New Deck

[rodney482]

Redoing my back deck 18x22…. Looking at Trex, Timbertech. Really liking the hidden fasteners offered by Timbertech….

What say you ????

 

[madgrad02]

Trex has hidden fasteners as well... just redid my a few years back. Sucks were moving, so I'll start that process over in a year or two at the new house.

 

[longspeak74]

Have you looked at Azek?

 

[IdahoElk]

Does your deck get a lot of direct sun? If it does I'd pass on the Trex, It warps and absorbs a lot of heat.

 

[rodney482]

Have you looked at Azek?

Is Azek associated w Timbertech

 

[ddd-shooter]

Does your deck get a lot of direct sun? If it does I'd pass on the Trex, It warps and absorbs a lot of heat.

Agree with trex warping. We went with the most expensive version-more solid material- and you can still see the imperfections from framing below.
It’s not unsightly or ugly. Just flares my ocd-ness lol
I do think it would look bad had we went with the lower grade trex. I couldn’t recommend anyone use that unless it’s a really small deck with shorter spans. Our deck is very wide and full sun. Thus longer runs and more susceptible to warping.

DEFINITELY use hidden screws. Looks ten times better. We used camo screws with our trex

 

[longspeak74]

"Is Azek associated w Timbertech"...

All be damned, they are associated with each other. I've always just used the Azek name.

 

[grfox92]

We use Fiberon Decking with their brand of hidden fasteners which are called Phantom clips. Fiberon decking has a groove milled into the edge to accommodate the hidden fastener clip.

Easiest hidden fastener to install and Fiberon is a great company and makes a great product.

Sent from my SM-G990U2 using Tapatalk

 

[spike camp]

I have the premium Timbertech and it’s a super solid material, no issues

 

[Schism]

We have Azek/Timbertech on our house with hidden screws. Large deck with south and west exposure and a front porch with east exposure. Both have held up great to our weather although as some mentioned, while not ugly, it does tend to show little imperfections in the framing beneath. The only real downside to our deck is the dark brown color gets very hot in the summer sun and it can get little slippery with water and snow. I think they've remedied the slippery factor with some of the newer designs based off samples I've seen recently.

 

[IdahoElk]

Just curious, those that have installed engineered decking and say it looks great, How many years have you had it?
The climate where I live can get to the high 90's in summer to -10 in the winter, I've yet to see an engineered deck that doesn't look awful after a few years, Warping, expansion/contraction issues and cracking. When new they look absolutely beautiful.
It's so bad that if the customers deck is ground level I recommend to Hardscape it vs wood or trex type decking.

 

[Azone]

Great time for this thread to pop up since I just ripped my old deck out.
What is the best bang for the buck for deck material that won’t look like crap after a few years of weather?
For those of you that went the diy route what were your final cost after it was all said and done for subframe and decking material?

 

[IDVortex]

Well, sadly I know a thing or two on decking.

IMPO, if you're doing the work yourself, do IPA, more work, some maintenance with it. But much much nicer looking then composit.

I like Fiberon decking personally.
There's a channel on YouTube called The Build Show. They've done a video on composite decking. I'd check it out.

Down side of composit, if you're in a wet area it can be slicker than a dog turd, moves a lot due to temperature swings, you do need to install to manufacturers specs in the Temps, you really want your framing to be 12in o.c, and with that, in super hot days you'll feel it flex. Some composites are better than others for color fading and such too.

Lastly, make sure your house is flashed correctly, I suggest trexseal. And use joist tape on everything. The 'it's pressure treated so it'll last forever' is a lie, tape everything.

 

[Beendare]

Worth mentioning, wood can be installed on wider centers. The manufactured wood decking products typically have to be installed with the joists, on a shorter center.

Timbertech is good stuff.

also, when redoing that, make sure you cover the joists with a flashing or good stick on water barrier

 

[ben h]

My deck doesn't need iminent replacement, but in the somewhat near future will need re-done. I built it in 1999 and used 2x6 cedar decking which I think looks great at 1st, but after a few years not so much. Some of the new composite decking is roughly 5x the cost initially; it does look good, but I wonder about the longevity. When I replace my cedar deck, I'm debating just replacing it with a stamped suspended concrete slab. My deck is big (~800 sq ft) and mostly un-covered, so it gets a lot of sun in the summer and ice-snow for a few months in the winter. Thinking about covering more of it and reducing the size as well.

My brother built one with composite for a client a few years ago and it did need 12" joist spacing and thermal expansion definitely needs consideration.

 

[Broomd]

One can barely even see the minuscule fasteners on the Trex Trancends. I wouldn't bother with the hidden fasteners. PITA.
...24" centers, 12" under the hottub...I built it in '17 and it's been fantastic, zero issues.
I went Hardi cement board around the sides. About 1000' sq ft. Many complements.

 

[Schism]

Just curious, those that have installed engineered decking and say it looks great, How many years have you had it?
The climate where I live can get to the high 90's in summer to -10 in the winter, I've yet to see an engineered deck that doesn't look awful after a few years, Warping, expansion/contraction issues and cracking. When new they look absolutely beautiful.
It's so bad that if the customers deck is ground level I recommend to Hardscape it vs wood or trex type decking.

Ours is 7 years old and ours still looks like new.

North Dakota weather can range from 100F to -30F over the course of a year. What amazes me the most about composite decking is the amount it will expand and contract with varying temperatures.

 

[RadialJett]

Ipe.

Doesn’t get as hot, lasts forever with no treatment. Oil it to keep the color rich, or let it weather and go beach boardwalk look. When I did mine it was within a buck or two a foot of Trex, can’t recall which one was more.

 

[Elk97]

Just redid our 1100 sq ft deck last fall with Timbertech. My sons are contractors in MT and they recommended it, especially with the amount of rain we get here in NW WA. It looks great, went down fast and the hidden fasteners work great. It's expensive initially but no maintenance means a lot to me. Ours has 16" joist spacing and feels really solid. When putting it down you need to keep track of spacing even with the fasteners, easy to get off if you don't make sure you're running true after every 4-6 rows.

 

[JeffP_Or]

Built a three-tier deck in TimberTech in 2011; no issues with it and it still looks good. I used the SS surface screws after looking at the hidden system as I didn't like the kerf in the plank [seemed like a weak point]. Although, all of a sudden the squirrels have taken to chewing on the corners to cut back their teeth.

Neighbor has done his twice in a similar time period - both in Trex; second was under the warranty. The new replacement material has not fared much better. It also looks 'fuzzed' on the surface*.

Only difference I really notice is the deck is more slippery than wood. It still shows scratches from moving furniture around on it when you don't pick up the chairs. The engineered stuff is heavy and cumbersome - especially cumbersome when moving long pieces as a lone installer.

*To be fair, he power washes his; I hand brush mine. Might be part of the issue, might not.