Responsible and savvy homeowners are doing their research when it comes to composite decking problems and drawbacks. Composite decking reviews all over the internet show that there is a clear distinction between composite decking and other hardwood decking materials. Although composite decking materials are heavily marketed and popular due its low cost, the fact of the matter is that composite decking cannot compare to hardwoods like ipe . But, what about the long term costs? To put it simply, those that say that composite wood is a viable and more eco-friendly alternative wood are not seeing the bigger picture. Composite wood is detrimental to the environment due to the ingredients used to create it. In addition, the cost to constantly maintain, repair, and in many instances replace a composite deck means that your return on investment is actually worse than if you went ahead and installed an ipe deck instead.
When you do research on composite decking reviews, you are certain to find the following complaints:
Absorbs water like a sponge- Composite materials are made of oil based products like polyethylene
- Susceptible to mold, mildew, and fungi
- Promotes unsustainable forestry practices
- Termites and other insects feast on composite deck materials
- Due to substandard construction process, planks and sometimes the whole deck needs to be replaced
- Many lawsuits have been filed because of injuries to house guests and even children
- Use of resin may lead to the release of formaldehyde in the finished product
- Photodegradation – composite decks degrade due to UV exposure rapidly
- The more plastic used in the composite decking, the more likely it is to warp
- The less plastic used in the composite decking, the faster it rots
While it would be nice to say to your neighbors that you saved money with your brand new composite deck. I highly doubt you would be gloating if, after a couple of years your deck looked like the picture above. In fact, I’d bet that you’d even stop inviting the neighbors over at all because you’d be worried about what people would think. Or worse, that someone would get injured on your property. The savings are short term, yet long regretted. When it comes to composite decking, the saying is definitely true, “You get what you pay for.”
You Can Find Related Articles Here:
We installed a Trex deck 2 years ago in our dream home. In fact we have a quite large deck in the back and a smaller deck on the side of our new home. It is a disaster. It mildews and get awful, ungly, unsightly black spots so close together that when you look out our beautiful windows, it is replusive. My husband who is turning 70 has to clean it every 2 months and it is not an easy job! We hate it and it cost a lot of money. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. Interestingly, we covered part of the large back deck and it does not mildew under the covered part. However, any board that is exposed to the weather and sun is a nightmare and awful. I wish we could do this again. WE WOULD NEVER, NEVER, NEVER USE TREX AGAIN. I CAN SEND YOU PICTURES OF OUR BIGGEST NIGHTMARE EVER, IF YOU CONTACT ME.
Hello Sara,
I’ve been trying to email you but your address keeps bouncing back to me… Can you please email me directly? jsantiago@advantagelumber.com
I am also looking at deck alternatives such as composite, mahogany, IPE, other exotics, KDAT yellow pine, KDAT vertical grain douglas fir, AZEK, etc. The composites seem to be the worse. Displays at H&S, Carter, and Building Center show how awful these look after a few years. One store recommended against them. At H&S the composite looks okay under cover but it has faded and has black splotches out in the weather. I was told it was TREX.
Joseph,
From my experiences in dealing with decking and customers that have shared their experiences with us, I can tell you that Ipe Decking is the best product on the market which is then closely followed by the Tigerwood and Cumaru Decking products.
With a life expectancy of over 30-40 years. These decking materials require no yearly maintenance and will turn to a sliver gray and you will not see any rot mold mildew or splintering. If you were looking to keep the natural color, an oil finish can be applied with a paint roller once the deck is done then again about 6-8 months later and then every two years or as needed after that.
Problems that you had mentioned with the composite decking market is why I have about 50% to 60% of our customers are ripping up their 2-3 year old composite decking and replacing it with one of our hardwood decking products.
I have heard everything from the two class action lawsuits for mold and mildew issues to other companies recalling millions of board feet of decking due to it failing under normal working conditions. By failing I mean that people literally fell through their decking and in turn have filed lawsuits. Also, if you do some more research into the maintenance required for composite decking you will learn that it is far from maintenance free and may require the most maintenance out of all decking products available. Life expectancy that we have seen is 2-3 years.
Mahogany isn’t a bad exterior decking product. It just requires a lot of yearly maintenance from sealers, stains and sanding. As well as the fact that most of your mahogany decking is Philippine and there is almost no regulations on forest management in South Eastern Asia so you run in to the Deforestation issues. Life expectancy is about 10 years.
Yellow Pine and Doug Fur like any soft woods in an exterior application will see issues with in the first year of being down from rot mold and mildew issues to major splinters. These materials will require a very high amount of yearly maintenance from sealers and stains to anti fungal treatments and yearly sanding. Life expectancy is about 5-10 years.
All in all, your best bet for decking materials is a hardwood decking product and the best of these is Ipe, Tigerwood, Cumaru and Garapa. This is due to there life pan, low to no required maintenance and most of all the very strict guidelines in proper forest management and selective harvesting. These programs have been put in place to not only help provide an income to a poverty stricken area of the world but also to help generate re-growth in the forest while also protecting huge areas of land from clear cutting cattle ranchers and soy bean farmers.
Thank you for your time and please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with.
I have an IPE peck.Its 4 years old. When built we treated all sides with Sikkens Cetrol DEX This is a film forming produce, before building and top coated 6 months after build and again 6 months latter It was about 4 coats in 1.5 years. It looked great for a little over a year. It than started fading and peeling. It got so bad that after the winter 85% of the deck was peeling. The Sikkens rep said we had poor coverage and would need to strip/sand and start over. I stripped,sanded,cleaned,wiped with acetone as requested and applied Sikkens Cetol SRD This is a non film forming sealer. 6 months latter the deck looks awful. What product that is semi-transparent works on IPE. I love the way the wood looks but would like to find a sealer that will holdup longer that 5 months. My deck does get full sun all day.
Thanks
Ernest
Ernest,
There’s a reason we don’t sell these types of finishes… We don’t like complaints from our customers, the only finish we recommend for hardwoods like Ipe, Tigerwood and etc. would be Ipe Oil. It’s a UV Oil that maintains the rich color of your beautiful hadrwood decking, it applies easily and absorbs into the wood giving you long lasting beauty with out a peeling mess like other products. Ipe is one of the densest woods in the world and has it’s own natural oils in the wood that’s why most products like the ones you used don’t work well. Ipe Oil has been specifically formulated for hardwood decking and it’s the only finish we recommend for hardwood decking.
Ernest,
The product that we suggest using is Ipe Oil, this is a penetrating oil that seems to last for about 2 years. You will need to apply one coat once the decking is done and then a second about 6 months after that, then its about every two years after that.
If you were looking to switch over to Ipe Oil, you will need to sand down the surface of the deck and then do a pressure wash to ensure all the saw dust and old finish have been removed.
I hope this helps, if there is anything else that I can do for you please do not hesitate to let me know. Thank you for your time and good luck.
Thinking of installing Ipe at the coast for our decks – how does it holdup under extreme heat and salt air conditions. Any advice would be helpful as to the best type of decking to use.
Harriet,
Ipe would be the perfect choice for your application. With it being naturally water resistant the salt water will not affect the material in any way. Heat also is no challenge for Ipe. I can confidently say this because we have the material installed up and down the east west and gulf coast. With applications including board walks docks and personal decks. You may also want to take a look in to one of our other products such as Tigerwood or Cumaru as these will also hold up with no problems in almost any environment you could think of. If you want to see one application that deals with year round sun, heat, and salt water conditions, check out our ipe wood decking over at the Secrets Resort in Jamaica.
I hope this helps please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with. Thank you for your time.