Composite Decking VS. Wood Decks
Composite Decking is Maintenance Free Inaccurate
Composite Decking is Better Than Wood Inaccurate
Composite Decking Lasts Forever. Inaccurate
For more information on Composite Decking (click)
March/07 Update.
The Debunk.
Composite Decking is Maintenance Free,
Composite Decking Manufacturers stopped using “Maintenance Free” when describing their products early on after law suits. Nowadays they refer to it as “Low Maintenance”.
They will tell you that the product will require cleaning a couple of times a year to make it look good again. (Good—not, “Like New”)
The cleaners leave the decking looking powdery. They are acidic and chemically strip the finish and kill the mold for a time. Green clients should be aware that to “maintain” these products it involves splashing chemicals around your yard. A good stiff brush is required to physically scrub the decking.
Composite Decking is Better than Wood for Decks,
If it is better than wood—why are they trying to emulate the look of wood. The new products are quite convincing. Big hunks of plastic with wood grain and variable colorants to emulate the look of wood perfectly. Sure, it will fade out, but when it is installed it looks just like wood.
I suggest that only wood is wood. Ipe or Mahogany will likely have a durability of 40 years if oiled yearly. A wood deck can be refinished every few years to look like new again.
You cannot refinish a composite deck—you simply replace it. 5 years from now, your composite deck will look like a 5 year old composite deck—with scratches and stains.
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Composite Decking Lasts Forever.
When buried in a landfill—composite decking may very well last forever. They say a plastic shopping bag will last 1000 years underground, I bet the composite decking will also do just as well. Long after you have tired of your stylish composite deck, it won’t be recycled; it will go to the landfill with the plastic patio chairs and the rest of the plastic packaging.
Composite Decking Law Suits.
Trexä has settled it’s class action law suit, and it appears that they still have mold issues. Numerous people have called prior to signing a confidentiality agreement with Trexä agreeing not to talk about it. Another Trexä client sent the photos below. Trexä is likely the largest composite decking company in the world and they have always made their decking from a mix of materials. This photo was sent by a Trex Client and he attested that it is 1 year old.
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For more information about the Trexä Class Action suit try a search on Googleä or click here for a good description of the Trex class action suit.
Coupling Vinyl with Wood
Offered a strong but flexible product without as much temperature growth over time. They missed a couple of factors however. The “Pulp” wood they use is made up of fiber (small wood particles) that is of species not known for outdoor durability such as pine, spruce and bark from these trees. It’s basically the wood left over that isn’t good enough to use to make paper.
Since this wood absorbs moisture, then dispels it this creates a pocket within the vinyl that soaks up moisture every time it gets wet. Over time… black mold—like an un-vented shower stall and it will never subside. Cleaners may make it look alright for a few days—but it will always come back. Apparently they still have issues.
If composite decking contains wood it may be prudent to steer clear of the product.
Warrantees offered by Composite decking companies are notorious for pointing out their tragic flaws. Pool chemicals, mechanical wear, mold growth are often not covered by their limited lifetime warrantee.
Composite Decking Testing Methods
Generally, when they test composite decking durability and color-fastness they test for the equivalent of about 6 months in the real world. Furthermore manufacturers have told me that each batch of composite decking will be a slightly different color. I haven’t personally seen a composite testing that included testing for freeze thaw stability.
Is Composite a Structural Material?
The simple answer is that when you can legally use it for joists and handrails then it will be deemed structural materials. Most composite hand-rails are not Building Code Legal. Most composite decking manufacturers advise to create a frame that has the joists about 12” apart, rather than the typical 16” since the materials will tend to sag under it’s own weight.
We get numerous people asking for composite pergolas. Since we can’t fasten to it securely, or span more than a couple of feet without deflection designing one that works well is a challenge we just don’t see as a sound investment.
Vinyl Decking (without wood pulp—Virgin Vinyl)
Is apparently durable and long lasting. David Makela of GardenStructure.com Boston says he decides which composite is good by laying it on something solid, hanging a 3” corner off the edge and giving it a good whack with a hammer. If it shatters off—Don’t use it. He sticks to Virgin Vinyl products and has had good luck. (EON by CPI is not Virgin Vinyl, we would suggest it is a PVC product classed with PVC patio furniture)
Virgin Vinyl composite decking does expand and contract a great deal and this needs to be accommodated by using different methods for fastening and leaving tolerances (spaces) to allow expansion based on temperature. Variance of about 200 degrees F should be standard in North America, which means up to 2 or 3“ of expansion should be expected with some products.
Cheap Composite Decking
When something is just too cheap you want to steer clear. Cheap gas will always contain water or toxic waste. Cheap composite could have any number of horrors lurking within it especially if it comes all the way from another continent.
Composite Vinyl Fences
David Makela attests that the vinyl fencing has improved over the years. If he says it is true--I believe him. However he also said he enjoys working with cedar much more, so here are some photos of vinyl composite fencing failures. UV breaks down PVC. Spray paint will be nearly impossible to remove.
A visit with Tom Jacques from Hickory Dickory Decks.
Tom was kind enough to show me around a few composite decking installations in Burlington. The decks looked good—that’s why he’s our competition in many areas. He tells me that 90% of their work is composite decking. I offer a great thanks for his time showing me his work.
Being a large company with many sub-contract employees it is hard to keep a tight control on quality control so there were flaws here and there. I think their work is quite good generally.
Many of the decks realistically did not look 3 years old, but they may have been close. At the time of this revision we did not have disclosure as to how old exactly they were. Regardless, there were flaws in some that indicated that they were likely in the range of 3 years old.
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All the decks I viewed had obviously been professionally cleaned. Some of the composite decks containing wood showed evidence of mold growth and staining.
Expansion had caused some boards to shear screws, and there were quite a few joints that didn’t quite line up. Plastics expand when you heat them, and contract when you cool them. Unless the temperature is the same as the date of installation there will be gaps and/or pressure distortion.
Wood expands when it absorbs moisture, and shrinks when it dispels it. This factor has to be accommodated by leaving spaces or using special techniques to minimize the visibility and effects.
Extendex Composite Decking Plant:
We photographed this display fence in 2004 and we understand that the company went bankrupt and was bought out by another company.
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The display, as you can see was listing badly. The new owners removed the display—I guess they had better taste. The entertaining part was that their yard was fenced using steel siding rather than their own products. The steel fence is still there, but keep in mind that decision was made by the old management… not the new.
The new display is kept within the fenced yard.
That’s it for the April-2007 update!
Be Careful out there!
Lawrence W
Note: the opinions expressed in these articles are simply an opinion of the author. No malice is intended. If you have information or evidence of errors or possible corrections we invite your comments at plans@gardenstructure.com
Here’s the Original Article from 2004
Composite Decking Vs Wood Decks (part 1)
Composite Decking 
Superior to wood decks?
We were planning to use composite decking materials-until we spoke to someone at a home show...
Composite decking companies are spending large budgets on Deck Magazine advertisements and Home Improvement Shows touting the advantages of composite decking materials and composite building products and that is fantastic! I offer kudos to the media for enabling this trend towards composite decking and handrails. Think of all the garbage that will be recycled into composite decking materials.
Before composite decking, options were limited to spruce or pine decking. Composite decking products are gaining market share and the offerings are diverse. Composite Decking now looks like wood, comes in an assortment of colors, the fasteners are hidden and the ads are slick and modern. Decks can now last forever. You will never have to paint or stain your deck again. Lifetime limited warranty and now the products are color fast as well.
I am trying to remain impartial. I am trying very hard to be unbiased. I am skeptical. It all sounds too perfect. Composite decking material may well be a long lasting product, however, promises made by corporations should be examined. Promises are carefully worded and when I read “Fade Resistant” or “20 year limited warranty”, questions enter my mind. I have thought long and hard on this subject. It is difficult to buck a trend armed with fabulous marketing and mass media poised to discover the next fabulous product. When everyone else is accepting something as truth, who am I to try to convince anyone that the world isn’t really flat.
You have seen vinyl products like fencing and posts used for those 3 rail fences you see everywhere. I drive by composite fences daily that have failed.
Since vinyl lacks in structural strength--unless filled by meshed concrete, the horizontal rails tend to sag in the center. Without reinforcement vinyl is not a structural product, period.
The second problem has to do with the effect of UV radiation on rigid vinyl products. It gets brittle, and when it is stressed it tends to break.
The third trouble would be with the color fading, and the fourth would have to be that vinyl and composite decking tends to be soft and scratches under normal wear. Dogs have claws, women do wear high heels and damage does happen. After 5 years a vinyl composite decking will be worn--when that happens you can’t re-sand or stain it again. You are stuck with it
Plastic – Wood Resins have similar issues. Soft surfaces which wear and will not accept stain, and if the color fades from the sun, the shaded area will not and you have a 2 color deck--you have to live with it. There is no possibility of refinishing it. Composite decking materials companies often tell you to tighten up the joist spacing so that they don’t sag between the joists. This attests to a lack of structural strength. When composite decking products become structural, they will use them for the framing as well as the decking.
Most composites spec pressure treated materials for the frame--so how could it possibly last more than 20 years? A permanent deck obviously would contain no wood right? Some might not know that plastic has an expansion rate of about 3%.
Composite decking product expansion is not like wood. In a wood deck, shrinkage occurs when moisture is absorbed or dispelled from the timber. Plastic is temperature sensitive. Plastic composite deckingis always expanding and contracting, which means there will be voids and gaps you didn’t expect and fasteners often become loose. Now remember, the deck is framed with pressure treated which expands and contracts with changes in humidity or rainy season. The deck frame is expanding and contracting in the 1.5% range, and the plastic composite decking is expanding and contracting up to 3% and not at the same time. This alone could partially explain why quite often composite decking appears to sag between the joists.
Many composite decking materials will not be suitable for handrails unless reinforced. For years, ads show composite decking paired with cedar handrails. If a product is not rigid enough to use as a handrail, how would it be strong enough to walk on? As a professional deck builder I tend to build for twice as long as I expect it is required to last. I know that a deck will deteriorate in the elements; particularly in climates that have to endure numerous freeze thaw cycles or extreme moisture. Brand new composite decking is only adequate to do the job when it is installed, I believe that this bodes poorly for future durability
I see the ads on TV and in magazines and it makes me want to run right out and spend the extra money on composite decking materials. Then I look at the 15 year old vinyl siding on my house and that snaps me back to reality. “Never replace your siding again! Maintenance Free… NO PAINT EVER AGAIN!” was the cry when vinyl was first introduced as a siding option. Back 25 years ago it was actually more expensive than aluminum siding and a lot more than wood.
Lets put this into proportion, siding hangs on the wall, has to resist moisture, UV, wind and the occasional ball thrown by children. Back in the future, vinyl siding can be had for 39$/square, 15 years ago--100$/square. Vinyl siding is now the budget product. I specked the stucco for the exterior of my father’s hotel, which covered up a badly deteriorating 9-year-old composite siding material.
I am often approached by composite decking companies who want us to purchase composite decking materials and help them market their products. I tell them all the same thing. Give me 5 names and numbers of happy customers more than 3 years old, within 2 hours of my location. I would be ecstatic to see a great composite decking material first hand—and I would visit and see these products for myself.
If I am impressed with the product, you will get a link on our website and my verbal recommendation to anyone I come into contact with on the subject. With a website that gets 15 million hits per month; you would expect them to be lining up to prove their products and reap the benefits of additional web-site traffic.
Now that I have ruffled composite decking industry feathers and they are upset anyhow, what bothers me is the lack of creativity. The product designers are attempting to emulate designs in wood for handrails and steps, which were created by carpenters and architects to work best with wood and it’s properties over hundreds of years.
Wouldn’t you like to build handrails with composite decking products that pass code and exceed engineering requirements? Stop treating it like wood and get creative. It’s not wood; working with it calls for different thinking. Use the differences to your advantage, or watch your competition do it and lose out.
So, that customer that ran into me at a home show. We built a pre-finished cedar deck for them with semi-transparent stain, which ended up having a problem with the stain due to an elderly dog which was dragging it’s hind claws rather badly, in combination with pool chemicals which resulted in the stain shedding from the surface within a couple of years. The deck is being refinished, and it will be beautiful once again, because it was wood. Had the deck been made of composite decking, they would have had to replace most of the composite decking to restore it.
Here is my offer in clear English to all composite decking products manufacturers. Give me 5 addresses of happy clients more than 3 years old, I will visit a couple at random so that I can see for myself how well your products age. If I am impressed, I will give you a link from GardenStructure.com and Winterburngroup.on.ca for 2 years, free of charge. A word of caution however, photos and my review of the products will be published on line…as an appendix to this article.
My opinion at this time; composite decking products are going to be fabulous. They are not there yet. It is still early in the cycle of development for composite decking, and yes, there will come a day when composite decking is truly superior to wood in nearly every way and I certainly hope it is soon. I would prefer to save as many trees as possible.
Be Critical. If you are considering composite decking go and see completed projects more than 3 years old that your chosen contractor has installed personally. Judge for yourself. When you ask the contractor this question you might be surprised at the answer. We haven’t been doing it that long, or the manufacturer hasn’t been in business that long is often the case. Like I said… still the early days.
I really am skeptical by nature about anything new, and since I come from a long line of ludites I do come by it naturally. I apologize now for the ruffled feathers this article may cause, however, if I am wrong please feel free to let me know. I am in the wood working business and have decided based on my limited research that I won’t be offering composites for my clients until I have been impressed. I only know what I have seen, and what I have seen has not been favorable towards composite decking materialss.
For now I am sticking with cedar.
Yours Very Truly,
Lawrence Winterburn CEO Garden Structure.com
http://www.gardenstructure.com
http://www.winterburngroup.on.ca
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Composite Decking vs. Wood Decks UPDATE;
This article was written in January 2004.
Thanks go out to everyone who has written. Nearly all the comments and questions were well written and heartfelt. As yet, we have received no contacts to a client who owns a composite deck or project that utilizes composite decking in the Toronto Area who is happy with the product post construction 3 years.
I must say this is surprising since so many composite decking manufacturers and composite decking installation contractors have contacted us.
When was the article written was the #1 question, so I looked up the date and posted it. The second question was "Why are you doing this? Why do you have an axe to grind"? First of all, I simply don't own an axe, so I really have none to grind. What I observed was many people who didn't have time to research the products, buying in to the slick marketing that told them that these composite decking products are bulletproof and would last forever. Sure, I'm skeptical; I am the first to admit that as fact. The fact I am asking for evidence that shows me if I am wrong, and that I am willing to invest time into viewing high quality composite decking installations shows that I have an open mind.
Harvey Freeman wades into the debate. Read his opinions here: Composite Decking part 2
