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I am building a new deck and want to use TREX decking. Does anyone have any long term experience using this material? How does it hold up over the years? I read one article that stated, the material starts coming apart
after a few years. Please E-mail me @
[email protected] with info.
Thank you in advance.
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jstreet;
First off, I've got a problem with boards that encourage an exchange of info that bypasses the board...Others miss out on (possibly) useful information. Hope you check back to get this.
I laid a deck using around 4500 lineal feet of Trek 2x6 a year ago. Used deckmaster brackets which eliminates screw heads. Looks great. Only issues are:
Tends to pick up staining clay around here. Pressure washing cleans it though. No permanent stains.
Make sure all the material is from the same batch/lot. There are some slight tone variations which DO NO "bleach out" from the sun.
Watch the end gaps. The coefficient of expansion is high. When laid it was 45 degrees. Summertime temps get up to 120 plus (surface temps!) and those 20 footers do move! Follow mfg. instructions.
The stuff machines like mdf without dust or chips. Really fun to work with. Every piece is perfect. No knots.
Aesthetically, you need to use it for the right design. It doesn't pretend to be wood.
But, gee I love not having to scrub and re-seal every year.
PS: Go for pressure treated joists and beams (0.40 pcf) and you'll be goof for 20+ years
Adam S
*I put down a trex deck on my own house 4 years ago , Great for flooring, I am redoing the railing system this summer,used Trex for this put it seems to loosen up and sag just a little.I would highly recommend it for flooring .
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Adam,
120 plus surface temp seems to hot to walk on barefoot, is this true. Am thinking of using this material also. What color did you use?
Chris
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I live in the foothills of N. Calif. The AIR temperature gets to 105. I've never put a thermocouple on the TREX, but am guestimating the surface temp. (We don't walk on the deck much and generally just don't get out of the water when its that hot.) I used the "regular" color. It comes light tan and ages to a lite grey.
BTW, Trex SHOULD NOT be used for railing if it is carrying a load. For example, the horizontal members should be wood or metal, with perhaps trex over it and trex spindles. Trex will bend, especially when warm. Watch the spans...don't exceed 16".
I used metal pipe and welded up a tubular railing, using 1/8" SS aircraft cable in between. Visually unobtrusive, and looks good with the somewhat contemporary look of Trex.
*I used the Deckmasters too -- is it just me, or were they a royal pain? I liked the lack of holes, aesthetically and as a way to keep water out of the joists, but I couldn't have done it hanging upside-down like a bat as they recommended. Fortunately it was easy to do from below, but then I had to work to straighten and align the Trex -- it is WIGGLY stuff. I started to fantasize of using an air nailer (SS finish nails) and PL400 to do the whole thing in 1/10 the time.Haven't built a railing yet, but I heartily agree that Trex isn't a good choice if you're sensitive to sags and bends, and never for structural elements. This can be an advantage -- there was a good FH article on building a curved deck, where they deliberately bent and laminated it with PVC cement -- Aug/Sept 1997. Too "contemporary" for me, but neat.Adam, did you use "Cable-Rail" or generic SS cable? I like the Cable Rail system, but the cost is high. And "foothills of No. Ca." -- whereabouts?
*AndrewYeh. I had to work from underneath. (I got a kick out of the brochures showing a guy with a Souix rt. angle drill driving from on top. Right) It is wiggly. If you are not careful you can start a curve and it can get EXTREME. BTW, did you paint the top of the deckmaster black? It helps from catching the sun just right and seeing the silver between the boards.Cable Rail is just Sweeney Wire and Rope Co.s version of "swage on" cable fittings. It is pricey no matter how you slice it. Doing it yourself can save around 40%. I used McMaster-Carr in LA as a source for fittings.Near Placerville. Close by?
*No, I didn't paint, but i did wipe on some of the gray pigmented stain I used on the pt -- enough to dull the brackets.By "doing it yourself" do you mean buying the fittings and cable on my own? Does McMaster sell wire ... and are they online?I'm from all over, in Virginia now. Grew up in CA, North then South. I like your area. S.F. & surrounds are getting less and less attractive as $$$ become everything there.
*McMaster does sell wire and parts. I have access to a machine shop so "do it yourself" is misleading. It is not easy to swage the fittings onto the cable without a swager. The swager costs around $1800!! from McMaster. Forget that.I don't know if they are online, but yellowpages in LA should locate them. They are VERY cagey about giving catalogs out...you'll need to convince them you fit the profile they are looking for.G' luck
*Andrew I used the deckmaster system for the first time about fourteen months ago and recently revisisted the site to check up on things. All seems to be doing fine the decking was dark red moranti (a species of mahogeny) I do agree that the system was much more difficult to use than had been represented to me by the salesmam but the end results were impressive. Recently I've noticed that there is a new hidden fastner system out that uses a plastic biscut has anyone used this system???Kevin
*I saw the biscuit approach -- figured it would probably blow up my joiner. The nice thing about the Deckmaster approach is that it can deal with movement in the wood, and each plank does not depend on its neighbors. I add a dab of PL400 on the joist for good measure, and to exclude water.I'm definitely open minded about alternatives!Adam, I think I'll go the prefab Cablerail route. You have access to some serious tools! (swager, arc welder...) FHB had an article on what must have been an incredibly expensive (wish they printed the prices) "furniture grade" redwood deck that used 3' runs of copper pipe for rails. I might play with a bit of that too. I CAN solder copper! Or maybe I'll glue caps on it.
*I am not too impressed with the biscuit system. You need to biscuit each one...another tool another cord. Simpson metals has a little widget called a Deck Board Tie (DBT-1) which works in a similar manner.With the biscuit, one side of the board is tied down, and a "tongue and grove" is created holding the other side down. With the biscuit, the board is held at the same side as the tongue, holding the next board down. With the DBT, a clip is attached to the "new" board which then slips under the prior board..the prior board is held down with a toe nail (or screw). These are realy fast to install with wood, just drive in a joist hanger nail, but impossible with Trex unless you screw each one in.Problem with BOTH these systems: It is difficult to keep the space clean. The biscuit is probably worse. Once dirt and debris gathers, rot soon follows. Deckmaster has nothing between the boards. Plus, you can remove individual boards.Happy Decking
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I am building a new deck and want to use TREX decking. Does anyone have any long term experience using this material? How does it hold up over the years? I read one article that stated, the material starts coming apart
after a few years. Please E-mail me @
[email protected] with info.
Thank you in advance.