home brewer Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

Some places are too wide for 16" and therefore an extra 2x

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

I know quite a few done about 15 years or so ago (did some myself), and they are looking just as good as they did then. That stuff is holding up pretty well!

Bill_de Loc: US

You may take note that this section is specifically for non-Photography discussions.

---

happy sailor Loc: Ontario, Canada

I thought it would be great and planned to use it and designed the frame 12” on Center for the joists. I then changed to 2 x 6 cedar for the decking surface as it was one third the cost of the composite and the ones we got as samples got too hot in the sun. Our deck was 14 x19 feet at the end of our above ground pool so there was going to be bare feet on it all the time in full sun. In any event it is three years old now cleaned each spring with a stiff broom and a hose. I still put it on 12 inch centres, you could park a truck on it and it wouldn’t budge, for the few extra joists the strength is well worth the cost.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Definitely agree on having the joists on 16” centers, especially if sagging is a worry, and the cost difference is minimal. What brand screws have given you good results? My oldest son built a deck using deck screws and after about 7-8 years, a number had failed (heads broken or rusted off). During the same period, decks I built over 20 years ago using stained treated 2x6s fastened with 16P galvanized (with the Points blunted on those at the ends to prevent splitting) are still going strong without a single fastener failure. Just wondering if perhaps the brand he chose was the issue.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

...there are questions, and I've done enough demo to know that galvanized nails can certainly do the job. Really, it depends on local weather and shrinkage of the decking. The *real* deal are blind nailing brackets that mount under as you run your courses, pretty slick and the weather never really hits your fasteners...plus no heads to come loose and rip your flesh. Blunting the tips (usually near the end of the board) helps, but predrilling eliminates any doubt...no splits. Anymore I use the brand of screws they sell at Depot that has different colors to match-up with your decking...I suppose they are powder-coated but they work well. Pricey, tho. I'm a taste beyond hand nailing...we used to put the rookies out there to learn their nailing technique. Haha, of course that was in the tract home days and we were mass producing stuff and QC was iffy at best...

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Composite decking don't rot, but the surface is degraded by ultraviolet rays, some brands degrade faster than others, eventually the color fades, they do make coating to restore the color.
Just a personal observation and question, what happen to the floor /deck joist when they get wet year after year?

machia Loc: NJ

Composites: Maintenance free, Azek and Trex looks good but gets very hot. Cheaper composites look like plastic and can warp.
Wood: Use ACQ. Stain it with a solid stain or semi solid. Do not paint, as paint is only a coating whereas stain is a penetrant. Coatings are fine on verticals surfaces, but does not wear well on horizontal surfaces that are being walked on. Wood is cooler than composites.

GEL Loc: South Carolina

Composite does last longer but I comes at quite the price. 12” joist spacing is best. IPE is real wood and about the same cost since you can use 16” joist spacing. Stainless screws are a must and absolutely have to predilection every hole. To avoid splitting after the many hearing/ cooling & sun/rain cycles.

GEL Loc: South Carolina

Predrill not predilection
Heating not hearing

happy sailor Loc: Ontario, Canada

Another consideration that needs to be taken into account is the amount of waste between the different products, I needed 14 foot decking boards (actual sawn length was 12' 10") leaving waste of 1' 2" from each board. Had I used composite which would require a 16 foot board (don't produce them in 14's) the waste would have been 3' 2" from each board, an extra 2' per board. Composite at $5+ a square foot adds up and then the tipping fee because you cannot just burn the leftovers.

I used the Camo screw fasteners with the coated screws, they end up totally in the side of the board leaving just the beauty of your boards no nail or screw heads visible at all.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

You just built the wrong size deck.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I had an old manure spreader. It had an oak deck that rotted out. I replaced it with composite decking. The decking lasted fine for 20 years even though it was frequently loaded with wet manure (or compost), which didn't always get pushed out. The only problem I had was at the end, where stresses were high, and a couple of the boards broke off. So the composite was not as structurally strong as the oak, but it was rot resistant.

buckbrush Loc: Texas then Southwest Oregon

[quote=home brewer]

I am rebuilding the deck and porch on our house and am thinking about using composite decking. Any idea as to whether the stuff is any good. Some online reviews say it warps and sags.

I used the new Trex ( some old Trex had a delamination problem). A neighbor had her complete deck replaced by Trex because of this but that problem supposedly went away over 5 years ago.
I have a stairway on the North side of our house and it has stood up well. The only problem here in Oregon is the rain/sleet freezes on the boards and the Trex has a coating which makes the boards slicker than snot when below freezing. I had to add non-slip tape to the boards to prevent my feet from going out from under me when walking down the stairs.
The second problem was the surface of the Trex is so smooth that making the non-skid tape stick to each step caused me to rough up each stair board under the tape so the tape would adhere even when it rained for some days. If I had to do it over I would purchase a composite material that had a rough/er surface to eliminate the slipping problem.

I realize the problem only showed up on the front boards of the steps but it sure caused a lot of extra work to make the stairs useable on certain winter days.

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

If you go with composite you will need additional support underneath as the composite is much more pliable/flexable than wood.