Home Repair and Paint Guide

... Weather extremes have to be taken into consideration. Does it rain or snow a lot in your area? How much direct sunlight will the deck be exposed to, and are outside temperatures regularly very high in the summer? What about average humidity? Mold? Will large pets be walking or running on the deck? How much traffic will the structure be exposed to? There are a lot of companies that offer composite deck boards and railing. What if you buy one of these products and the manufacturer goes out of business? You can purchase enough excess material to make repairs, but your warranty will be worthless if the company goes belly-up. Composite deck boards are made by mixing wood fibers and plastic. The plastic is the binder, while the wood fiber provides strength. The problem is that there are a lot of different grades of plastic and wood fibers. Also, the ratio of plastic to wood has an impact on strength and longevity. This is an area where you have to do a lot of research and not try to skimp on price. If you start out with something that’s not up to the task, you will be very sorry several years after the project is complete. Some of the past failures of composite decking materials have been traced back to water being present in the wood fibers. This prevents the plastic binder from being completely absorbed into the wood. The best materials contain wood fibers that are extremely dry. This allows the plastic binder to be completely absorbed. But even with the best materials and manufacturing processes available, you still might not be happy with your deck. Many of the composite materials end up with exposed wood fibers at the surface. These will eventually discolor and probably rot away as they get wet ...