March, 2009

What’s Green About Decking Products? Part III: Composite Decking

By John Wagner

This is the third and final column in a series on deck materials, and throughout I’ve highlighted that decking has emerged as a unique breakout category, with its own breed of specialty decking contractors, much as we see with roofing or foundation work. The rise of this specialty is because of the popularity of outdoor living environments, and that popularity us driving 20% annual growth, so that by 2011 decking will be a 3.6-billion-lineal-feet industry.

I have covered new all-plastics (PVC) and wood decks, and I want to wrap up with composite decking. The overall category of composite decks really just refers to deck material made by joining two or more different materials together, like plastic and wood. There are a few types of plastic you may encounter in composite decks, though high-density polyethylene plastic (HDPE)—think plastic milk jugs—is probably the most common material.

With many kinds of plastic available, manufacturers of composite decks will often point out differences in the plastics they use, especially where the plastics come from. Points of pride for marketers are features like “virgin plastic,” or a high percentage of “post consumer resins” (PCR), and even “100% recyclable.”

Most composite decking is created when wood is added to plastic resin (usually polyethylene). Since the properties of composite decking vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, marketers will differentiate their products using various metrics or features, most notably:

A) The source of their plastics (“postconsumer” is considered greener)
B) The percent of recycled plastic (for those who want to use recycled products)
C) The percent of virgin plastic (for those who don’t want to use recycled plastics because of perceived quality issues)
D) The source of the non-plastic components used (recovered wood is the greenest alternative)
E) The quality of the post-consumer resin used in the plastic (you don’t want chopped-up milk and vitamin labels in the deck boards)
F) The color-fast properties of the decking (fading is so common, manufacturers call it a “mellowing process”)
G) The surface feel and slip-resistance
H) The structural performance of the product (look for 16 o-c span-ability)
I) The UV-protection the decking (anything to frustrate the sun’s punishing rays)
J) The deck board’s weight per board food, which affects how much fuel is used to ship the decking, as well as how easy it is to load and carry.

For a good composite decking example, look at how a popular product is marketed in these various categories. Latitudes Composite Decking produced by Universal Forest products is made with both recycled and virgin polyethylene, and 100% of the wood additive is reclaimed product. Indeed, Latitudes is made from approximately 70% recycled materials.

No matter what composite deck products you offer, be sure they can span 16- o.c. joints, and that they comply with all of the crucial codes and standards. Look for a warranty of at least 10 years, and it should cover splintering, corrosion, as well as rot, warp, cupping, checks, or damage caused by termites or fungal decay. And finally, urge your deck-builder customers to purchase premium products, for their own sake. If they always use “lowest cost” as the ultimate metric of value, they risk their reputations, as well as the prospect for annoying callbacks that are hard to solve without painful and costly tear-outs.

The award-winning author of many books and article about construction, and a frequent contributor to the industry’s leading trade magazines, JOHN D. WAGNER is a soughtafter speaker for industry events. Contact him at www.JohnDWagner.com.