I am doing a deck right now. The customer wants composite decking. But they said that they have heard bad things about Trex. Since Trex is what the Builders Supply I deal with sells this is what I priced.
Has there been problems with Trex? Should I look into another brand?
Kipherr
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What bad things? I've had a few issues, but nothing major. On the up side, among other things, Trex has the longest track record. I saw, probably 100s of thousands of square feet installed in a major, very well traveled national park a few summers ago. On the other hand, if the customer doesn't want it - don't push it on 'em. There are a number of similar products out there today. A lot of it has to do with what is available locally. Surely your BS has other things available? Mine has at least 4 or 5 different products.
Edited 3/13/2005 8:14 am ET by DIRISHINME
I have used trek on a few projects and had good success with it. No splinters into barefoot deck users, no stain, rot etc.
It is a little costly though but your deck will last forever!
Have a good day
Cliffy
I've seen trex is in a class action type suit over their decking, I don't know any other details though.
Check these out:http://www.epsplasticlumber.com/trex.shtmlhttp://www.trex.com/legal/classaction.asphttp://www.meislik.com/recentnj/blcases/blc00894.htmhttp://securities.stanford.edu/1019/TWP01/FEdited 3/13/2005 1:06 am ET by FrankieEdited 3/13/2005 1:08 am ET by Frankie
Edited 3/13/2005 1:11 am ET by Frankie
That's very interesting. So there are 2 potential issues:
1) that the product potentially degrades - rots, splinters, etc: Had not heard that one. I'd like to see that one for myself - or at least a good pic.
2) mold on the product: I heard, in an indirect way, from a Trex co rep that there were mold concerns on the light colored products. Havn't seen any myself, nor have I had any callbacks for the dozen or so Trex decks I've installed, the oldest of which is about 5 years. As far as I know, mold/mildew will grow on darn near anything, given the right environment. On the other hand, I have seen some very similar products that are impregnated with a midewside (sp?). Can't remember the name. Matt
Have Trex on my 10 x 40 Deck. Will be 4 years this summer. Have had zero problems with it. Would I do it again, Yes!
Good Luck with the project!
I live on an island off the southern Jersey coast. Trex has major mold problems down here. I won't use it and neither will most of the builders and deck contractors I know. I have seen decks laid down and two years later develop major mold patches that won't come off with bleach and/or power washing. If you look in the Trex technical bulletins, they have a Mold Bulletin that basically says that mold is a naturally occuring element and is not the problem or responsibility of Trex. Well....I don't have those problems with Timbertech and they have no bulletin like that in their literature.
Can't say what Trex does in other enviroments, but I know down here it is a real problem. Hope that helps you with your decision.
Brian....Bayview Renovation
I have done 2 decks with Geodeck (1 was T&G) both decks are awesome and I get complements all the time. It does not get hot like trex, it's not solid, it has 3 passages with vents at the ends. If you scratch trex its there forever, Geodeck as a rough cedar appearance and scratcges and scrapes can be blended back in with a stiff wire brush.
Sitting back watching... Wondering why it is so hard to see these decks after 3 years. Why noone has composite decks around the great lakes area that they are happy with... that I have found.
Could it be that it works better in different climates than others?
My thoughts and some interesting photos of composite fence... (heard a rumour that the company is no more). http://www.gardenstructure.com/page/composite_decking.html (15-20,000 people have already seen this page-noone has offered to show me any deck)
The other part of the equation, a good friend of mine who is a writer wrote a positive review for a large magazine of one of the top 3 composite producers... only to be called back to see the wonderful deck 2 years later-piece of garbage...two colours, mouldy, dirty and blowing up at the end grains.
Do any of you guys with good composite decks live within 200 miles of Toronto? I'd love to see these long lasting composite decks. I'll even post pictures with credit.
L
GardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!
Lawrence - I've vistied your web site before. You have designs that are very pleasing to the eye. Never heard of using composites for a fence though.
BTW - assuming you want to project a professional image, get rid of the typo and grammatical error in the titles at the top of the web page you pointed us to... Matt
Ok Matt... are you winding me up or what? (G) please fill me in on any spelling errors you found, I've just cut and pasted it into word and double checked it. Scary since most of it has been up for a couple of years and 2500 people see it a day.
Thanks for the kind words btw... Us artistic types are altruistic ...
BTW, there's plenty of folks making fencing out of composite-I could go out today and photograph a couple of more failures.
L
GardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!
I sent you an E-mail
Matt