gilthorp Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I would be most appreciative if anyone who knows about Composite Decking to chime in here. I have a deck that is in need of repair, and since it faces South and takes a beating, my thought is to invest in composite decking at this time. I'm not sure how much more expensive it is from traditional decking materials. Does anyone have a composite deck? What are your thoughts - are you happy with it? Does anyone work with these materials, and can share which ones are the best bang for the buck, and/or which type of product should be avoided? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Back Pat!!! Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 (edited) I'm not an expert in this field, but where I work we sell a lot of a newer product out there called Moisture Shield.There's a lot of technical differences between them and a few others on the market (I think it's on the web site). We stock a few colors and order in the rest, and sold a ton of it over the summer without any problems or complaints. I know it takes a few years to really know how it holds up, but it seems to be a really good product. We can get Trex and TimberTech as well, and chose to stock this one because it's a better quality and it's not sold to box stores, only independent retailers. Not sure what you'd pay, but charge roughly $2 a linear foot for the twelve footers we stock. Edited January 13, 2011 by Bring Back Pat!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuke'em ttg Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Composite is alittle more than twice as much as cedar. I've done maybe a dozen composite decks and they all turned out totally perfect time will tell if that chit actually holds up I used Rhino decking, but there's alot out there. Bunz will have the facts jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 0ne Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I built a composite deck on my old house. Love it. Awesome. They are not maintenance free though. They stain relatively easy and need to be cleaned. It's less work then having to stain or paint a deck every few years, but they do require some care. Also, the components are more expensive, so if you f*ck something up during installation it's going to be very costly. However, the look is awesome, no splinters, no sanding, no painting or staining, etc. I have a wood deck at my new house, once I have enough money, I will be replacing it with composite, I'm really looking forward to being able to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caddyman Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I built a composite deck on my old house. Love it. Awesome. They are not maintenance free though. They stain relatively easy and need to be cleaned. It's less work then having to stain or paint a deck every few years, but they do require some care. Also, the components are more expensive, so if you f*ck something up during installation it's going to be very costly. However, the look is awesome, no splinters, no sanding, no painting or staining, etc. I have a wood deck at my new house, once I have enough money, I will be replacing it with composite, I'm really looking forward to being able to do that. Yep...love ours...would never do anything other than a composite deck. Not cheap, but over time well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_am_the_swammi Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I built a composite deck on my old house. Love it. Awesome. They are not maintenance free though. They stain relatively easy and need to be cleaned. It's less work then having to stain or paint a deck every few years, but they do require some care. Also, the components are more expensive, so if you f*ck something up during installation it's going to be very costly. However, the look is awesome, no splinters, no sanding, no painting or staining, etc. I have a wood deck at my new house, once I have enough money, I will be replacing it with composite, I'm really looking forward to being able to do that. this +1000 we had ours done in 2004, and as Hugh states, some basic cleaning (water and ammonia to remove areas the have mold) with a brush each spring has kept it looking like new. Barely any fading...no warping...no splinters. We also have a southern exposure, and have a canopy installed on the deck. We were able to drill into the composite decking no problem. prior to that, it was sunny on it from 8:00-8:00, and almost too hot to sit out and enjoy it. But the good news: the deck was never hot to walk on. Out old wood deck used to scorch bare feet. Composite for some reason stays cooler. If you want, I can email you a pic of it....we would never ever go back to wood. And I'd actually check to costs these days vs. wood....used to be composite was almost twice as much, but I had heard that the difference was much less these days. Still, in what you save in maintenance over 8-10 years, you'll more than break even. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 0ne Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Here's what I built at my old house: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v348/vpf...51006_20001.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westvirginia Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 The composite decking works just like wood (saws/drills/screws/whatever) and it's doesn't rot or get eaten by bugs. Like Hughie said, it's not completely maint free, but far less intensive than a pressure treated or cedar deck. If you intend to stay in the house long enough to make it worth the extra jack, it's a no-brainer, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilthorp Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Thanks - reached out to 3 contractors from the TimberTech site to have them come out and look. Need to replace the raised deck off of the second floor, and have to get this done by June. Would love to do the composite based on the upkeep of the cedar I have. I put in 65 hours a few years ago, power washing, sanding, priming, and staining, and within 2 years it was going away, and then I just let it go to where it's an eye sore now. I asked Mimi what a new deck was worth to her dollar wise, and I was very pleased with the answer. Much more than I thought she'd say...need to figure out what the $$ will get me now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilthorp Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Here's what I built at my old house: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v348/vpf...51006_20001.jpg If you wouldn't mind telling me the outlay for that, I would appreciate it. Looks to be similar square footage of mine, but would be more stairs since we are coming out of the kitchen and laundry room, and running it down to the walk out basement. Also thinking of coming down off the stairs and creating an additional space to sit, since sometimes being up so high the wind is just too much to handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 0ne Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Some of the new composite decks are stronger and won't scratch easily. That's another slight downside of the composite is the scratching, but I think the newer materials might be better then what I installed 5 years ago. Additionally, a lot of the manufacturers now offer composite decking with special mounting hardware so there are absolutely no screw holes in the visible surfaces, it looks awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 0ne Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 If you wouldn't mind telling me the outlay for that, I would appreciate it. Looks to be similar square footage of mine, but would be more stairs since we are coming out of the kitchen and laundry room, and running it down to the walk out basement. Also thinking of coming down off the stairs and creating an additional space to sit, since sometimes being up so high the wind is just too much to handle. We re-did all the footings as well, which cost a little extra, and I'm not sure if you can use the existing frame or not either, we couldn't. But that's not really that expensive either. What is expensive is stairs, so my price might not help you too much. Our deck was also 2 tiered, with the lower tier butting up to an above ground pool which resulted in some non-traditional cuts. Long story short, with all material and labor for everything, we paid about $17,000. The material we used at the time was Trex, which was pretty much the best available at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilthorp Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 We re-did all the footings as well, which cost a little extra, and I'm not sure if you can use the existing frame or not either, we couldn't. But that's not really that expensive either. What is expensive is stairs, so my price might not help you too much. Our deck was also 2 tiered, with the lower tier butting up to an above ground pool which resulted in some non-traditional cuts. Long story short, with all material and labor for everything, we paid about $17,000. The material we used at the time was Trex, which was pretty much the best available at the time. OK, that's 5K more than the number the boss gave me today... I believe all the footings are fine, no real issues there, but I assume I'll be told differently from the contractors. So, if it's too much to spend, and I have to rebuild with cedar, I'm thinking it's still 50% less perhaps. Still a plunge I'm going to have to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 (edited) You aren't going to use cedar decking, are you? That wood is too soft for decking IMO. Additionally, a lot of the manufacturers now offer composite decking with special mounting hardware so there are absolutely no screw holes in the visible surfaces, it looks awesome. This. Use the correct fasteners. My neighbor had their Trex deck done by the builder and the Mexicans he used regular screws that cupped it badly and looked like crap. He finally replaced it for them after much hassle....which is why I have good old Southern pine boards on mine. I didn't trust my builder to do it right. Edited January 13, 2011 by TimC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 0ne Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 (edited) OK, that's 5K more than the number the boss gave me today... I believe all the footings are fine, no real issues there, but I assume I'll be told differently from the contractors. So, if it's too much to spend, and I have to rebuild with cedar, I'm thinking it's still 50% less perhaps. Still a plunge I'm going to have to deal with. I don't think you're going to be able to build a composite deck that size for $12K unless you do it yourself. On the other hand, New York prices are generally inflated, so maybe I'm wrong. Plus the economy blows so contractors will probably be more aggressive on their pricing. If you end up being short 5K, I would recommend considering waiting another year for the deck and saving the money to do it out of composite. I would do whatever I could to avoid going to a wood deck. You'll be thankful later. Edited January 13, 2011 by Hugh 0ne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilthorp Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Trust me, if it comes down to 5K or so, I'll make it happen...but if we are talking 20K compared to 15K, I am in a bit of a pickle I would think. Tim, the first owner that built it did use cedar for the railings...it's falling apart. Spindles are shot, railings are rotting, etc... The worst part is I think he used paint when he first "stained" it...it's a mess for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montster Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 We have Trex, I believe. I know it's composite. We bought our house in June 2009 and the previous owner put the deck in. I tried looking up our paperwork to see when he installed it, but I couldn't find it. It's probably 5-7 years old. I love it. The deck faces northeast and in the summer is shaded in the afternoon. Ours does get too hot for bare feet sometimes but you can just hose it down to cool it off. Wish I could give you more details in the way of cost, but I can't. However, it hoses down pretty easily when the stupid dog takes a dump out there, which is pretty much every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_am_the_swammi Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 (edited) Here's what I built at my old house: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v348/vpf...51006_20001.jpg Ours is about the size of the main area of Hugh's deck....but we have two sets of stairs, and we did all the spindles and railings in matching Trex materiels....our deck was a little north of $9K in 2004. Edited January 14, 2011 by i_am_the_swammi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteoflovegm Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 We just did a new deck using Azeks decking which is the new greatest thing. Very happy with it. Azeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilthorp Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 Got a fellow Polski coming out on Sunday to take a quick looksee, one of the three contractors I reached out to...I'll keep you posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteoflovegm Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Got a fellow Polski coming out on Sunday to take a quick looksee, one of the three contractors I reached out to...I'll keep you posted. A Polish guy did our deck too. Is that an actual thing? He and I joked about it. Italians for bricklayers and Polish deck builders. I love learning new stereotypes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar Magnolia Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Ours is about the size of the main area of Hugh's deck....but we have two sets of stairs, and we did all the spindles and railings in matching Trex materiels....our deck was a little north of $9K in 2004. What is the sq. footage of your deck? For us, south facing and need of replacement, railings (our spindles are iron) replaced as well, and one set of stairs with about 15 steps (second story deck). We've got 1200 sq. ft to replace. Guess on cost? Hubby can do the labor but we have about 6 or so wasp nests that get built every year on the underside of the the deck boards. There is a roof for the lower deck below the boards, so you can't see the nests until you actually pull the boards off. We can see the wasps go in and out of the cracks all summer long, so we know they are there. Any suggestions on how to prevent hubby from getting multiple stings? We have hardcore winters here so we have do it in spring/summer/fall when the wasps are active. Can you actually rent bee suits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilthorp Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Had the guy out today, he works with Trex and Azek. Left two samples...my wife likes the Azek better, I like the Trex better, imagine that. Seemed to know what he's talking about...noticed if the current deck was to go through inspection, it wouldn't pass based on the size of the joists, and a few other things. Footings may be an issue as well. Connecting with a 2nd guy on Monday and will have him do the same thing. Not sure of my square footage, it's approximately 32' wide by 10' deep with 15 or so stairs going down, but the bay takes some of that footage away outside the kitchen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteoflovegm Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 (edited) Had the guy out today, he works with Trex and Azek. Left two samples...my wife likes the Azek better, I like the Trex better, imagine that. Seemed to know what he's talking about...noticed if the current deck was to go through inspection, it wouldn't pass based on the size of the joists, and a few other things. Footings may be an issue as well. Connecting with a 2nd guy on Monday and will have him do the same thing. Not sure of my square footage, it's approximately 32' wide by 10' deep with 15 or so stairs going down, but the bay takes some of that footage away outside the kitchen. Your wife has better taste than you. We did azeks deck but a much cheaper Lowes pvc railing. It was a special order higher quality than Lowes stocks normally. It's a good system, very sturdy. Which I was concerned about because the deck is 13 feet high. We were able to color match very close to the azeks grey color. Azeks won't mildew like treks does. IIRC we are about 14' x 26' so a similar size. Edited January 16, 2011 by satelliteoflovegm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBoog Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 I built a composite deck on my old house. Love it. Awesome. They are not maintenance free though. They stain relatively easy and need to be cleaned. It's less work then having to stain or paint a deck every few years, but they do require some care. Also, the components are more expensive, so if you f*ck something up during installation it's going to be very costly. However, the look is awesome, no splinters, no sanding, no painting or staining, etc. I have a wood deck at my new house, once I have enough money, I will be replacing it with composite, I'm really looking forward to being able to do that. Another for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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