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Porches & Decks

White Composite Porch Railings - Trex, Timbertech?

17 years ago

Has anyone used Timbertech Radiance, Trex Artisan Series or Fairway Composite railings on their deck or porch? I need new railings along the brick stairs on my front porch and have looked at those brands. I want the look and feel of wood and have resisted getting the vinyl railings. I was going to go with wood, but then heard about the new white composites. Any recommendations or pictures?

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Comments (8)

pressurepros
17 years ago
I haven't seen any of them. How do they look? feel? Vinyl rails are putrid.
beth925
Original Author
17 years ago
They look good - a lot better than vinyl. I saw another brand today which I really like - it's made by a Canadian company and there are two series - one is called Trademark and the other is Premier. It does look and feel like white painted wood.
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Sensibuilt is actually moving towards one of the top composite brands out there. I personally LOVE IT. It's Spill, stain, scratch and mold resistant. We used to have a portico deck which turned a hideous shade of green with mold, so i wanted something that was going to stay clean and playable for the kids. What i REALLY love about Sensibuilt above ALL other brands it that it is 100% recyclable! No other composite can do that, they may be made out of recycled material but they can't be recycled after it's life-cycle. The life-cycle of Sensibuilt can be reused 4 TIMES OVER! It's VOC free. It's all around environmentally friendly. Not to mention the 10 year color hold warranty which you simply won't find anywhere else. Sensibuilt is also in the process of re-working the surface of their product to take away some of the sheen so by the time you start building your deck, the lot you get will be the lot that has alot less shine to it. Obviously i am a fan of Sensibuilt and would recomend it to nearly anyone considering building or rebuilding thier deck! Here is a link that might be useful: Sensibuilt
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Some results from IR temperature measurements for decking samples.. Three manufacturers: Trex (Enhance & Transcend), TimberTech (including Azek by TimberTech), and MoistureShield. 20 samples in all. Deck is medium dark, unstained, south-facing redwood. Accuracy of IR thermometer was about 3 degrees F. Results of two days (Trex & TimberTech) compared to deck temp (120-140 degrees) ... Lighter samples (L Gray, mixed Gray, lighter Brown) were 6-10 degrees above deck temp. Darker samples (Dark Gray, Dark Brown) were a solid 10 degrees above. One off-white sample was 20 degrees below deck temp. The MoistureShield product claim to fame is that it runs 30% cooler than other brands. These 2 samples (L Gray, Brown) were 20 degrees below deck temp. More like 20% below deck with lighter colors but definitely respectable. As expected lighter colors ran cooler (6+) , medium-to-dark were a solid +10. Off-white doesn't seem like a practical deck color but ran coolest. MoistureShield ran cooler (-20) than the deck. Take all this with grain of salt - I averaged measurements best I could, temperatures varied across samples with mixed color densities (like Trex Island Mist - Gray with some black components). All samples composite, no PVC tested.
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mattw22
17 years ago
The railing from Canada is made by Premier (premierrailing.com). I looked at several composite railings and felt the Premier railing had the best fit and finish. TheyÂre kits include all the brackets and parts which makes it easy to order.
beth925
Original Author
17 years ago
mattw22, thanks for the info. I looked at the Premier again this weekend and I definitely like their finish the best. Were you doing a deck or a porch? My railings will come out 3 feet from the house and then go 7 feet down my brick stairs. I think I will use the ball post cap since it's what I have now and is the most traditional - which one did you use? I saw that they now offer the 6 in. post as well as the 4 in. so now I have to make another decision!
donna01
17 years ago
I've seen the CorrectDeck railing and it looks pretty good.
mattw22
17 years ago
We used the premier railing around our deck and on a second floor deck. We used the flat posts caps because we have a modern looking home. Most Home DepotÂs can special order any premier product.
deckman22
17 years ago
Austin Wholesale Decking Supply is one of the largest distributors of Premier in the country. Ask for George, he's the Premier expert.

Al
western_spindle
13 years ago
I often see original wood spindles and railing that is 120 or more years old, and are just now giving out. If you really want the look and feel of real wood, why not go with the real thing? Many of the "bad" things you have heard or experienced with wood can be avoided by using a high quality, solid, premium outdoor wood such as port orford cedar.

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