Hey Kathy, I go out on service calls with Folks that have used man made material for decks and a few porches every few days,say 5 every 90 days, pvc product has the highest failure rate on the 180 is TimberTech,trex is very close to pvc. I am thinking we have to define Failure,,,With a choice deck project I did 6 years ago on a Condo bid the material has completly failed people are cracking it into just from walking on it this Project is 10' off the ground some of it is 30' in full sun with no more than a 16''joist span.Now that is Failure. Failure can also include how it looks and if the material was advertised to be no or low maintenanace.Black mold will cause total failure as well but not for a while. Tendura is an orphan composite in a lot of ways, its Failure is always blamed on the Contractor, a short read of the insulation instrustions and the high skill Contractor will move away from biding any thing built with it. I am at the point now and have been for a while,,, this area of composite material is a gamble,a serch on this site will show pictures of the new trex material they keep selling because they advertise in a big way even on this site and employment of some high grade lawyers. I do outdoor areas for a living, If the man made material was doing well down the road I would defently be using it in a big way as a lot of my local Contractors do. I of course have come in contact with ipe. Kathy,I also am intersted in the bottom line,like you I am involved in several forms conected with the deck business. The Skill of the Carpenter is important, money is also important. To some if the product has good info and the sales rep makes the man a good deal he is going to go for it I understand that. I am not intrested at this point in the negative slams that go on over here or geting involved in them. I know what I have seen. I am intersted in positive feed back from Folks who have a 6/7 year old man made project and how its holding up for them. Side Note>>> That choice condo project had a lot of left over material nothing was in a mult. I used some of this decking on my upstairs stair way with the Butler Manor wrap around second story deck all the treads were done with them I put two coats of twp 116 on them. I have none of the failure issues the condo has. Why is this?? I really dont know. Could be the direct sunlight on the flip side I have a big time trouble tree with all sorts of sap and bird presents, Could be I dont have near the trafic the condo hasMabey if the man made stuff gets regular finish it will hold up, but then that negates the reason for buying it in the first place, but then it is easier to just wash off composite and put a coat of finish on and it wont splinter up, but then some composite wont take finish all that well, but then some composite says it has new uv protection and wont stain up at all. With me I dont have to worry about it,when I go out on a bid I take TT product and ipe with me all the Wallet has to do is look at the two,most of the time they go with ipe.But then Man that TimberTech grouved ipe look alike is some fine looking stuff I dont like the clips they should be stainless and the grouve will colect all the dirt/leaves/ and its really high $ like all composite is now days, higher than ipe installing ipe to me is just as easy as puting TT with the clips, But then............ John

Thanks everyone for the comments. I recently put my samples of Trex, Timbertech, Moistureshield, Fiberon, and Azek outside in the sun for the day. At midday i went out and rested the palm of my hand on each sample. All of the samples with any wood fiber in them were very hot. The only one that was bearable was the Azek. About half as hot as the others. I was surprised as I thought the all plastic one would be hotter. Reviews for this product aren't always great especially for the darker colors. Seems that they bleach out badly and unevenly. Azek also has a reputation for discoloring under plant pots and rugs. As I'm thinking about going with their lightest grey I'm hoping for the best. On a good note, The Azek is also much lighter in weight. Natural wood isn't my best option as we are right on the ocean and the deck is 50' above the ground in some places so will get alot of salt spray and weathering on the under side that i can't oil or treat with any weatherproofing. I will try to post some before and after pics when I finally decide what i'm doing.

It did use to have a few problems when it was first introduced. But most of them have been ironed out. Only hurdle left is the heat it can gather can be a little toasty for bare feet, but that's what flip flops are for.

This is the deck on the N side of house. I dont like how dark &red this stain is. Also need a light color of composite due to full sun exposure.