess it would be a big deal if I had to replace a section of a board here or there. I cook exclusively with charcoal.

[Mel Fulks]

It may be plastic but...........090626_Decking Photo.jpg

That deck surface does not look like plastic! If it is please tell us which brand....

[John TenEyck]

Odd man out here I guess. I built a new deck 3 years ago and used Ipe'. I'm a woodworker. Why would I use plastic? The good stuff costs as much as Ipe'. Ipe' will last for something like 50 years with no maintenance but will turn grey. I didn't want it to turn grey, so I wash it with cleaner/brightener and oil it every year. It looks amazing for about a month and then starts to fade again. This year I plan to try a new oil (Penofin) and maybe do it twice. Not my idea of fun, to be sure, but it doesn't take that long and did I mention it looks amazing. One thing no one with a plastic deck mentioned is that it scratches, easily, and if you have one of the coated plastics the scratches don't go away. Ipe' scratches, too, though not easily, but the scratches pretty much disappear with the next oiling and if they don't you can sand them out. No deck material is perfect in all regards. Pick what combination best meets your criteria.

John

[Mel Fulks]

I remember John's deck photos well. Big,well designed,with nice details. Much more to it than brown rectangular slab. I remember when I was a kid seeing painted porches, canvassed painted porches, and 19th century porches with stone lozenge patterns. So it's hard for me to understand why there are so few currently used forms. The first time I saw a pressure treated deck being built ,I thought it was a concrete form of some type.

[Bradley Gray]

I agree with John -

I'm a woodworker. Why would I use plastic?

I have some composite decking and looks Ok but it is flimsy. A 2" tree limb hit the 1" overhang and it crumbled.

Does anybody mfr. cement board decking? Seems like that would be awesome for grilling

[Wayne Cannon]

Be careful about using Trex, and other composite brands. I suspect that vinyl, etc, may have a butter result. I don't know about other brands of composite deck boards, but Trex deteriorates badly when exposed to UV. We have some 2" landscaping edges of Trex, and after less than 10 years of medium Sun exposure, it is extremely rough (significantly rougher than rough-sawn, looking like it's coated with dry oatmeal) and corners have eroded almost completely to a semi-circle. A friend used Trex as a facade for a retaining wall with the same results. My neighbor used Trex for a deck on a second home. After 20 years, it was terrible. I think Trex settled with them and they replaced their deck with something other than Trex.

[Bob Cooper]

My deck is tigerwood. But u must coat it with something yearly unless u want a gray deck.

[John Gulick]

Cumaru, I too am a wood guy and cannot bring myself to use any sort of plastic as a building material