I want a big deck

My wife and I moved into our house in December 2016. It was new construction and did not come with a deck.  We have a walk out basement so the step out the back door is a BIG one.  We have one quote already for a couple of different deck material options. Pressure treated and Trex Transcend. It is a rather large price difference, but we are planning on staying here a long time and I want something that will last and look nice for a good long time. I'd build it myself if it was a low deck but being 13ft to the deck level I'm going to leave this one to the pros.

However, in my research, I cannot seem to find real reviews of decking materials. I either see sales materials printed as reviews, or non-stop bashing and bad reviews.  I think we want to go with composite materials as I don't want to really do annual maintenance since I have enough on my plate already.   

Does the GRM hive have any place the recommend for researching such things? What have you all used?

Thanks!!!!!

When I had my front porch replaced I paid extra for Trex decking.  It's been about 4 years and all it's needed for upkeep is an occasional washing.  I am happy I spent the money for it.

I've seen many composite decks in very sad shape after 7 years of Michigan weather. 

Enough where when I replace my 30 year old  wood deck, it will be real wood.

I've found that 2x pressure treated is fine for framing, not good for decking. It cups, splits, has sappy spots, etc. The formula changed in the early 2000's and it doesn't last as long as it used to. Need to use stainless fasteners with it now too. I've had good luck with select KDAT (Kiln Dried After Treatment) 5/4 treated for unpainted decking.

The big difference in happiness with synthetic seems to be shade levels as it is prone to algae mildew in wet and shady environments.  I went with a better grade of pressure treated and an overbuilt frame.  This way allows for many cheap resurfacing before anything major needs to be done. 

My parents have a 20yo deck made with IronWood, in Wisconsin. A couple weeks ago, the neighbors couldn't believe how old it was. 

Granted, It's on the north side of the house, and Pop pressure washed and sealed it this Spring (or was it last Spring?). I think it was the second time he's done it.

Every time i see the title i replace the e with an i before i catch myself.

Pressure treated got my money in north Carolina. 

We have a 12 x 18 with mahogany/ merenti decking. It lasted about 15 years before it needed new decking. We had stained it when new and probably should have restained it a couple of times and it probably would have lasted longer. It is in the sun most of the day. We have trex on both our entry door steps ( 4x4 platform and one step). The trex seems to get much hotter ( bare foot thermometer) than the wood when they have been baking in the sun all day. I was surprised that I was able to scratch the trex with my snow shovel, now I use an all plastic one when clearing the platforms. The composite seems a little more slippery than the wood when wet also. 

Dusterbd13 said:

Every time i see the title i replace the e with an i before i catch myself.

Careful reading is important. When the wife and I were dating she was horribly disappointed to find out I really was talking about my large Bic.  It’s in the garage next to my 3 foot long Wienermobile.  

Very timely; I've got to replace a deck this fall. 

Money no object, I'd do Ipe. By far the most beautiful decking out there. Very not cheap though.

My father has Trex. It's pretty maintenance free. I don't particularly like it. Mostly because it looks like plastic and feels like plastic. 

When I built my pool deck this past summer I used wood. It feels better under bare feet and it doesn't look like plastic. 

We did synthetic on our deck/landing at our last place in IL. It got slippery when wet. That can be a problem 12’ up in the air over pavement. 

We use lots of Fiberon Horizon, I personally like it better than trex and my customers are always happy with it.  We pair that with the 1x12 trex brand white fascia boards and white Fypon Quickrail railings for a really nice easy to keep looking good system that i enjoy building.  

On my house I went treated wood because i like it and at the time I was able to build a 16x12 deck all in for under a grand and we had a new baby so composite decking wasn’t as important as diapers and whatnot.  

The Fiberon decking I’m paying about $74 per 20 foot board depending on color so you can imagine how quickly the cost can grow when you’re paying 3.5 times for just the deck surface not counting $55 1x12x12 fascia boards.  The fypon rail is only 2x the cost per section than basic wood.  Of course you need to then buy the post sleeves, caps, and bases which add up to make the entire railing system right about 3.5 times more expensive than wood just like the decking.   To give you an idea what the composite materials do to a job, we did a 4x8 porch with one post and 8 stairs with these materials and charge $5400(including tearoff of old porch and hauling away).  The people across the street loved it and we did the same for them, and their neighbor is next.  

Trex is a pretty horrible product really, i recommend against using it. When it does go bad, and ive seen a lot of them go bad, its garbage and cant be repaired, where with say.... a cedar deck you can sand and repaint. Pressure treated can be risky because they use the absolute worst wood to pressure treat

Be sure to seal it with the appropriate color caulk.

If you are staying a long time put in a concrete deck and be done forever. 

Dusterbd13 said:

Every time i see the title i replace the e with an i before i catch myself.

I cant believe the deck skit hasn't been posted yet.

Appleseed said:

Be sure to seal it with the appropriate color caulk.

Crank Yankers..

If you want to use something other than lumber, find a deck build with the product and walk on it.  My brother has some high end stuff that clanks and gets hot.  It may not last forever, but it will last longer than you want it to.

I understand you need something high in the air, but I hate decks.  My exwife made me jackhammer out a perfectly good patio and build a deck eight inches off the ground.  I intend to turn it into firewood soon, and either pour a concrete patio or lay paving stones.

It feels better under bare feet and it doesn't look like plastic.

This. Ours is 17 years old and “contractor grade.” It has held up fine. Every few years I pay our local stoner handy-dude $300 to paint/stain it.

FieroReinke said:

If you are staying a long time put in a concrete deck and be done forever. 

Not at 12’ above ground level, unless you are hiring guys who make parking garages. 

We went synthetic Lowe’s knockoff in 2011.  Not slippery. We pressure wash it every 3 years and it’s been trouble free. Wouldn’t ever go back to pressure treated wood ever again in the Midwest. 

I did mine with  Weathertech , similar to Trex. The decking has held up well on a southern exposure. However, the railings aren't lasting as well because this stuff is heavy and will flex in the heat. The railings and top boards are visibly sagging. It would have been fine had I kept the distance between posts under 4 feet, I think. Maintenance consists of pressure washing it every couple of years. If I were doing it again I'd use it ,but design a different railing set up. One nice side benefit is the stuff doesn't get hot to the touch and you can walk on it barefoot in full sun.

Yeah, I shortened the span on the flooring (1 ft between beams) and kept the railings to 4' spans max. In the 7 years the railings look great. I'll try and get some pics this weekend. We went 16'x32' from our old 12x12. So awesome.