So I've been reading up on the differences between these brands, and I'm having a hard time deciding which to go with. Anyone have any experience with any of them?

 

Trex is the only one I have know of. Stuff is slippery with snow!

 

I can’t advise on the brands.

I will tell you the guy we hired to clean/stain our old PT wood deck advised us to spring for the higher grade Trex vs. other Trex lines for its resistance to fading.

He makes his living maintaining decks so I trust his knowledge.

 

That's good to know. If it's snowing enough to stick, it's unlikely that we'd be out on the deck though.

I've heard this as well. We've been looking at the Trex Transcend line due to the fade and scratch resistance. I've ordered some samples that should hopefully be here within the week so we can settle on color.

 

Transcend is what we went with. Spiced rum was the color.

 

I went through a lot of shit before buying the Trex we have. I'm super jetlagged though and will write something more worthwhile tomorrow lol.

 

Thanks! And welcome back!

 

Ok here goes:
Trex (and many others) make decking in varying degrees of "goodness". The base model, and cheapest one, is just basic extruded composite made out of sawdust and glue. This stuff is fine in that it won't ever rot or go bad per say but it will fade over time. The biggest downside is that it is porous so anything you spill on it (grease most importantly) will get sucked in and never come out. This leaves stains and other such stuff on it that you can't get out easily or at all. Also, it can't, or shouldn't at least, be power washed because you can chip away the composite if you use a strong enough jet.

The next level up adds a solid PVC co-extrusion to the exterior of the part so that the inside, which is still made of the same sawdust and glue, is encased in the solid PVC on the top side of the board. This means anything you spill on it won't soak in and you can just wipe it up. You're still not supposed to power wash it but using a broom and some deck wash soap works fine for cleaning it up since nothing soaks in. This stuff is also more fade and scratch resistant. The downside is that wet PVC is quite slippery even in the rain so be careful.

The next level up from that is the one that has the nicer PVC outer jacket in that it adds more colors and is more "real" looking. That's really the only difference between the two.

We went with the second tier in some shade of brown, there are pics of it if you go far back enough in my home improvement thread. The biggest cost will be in the railings though, those things are highway robbery. Also, make sure you budget for the no-show fasteners as they look a lot better and are much easier to install than the through the top screws. Also, be really careful how close you keep your grill to the railing lol. Hot grill and plastic don't go well together.

 

Thanks for the insight!

Did you consider any other brands, or did you have you sights set on Trex from the beginning?

I'm waiting on some samples to come in from both Trex and TimberTech. TimberTech has some shades that we prefer, but I'm not sure about their scratch resistance (or overall quality in comparison). The biggest difference between the two is Trex has a PVC coating on three sides while TimberTech if fully encapsulated. Trex says water will inevitably get into the board, so they create an exit for it by leaving the bottom open. TimberTech says that water shouldn't get in at all... I'm kinda leaning towards Trex on that one though.

And yes, hidden hardware is a must.

 

We looked at all the major players, I think the third is Apex or something like that... Trex was the best bang for your buck is what we found. And yeah, anyone that says something will NOT happen when another says they properly mitigate it is lying.