Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Composit Decking

Any had it longer term, like 10 years? Hows it holding up? I'm thinking of going with Trex or one of the other brands to do a 500' deck. I've heard reports it an swell over time. It's and 2nd story deck around 10x50, so lots of winter exposure. They make a darker brown fake wood color that doesn't look too bad. Option B is probably 2x6 redwood.

We used the red/brown Trex on our only exposed deck to replace the original 5/4 PT wood. Been about 10 years now. Still in good shape.
Apparently we didn't wash[power] often enough as it has had black spots for about 2 years now that will not wash off.
I would space a tad wider than reco as we went with factory specs and every board now touches the next all the way down[been that way for about 9 years or so].

Perfectly happy with our dark red/brown Trex, too. It's been about six years and other than fading a bit, it's as good as new.

About the only place I have seen it hold up is in the NW if it's not catching too much sun.

In the South it goes bad fast, can't take the UV.
In a dock application I've seen fuel eat it so bad it didn't make it two years with the kids fillin' running cans and their jet skis and crap.
Seen park benches and picnic tables build out of it warp so bad they were junk inside a couple years.

A friend over on the river outta Kalispell did a small deck on the back of his house with it well over 10 years ago and it looks OK. It was a darker brown and there has been considerable fading and it appears to have more texture to it now than it did new, but over all it's holding up.

I'd have to run with 16 inch centers for my joist's just because of how bad I've seen it warp.
If you are where I think you are, you see more sun than the deck I've been referencing over on the river.

Only complaint is if its in direct sun in the summer it gets hot enough you don't want to stand still in bare feet lol

Ours is on 18" centers, no warping.
Deck gets about 6-7 hours daily sun.
I only wish that we would have set the boards a bit further apart as water stands on it.

I have it, and thought I was getting my boards far enough apart, but didn't in places. Mine is on the north side, and the boards are the grey ones, so they get some mold and grime on them that shows. I power wash in spring and fall.

Doesn't sound like many of you know how to install decks, nor follow mfg. installation specs.

Well, I had a Class A licensed builder help me replace mine due to having to support a partial roof to pull & replace, so not sure what you are saying?

Could also be that a lot of us had rather do it ourselves than be ripped off by some contractor.

I made a bench out of Trex but kept my PT Wood deck, Trex is now 11 years old, it's gets about 8 hr. of sun, and 6 months of snow, maybe a 100 degree swing during a typical year.
It has held up well, but the smooth finish has turned into a sandpaper feel and the gray has faded about 50 %.
Last year redid the deck (530 sq. ft.) This time I used Azek, with hidden fasteners over PT frame @ 16' oc.
Much nicer look than Trex, pretty wood grain, I chose a light gray and pictured framed the deck of no board ends showing.
Made it through the first winter with flying colors, cleaned up easy .
It's not cheap, even with builder/architect discount I ended up with $13k into it.
You can see the Trex bench in the second picture.

I've read trex had some swelling issues, and they have a fair amount of warranty claims even when installed properly. I was just asking for first hand knowledge, not chit posting about someones work.

A few years ago, we built a small deck using Choicedek from Lowes. This spring we decided to enlarge it but they no longer carry that color. We had to substitute and the best match we found was from Home Depot. It's not exact but it's close enough. If I was to do it again, I'd go with a brand that's carried by a number of different stores, not what appears to be a store brand.

Good point, I noticed the house brands were ~20% less. Here today gone tomorrow.

Any of you folks ever clean it with and chemicals to help remove the staining you've spoken of?

I'd be afraid of any the harsh cleaning products on the market without knowing someone had used them with good results.

For reference

We have about 5-600 sq' of Trex,about 12 yrs old,and it looks like it.
We did frame at 16" centers and do have a little sag here and there.Probably 6+ hr a day of sun(when we have it,lol).It does stain,and the wood grain has kinda worn off.
When we built ours,HD was the best price but we had a devil of a time with bent/twisted boards,(yes) ours were mostly 16'ers. So we ended up sending most back and went with a quality building supplier (recommended)
Now on the front porch,covered looks much better,but has faded .Overall I think the warden is still happy with it.

That is really clean looking, the stone work on the wall compliments it well.....

So 12 years or so is about the life expectancy before fades? That's less than I thought it would last.


I might just go with oiled redwood them.