Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Evergrain by Epoch & Timbertech decking

I'm at the stage of picking the decking material for my deck project. After reading and hearing horror stories about Trex I have decided aginst it. A friend of mine had Evergrain installed last year. It did change color but she powerwashed it and the original color (cedar) is BACK. Her washer broke down half way and she had one section that wasn't washed. I was amazed at the difference and am convinced that evergrain may be the decking material for me. Especially the wood grain. Then I came across Timbertech which has a similar product. Now I'm back to the dilemma state.

My question here is which one is better. Does anyone on this forum have any experience with either of these products. Your experiences/advice will be greatly appreciated.

yankee.. i too am having a deck built, and like you was turned off by the trex decks i had seen

i looked at numerous plastics, like eon/ecoboard/etc and almost went with ecoboard, but concerns about the expanding and contracting made me leery.

i looked at numerous composites including timber-tech, evergrain,choicedek,weatherbest,etc

the problem with chosing a composite (other then trex), its hard to find /look at actual jobs that were done.

i actual saw both a timbertech and evergrain deck. both were done last year, and still looked real nice. after consulting with my builder, i decided on weatherbest, which looks (in my opinion) tobe more like actual wood. its more costly about $2.00 ft.

there is a recent post that the mod's closed , before guys came to blows.. read it as there is lots of good info.

you are sort of on your own when it come to what material to use. everyone has an opinion, one guy will love timbertech, the next guy will tell u why he hates it... but loves weatherbest.

i wish there was 'one' site that could give you the pro's and con's of each decking material. but such a site does not exist. however this site has many knowledgable guys on it who are sharing their experience with us ..the less informed (or in my case stupid)

There are lots of choices of decking material out there. NONE are perfect nor are any 100% maintenance-free. Workability and what you can do with the product to make your deck unique would be considerations.

IF possible, go look at a few decks that have been done with the various products.

Looks will be one of the big deciding factors. Some people like the looks of a woodgrain in their deck. Products like NexWood and WeatherBest have incorporated a wood grain or a brushed finish into their composites. Other people don't want that.

Fading or changing colors is an issue with some of the products. Be aware of that when you make your selection, and choose based on what the deck will look like in 3 months, 6 months or a year.

Expansion and contraction is an issue, at least to some extent, with any decking material. That's why installing a deck with the proper gap is important. But you have to know when each expands and contracts to get the gap right. Wood expands when it gets moist (in the winter). Composites and plastics expand due to warmth (in the summer). Simply realize this and plan accordingly.

Molds and mildew can be an issue with ANY decking material. It's more of a problem with some than it is others -- even within one company's line (like Trex), some colors appear to be more suseptible to it than others. There is nothing you can do to prevent it if the conditions for it to grow are right. All you can do is clean the deck.

Do I have preferences or prejudices?? Sure I do. From an installer's standpoint, I have yet to find a hollow composite that I like. Weatherest used to make a hollow 2X6. I found that face screwing it was not an option -- I couldn't countersink the screws. Clips, like a Simpson DBT1 didn't work well -- it was too easy to drive the toescrew through the edge of the board. And a system like DeckMaster didn't seem to work too well either. After about a year, the boards could start popping loose and would twist. None of these problems exist (or at least I haven't had them yet) with a solid composite, like Trex, the 5/4 WeatherBest, etc.

Haven't had a customer ask for a vinyl deck yet -- no opinion on any of them.

We ruled out TimberTech tongue-and-groove decking because it was creaky. We walked on a sample deck, and though solid, it creaked. Didn't like it.

Before you select a composite, be sure to look at the site referenced in a post today by creiter on the fire resistance of composite decking materials.

I was thinking I might try one of the composites on my next deck project, but after seeing the results of the tests, it ain't gonna happen! Granted, some of the composites did better than others, but I think I'll stick with wood for now.

Bruce

Yikes. Pictures worth a thousand words. I have ruled out Timbertech. I wish they had the Evergrain in the test too. Weatherbest seemed to come out ahead. Now I'm even more confused. I think a brick patio would be a sound alternative.

Thanks, Bruce H.

i looked at that post too. how would some of woods do under similar circumstances??

i would guess (tho might be wrong) , that cedars/redwoods/etc
would burn at a similar rate.

i still think i made a good choice in weatherbest... i'll let u guys know in a couple of years..

They showed what happens to a redwood in the test that they conducted. Bear in mind that they used a 100% heart redwood, and it was new (less than 1 year old). I e-mailed a comment to the site, and the reply that I got back was to the effect that they have never subjected a weathered redwood to this test, but the person (Frank Beall) thinks that the results would have been about the same for "a weathered redwood, as long as it was all heart".

I only see a couple of problems with that. First, virtually nobody in CA uses "All Heart" redwood for their decks -- that stuff is more expensive than Trex. Most of the better redwood decks are done with what is called Construction Heart -- a slightly lower grade, at a significantly lower price. And weathered (dry) wood (redwood or otherwise) is going to withstand a fire as well as a green wood?? I have my doubts about that.

About the only conclusive way to compare green wood to dry would be to perform the same test on both. And the only way to compare redwood to cedar, to P.T., to Ipe, etc., would be to run this test on each.

And paris401, I don't think you went wrong with the WB. Guess we will know in a couple of years.

lefty... i hope you are right..