Trex (composite) vs traditional wood deck

[CDGator]

You guys seem to have opinions on things. What's are your thoughts on composite decking vs a traditional pressure treated deck?

We built our deck about 15+ years ago and have replaced the majority of the boards at least once. It's time for a major overhaul including the joists due to rot. We (seedy actually) do the work ourselves so we don't want to keep doing this every few years. It's a large area so cost is a big factor.

We are trying to decide if we should bite the bullet and invest in composite decking or go back to traditional wood again next summer.

Thoughts?

 

[g8tr72]

I built some deck recently, couldn't afford the composite stuff.

If I could have, I wouldve went with it.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

A while back - like 10+ years ago - we looked into composite material vs wood. In end we just didn’t like the look, but we did learn a few things. #1 is it’s much more expensive, but if you are on your forever house, it’s worth paying more. #2 is, and my understanding is it’s better now, back then, they were much more prone to mold/mildew problems than wood. #3 some brands were prone to fading. Whichever brand you do choose, be sure to pick one with a great warranty. I’ve always seen and heard good things about Trex and their warranty is excellent.

 

[CDGator]

A while back - like 10+ years ago - we looked into composite material vs wood. In end we just didn’t like the look, but we did learn a few things. #1 is it’s much more expensive, but if you are on your forever house, it’s worth paying more. #2 is, and my understanding is it’s better now, back then, they were much more prone to mold/mildew problems than wood. #3 some brands were prone to fading. Whichever brand you do choose, be sure to pick one with a great warranty. I’ve always seen and heard good things about Trex and their warranty is excellent.

We had a neighbor that used one of the early versions of Trex that had the mildew issues and iirc, it all got replaced at no cost. There are off-brands now that are better priced, especially if we could find a closeout deal. It's a sizeable area so price is a huge consideration (11x40 and a 11x11)

This is not our forever home but the upgrades we are doing are all geared towards re-sale value. Would Trex add value to the re-sale in 3-5 years? We might be caught having to re-stain/paint the wood right before the sale so that would be painful too.

 

[CDGator]

I built some deck recently, couldn't afford the composite stuff.

If I could have, I wouldve went with it.

Every time we talk about this we seem to start off enthusiastic about using composite but just can't stomach the price tag in the end.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

We had a neighbor that used one of the early versions of Trex that had the mildew issues and iirc, it all got replaced at no cost. There are off-brands now that are better priced, especially if we could find a closeout deal. It's a sizeable area so price is a huge consideration (11x40 and a 11x11)

This is not our forever home but the upgrades we are doing are all geared towards re-sale value. Would Trex add value to the re-sale in 3-5 years? We might be caught having to re-stain/paint the wood right before the sale so that would be painful too.

A high end stain would probably still look pretty good in 3-5 years. As for adding value, it probably won’t enable you to ask for a higher price, but it might be an attractive feature that encourages a potential buyer.

 

[TLB]

I'm going to piggy back this thread as our deck is still original wood (1994) an I huaven't done anything to keep it up for the 16y I've lived here. Recently boards are pulling up all over making it a toe killer and the wife is worried about the dogs walking on it (I am more concerned for kids falling thru) = yes, I am a zero maintenance kind of guy. Deck is roughly 30x40.

Had a quote made pre-covid, have to look it up for proper dimensions, but I think back then the cost to replace with the same was close to $20k. They also argued we would have to replace the 4x4 support posts as not being up to current code (felt they were bluffing, but what do I know?). This IS our forever home, we figure we have at least 10y until retirement (more like 15) and then we'd stay here as long as we could handle the stairs (another 15-20 after retirement).

Sounds like we should seriously consider the composite stuff given our time and lack of effort on upkeep.

 

[CDGator]

I'll add one more piece that really makes us want to go with composite. We replaced about 20 boards during covid when wood was expensive and at times hard to get. Of course sap seeps through some boards but there was an unusually high amount on a majority of the boards. We would scrape it off, sand it, use good gone and everything we could think of and it kept coming out. Maybe the boards were rushed to the store and they didn't properly dry but it was a nightmare. The sap was never that bad before.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

Had a quote made pre-covid, have to look it up for proper dimensions, but I think back then the cost to replace with the same was close to $20k. They also argued we would have to replace the 4x4 support posts as not being up to current code (felt they were bluffing, but what do I know?). This IS our forever home, we figure we have at least 10y until retirement (more like 15) and then we'd stay here as long as we could handle the stairs (another 15-20 after retirement).

The size of the posts required for decks is dependent on several factors. Chiefly it's deck height, wood type, distance between posts and load factor. For example, since most folks use pressure treated pine, if the height is above 10', you have to use 6x6's. Let's say your deck has a hot tub, that is also a game changer as instead of having to worry about 50-70 pounds psf, you're now talking 100+ pounds psf. Your local building code is probably available on line.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

We might be caught having to re-stain/paint the wood right before the sale so that would be painful too

Therein lies the problem.....NEVER, EVER, EVER stain or paint wood decking....ever....You need to pressure wash it once a year and SEAL it after it dries every year.....if you want color on it there are sealers with tints in them to give you a verity of different looks.

 

[URGatorBait]

Therein lies the problem.....NEVER, EVER, EVER stain or paint wood decking....ever....You need to pressure wash it once a year and SEAL it after it dries every year.....if you want color on it there are sealers with tints in them to give you a verity of different looks.

@CDGator trust Crete on this one. If there has ever been anyone that has blown his wife's money to the tune of 10s of thousands of dollars on this topic, it would definitely be Crete

 

[CDGator]

Therein lies the problem.....NEVER, EVER, EVER stain or paint wood decking....ever....You need to pressure wash it once a year and SEAL it after it dries every year.....if you want color on it there are sealers with tints in them to give you a verity of different looks.

Seems like that’s where we went wrong 15 years ago but I didn’t want that look. I think I’ve changed my mind now.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Seems like that’s where we went wrong 15 years ago but I didn’t want that look. I think I’ve changed my mind now.

We had a wooden deck, landing/staircase built on the back of our office building 9 years ago by a contractor who built and maintains the wooden decks and walkways at one of the area attractions and thousands of others in the local area over the last 40-50 years.

He told me when I asked him about maintaining it to never paint or stain it. He said let it "dry" naturally for about the first 3 months then pressure wash it with light pressure and cleaner. Let it dry for at least 24-48 hours and then use a quality sealer. Repeat every year. For the most part this has worked well although I did have one board that started to rot and replaced it about 2 years ago. There is also another(I'm looking at it right now) that looks to be doing the same.

This deck/stairs/landing is fully exposed to the elements and gets no shade from about 8-9am to around5-6pm. It seems like the sealer starts to "wear out" after about 7-8 months though. It also gets all the foot traffic from our staff of10 since we use this as our entrance/exit instead of the front door. I have had to re screw some of the boards back down when they start to get a little loose.

 

[Zambo]

 

[AuggieDosta]

IMO, the extra cost of composite isn't worth it.
There are things that can be done to wood that will extend their life and most have already been mentioned, like using screws and proper care/maintenance, or proper drying, but using that black matting tape between beams/joists and the top layer of decking is another.
But if cost is not a factor then composite is phenomenal.

 

[oxrageous]

If it was my forever home, I’d bite the bullet and go composite. If I was selling in five years, not a chance in hell I would.