Decking Materials -- Composite Decking
Tuesday November 15, 2005
There's a lot you need to get right in deck construction, and that means solid 
planning, before you so much as touch a piece of wood! In fact, part of the planning involves deciding whether you even want wood for your decking material. That's right: the hegemony of wood decking is no longer unchallenged, and you need to learn about other decking materials before you can make an informed decision. You've probably heard that vinyl is now one of your options for decking materials, but perhaps the hottest of the new decking materials is a mix of plastic and wood products. It's called "composite" decking. And this feature explores the pros and cons of composite decking, as opposed to traditional wood decks.
planning, before you so much as touch a piece of wood! In fact, part of the planning involves deciding whether you even want wood for your decking material. That's right: the hegemony of wood decking is no longer unchallenged, and you need to learn about other decking materials before you can make an informed decision. You've probably heard that vinyl is now one of your options for decking materials, but perhaps the hottest of the new decking materials is a mix of plastic and wood products. It's called "composite" decking. And this feature explores the pros and cons of composite decking, as opposed to traditional wood decks.
Comments
8 years ago we added on a 18 x 30 addition to our home plus reconstructed our front and back porch. At that time Trex had just appeared on the market and was claimed to be the best in non-mainteance material. Well, 8 years later it is a mess. The color we picked is no longer the color but a icky grey tanish color. some of it warmped some came apart. I am in the process of looking for a different decking material to again redo these porches how frustrating! In talking with specialists we have found that if you have an enclosed bottom on a porch Trex will mildew thus the grey-blk-tan color. If anyone has a better solution to our problem please let me know.
Thanks… in Bay City Michigan
What do you think of African hard woods for decks?
I don’t know about African hardwoods, but there’s a lot of talk now about one from South America: ipe, a dense wood. Ipe is billed as a very strong decking material that’s naturally resistant to rot. I’ve heard ipe even has a good fire rating.
We had composite deck installed November of 2006. This past summer I placed a ladder on the deck against the house to get up on the roof. All seemed safe and went well going up but when I went to get back off the roof and got my weight back on the ladder, the feet slipped on the decking away from the house. I fell along with the ladder and sufferred a conncussion along with a fractured vertabrae and still having problems. The composite material tends to be slippery even when dry. Extra caution needs to be taken. If I had known of the hazard I would have chosen cedar.