Composite decking

Anyone have any experience with this?

Do you need special tools? Any special procedures (as compared to wood) to install?

Slippery when wet??

thanks, Stan

Wear sandals when walking on it. The stuff gets super hot in the sun.

As for install; I don't think it is much different than wood at all. Well, atleast thats what I told people when I sold it..

The color will also fade.

Great stuff. Pricey, but good. Like 3-5 times the cost of wood.

Cuts and drills like wood. When screwing through it I pre-drill, and countersink for appearance. I've never tried to sand it (other than easing the edges).

The detailing is different. Most of the fastening is best if it is from below (using fastening clips). The ends look much better if they butt up against a trim edge board (rather than showing the cuts). Stairs and railings are tough to do nicely. It just takes more thinking and planning.

Any wet surface can be slippery, but wet pressure treated is significantly more slippery.

One downfall- It retains heat incredibly. Like, if you have a deck in direct sunlight (which is kind of the point), you won't be walking on it barefoot (which is kind of the point). I've been concerned that it could burn young children- it's that hot.

Looks great. Lasts incredibly.

Oh- one other thing. A badly done composite decking job looks significantly worse than a badly done wood decking job. Really awful. If you are capable of making neat joints in wood, you'll be OK.

I'll give you a different perspective ! I redid my deck with Weatherbest brand. Composites,generally,won't span joists as well as wood does. Mine happened to be on the diagonal when it was wood, but I went perpendicular to the joists with the composite to reduce the span.You can strip the screw holes readily if you use the hidden screw method to anchor the decking.My decking is a light colour and you can walk barefoot on it far more than you could on the old wood, and it's on the south facing side of the house. You can lay down on mine on a hot day.No splinters,either. I love the stuff because it's maintenance free, other than an occasional need for a power washing. If you use the stuff for railings support it more frequently than you would for a wood one. The stuff will sag in the heat.

Good note on the spans. 16" straight, not diagonal. Don't try it on 24" center.

Also great info on the color. I haven't had the chance to work with a light colored product.

If you use hidden screws AND the appropriate clips, there won't be any screw stripping. The clip attaches to the grove in the edge of the board, the screw threads into the wood. There are multiple deigns of the clips, but all I've seen screw into the wood.

Trek info on fastener clips

SVreX, the Weatherbest uses a system with an anchoring strip nailed to the joists and then you run short screws through the strip into the bottom side of the decking. Those short screws are in the plastic and are really easy to strip. If I were to do this again I'd look for a sytem with the grooves and clips as you showed in your picture. That clip system would be much easier to use than the system I used.My deck is only 18" off the ground and I had to lean under each board and use a 90 degree drill to screw. It about killed my back !! The colour of mine isn't much darker than raw pine.

I recovered my front porch with it. My only suggestion is to space the boards more than prescribed in the manual or for wood. I used a 10p nail between each board, I find now the gap is zero; I wanted a gap for air and dirt to fall through.

Dan

Grooves can be cut in the edge with a biscuit joiner for boards without grooves to accommodate clips.

Good point on the biscuit joiner, I wouldn't have thought of that. The GRM gang know everything collectively !

Compare the cost of the composite decking to a hardwood like some of the exotic African Rock woods. Its usually only a bit more expensive, but the exotic woods last like crazy, are way more rigid across spans, and can be done to look really sexy.

Do those exotic woods have maintenance needs? I paid the stiff premium for a composite deck to avoid having to do anything further. I have no doubt it will last well past the day I sell this place. Also, I did look at some other composite products that were really nice looking, good enough to look good in the living room, but they were even pricier.

And we get to the core question: are you going to own the houselong enough for the increased cost of the composite to make economicsense? Or, and I don't know, will having one add enough to the resale value to justify the cost?

DeadSkunk:

Yes, the exotics have maintenance needs.

But so does your composite- you already said it needs periodic power washing.

True, they are a bit more maintenance. But curtis73 is certainly on to something when he mentiones how sexy they can be. Really gorgeous!

I'd bet that a beautiful exotic 8 years later (properly maintained) would add $10K to the value of a house, just because it's an exotic. A sun bleached composite with a couple of spots where the sun has effected it badly (like a sagging railing) will not add much.

SVreX wrote: A sun bleached composite with a couple of spots where the sun has effected it badly (like a sagging railing) will not add much.

We always used to tell folks that composites require staining just like wood. They'll hold it well and recoats come less often.

To me, unless I've got a near salt water application, there is little advantage of the composite stuff over PT. I remember a piece of trex that we kept in the yard outside uncovered to show people who bought it how it weathered. It had swelled considerably and had a very rough finish as the wood fibers in it had absorbed water and popped up out of the plastic. This info is dated about 10 years. I'd hope that they got better stuff on the market now. If I was doing a deck, I'd look for Cedar. If you want interesting, find some Alaskan Yellow Cedar. The yard I worked for had half a pack just sitting around. It was custom ordered for a client and then sat for 2 years. Cool looking stuff. I wonder if you could find a deal like that somewhere else.

SVreX wrote: Good note on the spans. 16" straight, not diagonal. Don't try it on 24" center. Also great info on the color. I haven't had the chance to work with a light colored product. If you use hidden screws AND the appropriate clips, there won't be any screw stripping. The clip attaches to the grove in the edge of the board, the screw threads into the wood. There are multiple deigns of the clips, but all I've seen screw into the wood. Trek info on fastener clips

Hmm - is this method ever used to hold down wood? I kinda like the idea of no exposed fasteners, but I also can't see paying the premium for composite.

Yes. It can be used to hold down wood.

BTW- if it is used for wood, it will extend the life of the wood. The wood will have no penetrations to encourage water infiltration, and no fasteners near the ends of boards, which encourage splitting as the piece dries.

But it is very slow to install.

Mine's been on 5 years now. It has faded a little, but not badly, and it faded evenly. I've got a few scraps left in the garage attic that I compared it to. There's absolutely no sign of swelling or other deterioration. We had our house appraised 2 years ago and the appraisor added $5K for the composite decking. Since it was my free labour,and $3500 in materials I was satisified that I had done it. I wouldn't replace good PT decking, but mine was splitting and cupped quite a bit, so I had to do something anyway.We're thinking of building our next home and I'll seriously look at some form of composite when that time comes.

Here's one that would work with a biscuit joiner, AND maintain spacing between boards:

DS:

How much would he have added if the deck was wood?

He didn't say what a wood deck was worth, he just said he added the $5k because it was composite.When I suggested I was happy with that he asked how much it had cost me. I told him the $3500, but my labour. He said they usually cost about $10K, which would allow you to have acontractor do it from scratch. Had I paid that for it, I'd be losing money,but I would still recommend composites to anyone who doesn't like doing house maintenance (like me !). I put this in the same category as real wood siding, it needs painting routinely, so I'll go with aluminum or vinyl to avoid the work. I don't view my home as an investment, so I'm more interested in low maintenance and I can spend that timein the garage !

This is good info. My dad needs to replace the PT 2x6's he used for decking on the back patio.. I won't call it a deck as it is only 6-8" or so off of the ground. They didn't have 5/4 decking when we built that deck so we used 2x6's. We built the deck when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. I am now nearly 32. I think he got some good life out of the deck. We've sanded it down twice with a belt sander, but the wood is fairly well checked, split, and cupped. I think that's a project for this summer.

Part of the motivation for the edge fasteners would be the ability to sand the deck. Our current deck is a split and cupped 2x6 mess, but 1 day with a floor sander would have it in decent shape, if not for the fact that I would sand the heads off of all of the nails.

Sanding PT wood is a very bad idea. The dust is carcinogenic.

SVreX wrote: Sanding PT wood is a very bad idea. The dust is carcinogenic.

yeah we learned that after the fact. w00ps. Luckily we were outside and had a dust collection setup on the sander and used some good dust masks. The older PT stuff contains Arsenic. w0000ps.

After working in the Lumber yard I learned some things about wood and safety, we never did it again.

I used White Cedar 2"x8"x10' for the porch at my cabin. It is rough cut so it is a true 2x8. I bought 65 boards for $880.00 tax included. I also spent about $250.00 for 4x4 post, concrete and fasteners. I anticipate very little maintenance. I bought the wood from a sawmill in Mio MI. It was wet when I bought it in october so I stacked it indoors over the winter. In may it was ready to go. If I knew how to put a picture on here I would show it off.