Any info or advice about trex or other composite decking would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
The house we are renting in a few weeks has a Trex deck. Years ago, in the late 90′s, I worked for Master Mark in Minnesota, a plastics company that makes Rhino Deck http://www.rhinodeck.com/ it is the same as Trex, except it most likely contains more recycled plastic. I was working for them when they first started making their Rhino Deck products… and I mean when they were working the kinks out of the production process… they were still getting twisted and curved planks out of the extrusion machine when they wanted straight ones.
No, that is not a knock on the product. I was just lucky enough to be there at the beginning of that particular product. It is a good, stable, long lasting substitute for wood… there are just a few details you HAVE to take into consideration.
Plastic decking can be made in a variety of colors. It’s plastic.
1. Long lengths of it that have no support will bow and bend. You would not build a railing with it, unless you had vertical supports every few inches. It is plastic, and thus under the heat of the day, it will soften slightly. If you take that into account, a long length of it (3 or 4 feet) that has nothing under it to support it, will bow. Now, since a deck has supports every 16 inches, this effect doesn’t warp the surface.
2. Special fasteners should be used with assembling the deck. Since it is plastic, when you use a normal decking screw, the plastic is pushed aside and up (as opposed to being bored through and turned to fragments like putting a screw in wood, or cracking wood). The plastic that is pushed aside and up will form a ridge around the screw head by the time the screw is flush. There are special deck screws with attached, cupped washers that are made for plastic decking. These attached, cupped washers catch this ridging effect, and bring it down with the screw as it is made flush.
Otherwise… treat it as you would treat plastic furniture. It’s plastic.
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Installed a deck in Utah (heat,rain, ice, snow) 10 years ago and it looks new with zero maintenance. Go for it!
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I have used it Its good has far has maintaining because once its down there is none. However it warps just has bad as wood so it really needs to be screwed down well. I don’t think it looks as good as wood and would not use it again. Even though you have to put a coat of oil on wood once in awhile. Its well worth looking at wood instead of plastic. But trex is GREEN something to consider.
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Built 2 house’s and remodeled 1.
The house we are renting in a few weeks has a Trex deck. Years ago, in the late 90′s, I worked for Master Mark in Minnesota, a plastics company that makes Rhino Deck http://www.rhinodeck.com/ it is the same as Trex, except it most likely contains more recycled plastic. I was working for them when they first started making their Rhino Deck products… and I mean when they were working the kinks out of the production process… they were still getting twisted and curved planks out of the extrusion machine when they wanted straight ones.
No, that is not a knock on the product. I was just lucky enough to be there at the beginning of that particular product. It is a good, stable, long lasting substitute for wood… there are just a few details you HAVE to take into consideration.
Plastic decking can be made in a variety of colors. It’s plastic.
1. Long lengths of it that have no support will bow and bend. You would not build a railing with it, unless you had vertical supports every few inches. It is plastic, and thus under the heat of the day, it will soften slightly. If you take that into account, a long length of it (3 or 4 feet) that has nothing under it to support it, will bow. Now, since a deck has supports every 16 inches, this effect doesn’t warp the surface.
2. Special fasteners should be used with assembling the deck. Since it is plastic, when you use a normal decking screw, the plastic is pushed aside and up (as opposed to being bored through and turned to fragments like putting a screw in wood, or cracking wood). The plastic that is pushed aside and up will form a ridge around the screw head by the time the screw is flush. There are special deck screws with attached, cupped washers that are made for plastic decking. These attached, cupped washers catch this ridging effect, and bring it down with the screw as it is made flush.
Otherwise… treat it as you would treat plastic furniture. It’s plastic.
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