What kind of green decking have people had good experiences with?
I’m a contractor in Portland, Oregon, and was an early adopter of Trex. I’ve built 12 to 15 Trex decks since the mid 90s, including one ten years ago at my own house. I’ve had good feedback from my clients.
I am gearing up for my first deck of the season, and am bewildered by the array of products out there. Trex has been around a while now, and it wouldn’t surprise me that there are better products out there. Secondly, Internet searching for “Trex” you can see a class action suit against them, as well as many stories of Trex product failure. While I haven’t had problems with it, it certainly makes me nervous.
I am interested to hear what other products people have been using.
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
I think this question raises another - what do you consider "green".
If you use cedar decking and leave it unfinished, 20 years from now you'll need to replace some if not all the boards. But you can make a pile of them over in the bushes, and they'll mulch back into the earth, enriching the soil, providing nutriants for more vegetation.
So the waste products (old boards) become food for future generations. That seems pretty "green" to me - at the very least it seems like a "sustainable" approach.
While it's relatively new to the N. American market, you might want to consider thermally-modified wood for decking. It's being offered by Cambia in NH http://www.cambiawood.com/.
This http://www.correctdeck.com/company/green/default.htm might be the greenest of the composite decking companies, but I prefer wood decks. Actually, I prefer stone or grass patios to decks, but if a deck is required then I would want real, non-treated wood for the reasons Jim mentions. Considering your location, I would look into FSC Certified Red Cedar or Port Orford Cedar.
The company I work for usually uses Meranti, Mangaris, or Ipe for decking, but I would like to find a more appropriate wood as well.