Thinking about building your dream deck? Let’s start with the building materials. Once upon a time, selecting a decking material was a simple process because wood was the only choice available. Today, other options range from composite to plastic, bamboo, fiberglass, PVC, and even aluminum. Traditionalists might always see wood as the ultimate decking material, but the new alternatives offer many enticing benefits, including longevity and low maintenance.
When it comes to selecting your building materials, there are three major factors to consider: upfront cost, lifetime maintenance, and material quality.
The original and still most common decking option is wood. Wood is natural, strong, easy to install and feels good under bare feet. However, it also minimally requires an annual cleaning and is susceptible to rot, splintering, and warping. Even though all wood naturally weathers to a gray color, it needs to be cleaned and re-stained every two to three years to keep it looking its best. With options ranging from pressure treated wood, tropical hardwoods, and varieties like cedar and redwood, there are a lot of choices if you truly want wood.
Composites are made to look like real wood and come in a wide variety of natural-looking hues and grain patterns. Made by combining a blend of plastic and waste wood fibers, these boards won't splinter, rot, and don't need to be stained or painted, thanks to a built-in UV resistance.
While composite decks certainly have a higher upfront cost than wood decks, they require far less maintenance. Wood decks need to be stained, have warped or split boards replaced, and make an inviting home to wood boring insects like termites. If you compare the cost of maintaining a wood deck with the price difference between wood and composite decking, you will often find that you recoup that upfront expense in about 6 to 7 years.
Composite decking companies are constantly making improvements, or in some cases experiencing drops in quality. We’ve made it our mission to become experts on composite decking so you can rest easy that your deck will look great for years to come.
After exploring all varieties of composites, bamboo, PVC, and so on, we landed on Trex.
Besides Trex being a well-designed product we love how responsive and helpful they are on the rare occasions when something does need to be fixed. We have dealt with other composite decking companies and have found that they don’t come close to matching Trex’s customer service. Trust us, when there is a problem with your deck you don’t need the added stress and feeling of a company that isn’t available to serve you!
When it comes to Trex vs. wood, there's more to the story than the upfront price. While wood may be cheaper on day one, it could end up costing you far more in the long run. Trex means quality, beauty and minimal maintenance, saving you time, money and everything that comes with a call to the handyman. Plus, the high-performance composite shell of Trex decking resists rotting, staining and cracking. Here are the newest additions to the Trex product line.
This is luxury, high-performance decking. Trex Signature® decking is made of nature-inspired wood thermoplastic lumber (WTCL) for a look as much like wood as wood itself. The proprietary shell formulation creates an elegant grain pattern finish and a high-end matte feel. Signature Decking is ICC-ES SAVE-certified to be a minimum of 92.6% recycled content by weight.
Key features include:
An alternative to naturally durable hardwood lumber, Transcend decking maintains its vibrant color and luxurious finish—come scorching sun or red-wine spill—thanks to its unyielding shell protection. At Webfoot, we mostly use the Transcend line for its premium scratch resistance.
Key features include:
Choosing the best decking material to match your personal style and budget is a critical step in the deck building planning process. Designed with lasting beauty, incredible durability and easy maintenance, there’s no compromising with high-performance composite decking. We’ve compared Trex against other types of decking for a head-to-head analysis that proves Trex outdecks, outlasts and outperforms the rest. Additionally, they offer an all-new 50 year warranty on new products (up from 25 year coverage), check out the table below for details.
Webfoot is your source for everything deck related. Our team is made up of true craftsmen who specialize in the design, layout, care, know how, and maintenance of decks and outdoor living spaces in Bend and surrounding areas. You won't catch us remodeling kitchens or building homes, but when it comes to natural wood decks and composite decks like Trex- we're the seriously great team for the job. Seriously.
