A customer would like to add the traditional looking type of tongue and groove porch flooring as part of a renovation. I’ve come across AZEK Porch and CorrectPorch so far. Anyone experienced with these products or have other suggestions? Thanks.
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I believe Correct Porch's
I believe Correct Porch's former name was Tendura and I've used it. The project I used it on has been down for two years. It looks great but time will tell. At the time they made a product that needed to be painted and another where the color went all the way thru each "board". That's the stuff I used. The one instruction I remember at the time was that it was not supposed to be used without a roof over it for sun/heat expansion reasons. After I put it down, I saw the Azek product. It looked almost identical but did not have the roof-over-it requirement. Things could have changed in the past two years but I am happy with the Tendura I put down.
I believe Correct Porch's
I believe Correct Porch's former name was Tendura and I've used it. The project I used it on has been down for two years. It looks great but time will tell. At the time they made a product that needed to be painted and another where the color went all the way thru each "board". That's the stuff I used. The one instruction I remember at the time was that it was not supposed to be used without a roof over it for sun/heat expansion reasons. After I put it down, I saw the Azek product. It looked almost identical but did not have the roof-over-it requirement. Things could have changed in the past two years but I am happy with the Tendura I put down.
Bob--
I rarely post here, but this is a topic of importance to me. In no uncertain terms, RUN from CorrectPorch. It is essentially the same as Tendura, which is to say it is an utterly misrepresented and lousy product. I used $6000 worth of Tendura on our new house, which has about 80 lineal feet of covered porch, taking great pains to install it perfectly and according to the mfr. instructions. It was beautiful for about 3 months. It has subsequently gradually expanded from absorbing moisture and has ripped apart the floor framing and forced the screw heads up through the surface. It is also growing mushrooms along the edges. The Tendura company is bankrupt and all of the people who fell for their pitch (impervious to moisture, lifetime warranty) are completely screwed. There is no recourse. In my case, the distributer is giving me a good deal (slightly below cost) on Azek Porch to replace it with, but I am still out the original $6K and the ~$6K that the Azek will cost, and I have to tear up the Tendura and install the Azek.
Now, back to the CorrectPorch...they claim that they have modified it so it won't have the same problems that Tendura had. They switched the substrate from polyethylene to polypropylene, primarily, and added some ridges to the edges to prevent close contact with the adjacent board. It is really just an evolution of Tendura with a name change to throw people off and now licensed by Correct, Inc. Not being one to make the same mistake twice, I have obtained samples of it and soaked them in a jar of water for a few days along with Tendura and Azek Porch and the other Tendura-like contender, Aeratis. I measured the widths of each before and after with a dial caliper. The CorrectPorch and Aeratis both swelled as much as the Tendura, but the Azek Porch dimensions did not change at all.
The Azek is astronomical in price, but there is no other non-wood option that looks remotely traditional. I hope my little diatribe saves you and others some grief!
when i looked at Tendura T&G decking i couldn't believe it was going to be dimensionally stable enough to perform as required
so I never used it
Wow, anchorbeam, why don't
Wow, anchorbeam, why don't you tell us how you really feel about Tendura. When I put it down, I asked here about other's experiences and as far as I can remember all the comments were pretty favorable. I think the Piffmeister has used it too.
I used it on a covered porch that gets some morning sun but at least on this project I haven't had any swelling that I can see. Your experience will make me keep a closer look at it for any signs of expansion, framing problems or growing mushrooms. We get pretty wild swings in humidity from summer to winter here in R.I., but no real hot sun. Where are you located?
I've used Tendura 3 times in
I've used Tendura 3 times in one year (probably 4-5 years ago). The two larger jobs we did looked great to start but within a year things had gone horribly wrong with many of the same things as described above. The third job - a very small covered stoop with lots of air flow under it, still looks good.
I would avoid in all but the smallest applications. It was a VERY expensive lesson.
Eric
Fingers--
I'm in central
Fingers--
I'm in central North Carolina.
A couple of additional points: All of the Tendura installation instructions were geared toward minimizing effects of expansion from temperature. In retrospect it looks like they had no clue that moisture would be the real problem, and clearly they had not adequately tested the product.
CorrectPorch, Tendura, and Aeratis are all incestuously related--they just kept tweaking the formula and changing the name as the product's reputation nosedived. If you still have some of the Tendura literature, compare the photos with those on the CorrectPorch and Aeratis websites--many of the pics are of the same porches! A modern-day scam if there ever was one. I repeat: To anyone considing using this junk, run in the opposite direction, man!!
Thanks for the great feedback Anchorbeam. These forums are invaluable for getting out this type of information about products that aren't what they claim. I hope the Azek works out for you.
Tendura buckling - Any fixes available
I have a new customer with a covered front porch in Northeastern Ohio. Their front porch was rebuilt 7 years ago with Tendura decking (the kind that requires painting) In the last year the deck boards have started to buckle. I've been reading the forums and have been hearing about others horror stories. My question is there any way to salvage or resolve the buckling issue without totally reworking the entire porch decking? Has anybody tried anything that has worked to save the customer the cost of replacing deck boards?
Tendura buckling - Any fixes available
I have a new customer with a covered front porch in Northeastern Ohio. Their front porch was rebuilt 7 years ago with Tendura decking (the kind that requires painting) In the last year the deck boards have started to buckle. I've been reading the forums and have been hearing about others horror stories. My question is there any way to salvage or resolve the buckling issue without totally reworking the entire porch decking? Has anybody tried anything that has worked to save the customer the cost of replacing deck boards?
Tendura buckling - Any fixes available
I have a new customer with a covered front porch in Northeastern Ohio. Their front porch was rebuilt 7 years ago with Tendura decking (the kind that requires painting) In the last year the deck boards have started to buckle. I've been reading the forums and have been hearing about others horror stories. My question is there any way to salvage or resolve the buckling issue without totally reworking the entire porch decking? Has anybody tried anything that has worked to save the customer the cost of replacing deck boards?