Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Looking for advice/opinions on composite decking

This is my first try at installing a deck and I have decided to use a composite material. I also decided to have a contractor put up the frame and joists, since it needs to be attached to the house. I will be putting on the decking and the railing myself. I figure I can screw down planks cheaper than my contractor. However I now have to select a brand. After a month of research I belive I have narrowed the field down to evergrain and weatherbest. I belive a solid plank will be easier to work with than the I-beam looking ones. I have eliminated Trex based on the class action lawsuit and its tendency to turn grey. So my question does anyone have any experinece, good or bad with the evergrain or weatherbest? Which one do you prefer? Any other recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks
QH :confused:

Attached to the house or freestanding -- that's you're choice. I prefer to build decks freestanding, simply to eleiminate the possibility of water getting to the foundation, rim joist of the house, or whatever else it is anchored to.

I have used Weatherbest on quite a few decks (whatever the customer wants) and will probably use that when I do the front porch extension at my own house. Have never installed Evergrain, so no opinion, other than I don't particularly like the looks of it.

I have my own opinion of this class action suit that has been brought against Trex. People didn't read or listen to what Trex told them about the product, and then got mad when the Natural color faded to gray (Trex spent a lot of money explaining that that was going to happen), and/or when it mildewed because the customer didn't clean it. (Trex made that pretty clear too.)

Thanks for the input. One of the other reasons I was going with attached is that the basement is garden level and I was trying to avoid a big 6X6 post in the middle of the window. Another option I saw at Home Depot was Correct Deck. It seems to be new, priced inbetween Evergrain (Epoch) and Weatherbest and the homedepot guy was very complementary about it. Went into a long litany about the kind of plastic and how it should not fade. So I am still pondering. Any other insight will be appreciated. PS do you have helpful hints on laying out the decking? I have a 28 Ft streach and was going to alternate, however should the seems line up or alternate?

Thanks again
QH :cool:

Getting around the post occuring right in front of window is simple enough. Move that post one way and add a second post on the other side of the window.

I have installed exact one PIECE of Correct Deck -- used it under the threshold of a set of french doors last month.

A deck that is 28' wide shouldn't result in a lot of waste of your decking material. (Place you 2 outside joists at 27-1/2' apart, and let the decking overhang a little on each side.) On a deck this wide, I lay out my joints to occur every 4' on each successive run. Start with a 16' in one corner, finish off that course with a 16', which gives you a 12' on the deck and a 4' cutoff. Next course, start with the 4' cutoff, then a 16', then another 16', which gives you an 8' cutoff. Start with the cutoff, then a 16', ...

Thanks for the tip, I was going to go with 20ft boards then stagger with 8 ft boards. I am gravitating towards the Evergrain because it is availiable, however every time I go to the store there is another brand of decking claiming to be better than the rest. It is a real pain in the butt, at least in the old days redwood was redwood and you just had to sort the stuff to get straight ones. Always looking for advice.
QH

Option 2.. if the deck is 28', what the other dimension? If your framing isn't done yet, you could run the decking for the shorter run since composite comes in 12, 16 & 20'. I did that recently, but i was using T&G Geodeck on a 24x10', so i ordered all 20's and cut them in half.

Thanks for the advice
I am putting the deck around the corner of the house, 20ft on the front length, and 8 feet extending past the corner of the house, and low and behold the length of the deck around the corner is 12 ft, ie 8ft deep with a 4 ft walk way leading to the 20ft section. So with this design implementation I can order 20ft and 12 ft lengths and cover the whole deck.
I did order the correct deck, signature series. Its a little more expensive but the correct ty system will let me avoid screwing through the decking, so I will have great deck with NO screw heads to over sink or under sink. The railing is a bit of a problem because their system will cost me deck space, and thier 4x4s have a hole in them to support thier attachment piece. I am going to just fill the hole with a closet rod or handrailing from home depot and call it a railing. Just hope it passes inspection.
Thanks again.
QH

Quixotes Horse,

The railing -- (I'm assuming that the deck is more than 30" above grade) As long as you can't pass a 4" ball through the railing, it'll pass. The inspector isn't going to care if you 'mix and match' parts.

If the rails are 24" apart, put pickets in that are less than 4" apart. If you can put in rails every 4", that will work too.