Composite decking opinions.....

[charry]

Looking to renovate an existing deck. Since I dont like tedious maintenance, I was looking into composite decking/railing to replace the existing PT.

However, the more I read about different brands the more I hear about how "low maintenance" they really ARENT. i.e. TimberTech forms mold/mildew, CorrectDeck sorta does the same unless you pay extra for their new anti-microbial product but it also loses color quickly and unevenly. GeoDeck seemed to be OK but I didnt like their T&G version because it didnt look to be very "hidden fastener" like.

Does anyone have *recent* experience with any of these products? TimberTech, GeoDeck, CorrectDeck, or Weatherbest?

At this point Im not sure its worth the extra $$$ for composite over, say, PT or even Cedar. Im located in the Northeast, so I dont know how well cedar would hold up, but it sure does look nice!

Thanks!

-Chris

[RayV]

No personal experience other than building a deck with Trex. My friend loves it and wouldn't have anything else. He does have the 'old style' without the genuine simulated woodgrain so he doesn't have the mold worries.

Keep in mind that it has almost no structural integrity and joist spacing is different than wood.

[charry]

Luckily they built my existing deck "the right way", joists are 16" on center already.

Basically Im just at the point whre I need to choose a product and come up with a plan for the railings (it pains me to spend more on railings than the decking itself).

-Chris

[KLS]

I had one deck built with that composite stuff and really liked it. The only drawbacks, aside from price, were that this stuff takes a little longer to install because the screw holes need to be predrilled, and it also gets very hot to the touch in the sun. As far as the mildew issue, yes, it will discolor, but I'm not anal retentive about that kind of thing, and it does fine with periodic (every 3 years or so) cleaning. I did my current deck in regular PT lumber, and that's been ok, too, but I do need to recoat the surface with Cabot's semi-transparent stain.