Porch Dilemna-Companies Want to Put Down Trex Instead of Wood

5 years ago

It’s been a frustrating summer. Our front porch flooring, columns and railing need replaced. The south-facing porch is 35 feet wide, 8 feet deep. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we got a late start (June 1) calling around to get estimates. Two and a half months later, we still have yet to receive an estimate altho we finally got at least three companies to come and take measurements. The current flooring is tongue-and-groove pine, installed in 1997. It was done poorly, the columns have settled a bit, faceboards show rotting and boards underneath the floor need replaced. All the companies are saying they don’t deal with tongue and groove boards any more. They want to put Trex or other composite wood down. One Amish company said they only use Trex, that they only work with quality materials or nothing at all. When the heck did wood become “not quality”? I can’t even find photos online of front porches made with gray Trex. It is all decking. Our vinyl sided 90 year old house has an old coal cellar under the porch with a door into our basement, so we cannot simply use decking boards. The other dilemna is the expense of the Trex. The cost doesn’t seem worth it in our neighborhood, a nice street but rather old homes. Whatever happened to replacing front porches with wood flooring and railing? Plus, I’ve read the pros and cons of composite wood and “would”prefer wood! Just venting, but appreciate any comments.

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PRO
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5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
We recently removed rotten wood deck. We are in Florida, so I prefer not wood.

Trex Select Pebble Grey deck with Westbury White Aluminum rail in Excelsior MN · More Info

Deck Replacement with Trex Select Pebble Grey Decking · More Info
ellimacgardens
Original Author
5 years ago
I managed to find two photos of composite wood porch flooring which is different than deck flooring. The tongue and groove flooring fits together so there are no gaps between. It is not as wide as deck wood.
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A lot of the posters on these forums are just plain hateful. These are adult cyber bullies. I always hope that having this outlet for their nastiness allows them to be kinder to people in their real lives. You have to ignore the douchebags and keep waiting for someone who is helpful to respond without the need to put you down. I hope everything has worked out for you. When you spend that much money you should get a quality deck.
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I've only had kitchen hardwood floor damage once and it was minimal. I was out of town - had a pet sitter staying in the house. Apparently, the valve that shuts off the water to the ice maker broke sometime during the night, and when petsitter opened the freezer door (side-by-side), a tsunami of water came out - it had also been leaking under the refrig. We left it alone and the weight of the refrigerator took care of it going back into place, as well as the heat from the furnace. If I had had to do a repair, it would only have been a very few planks. I did have to do this in the LR when a Christmas tree was overwatered and the floor was soaked for a couple of weeks. I now have a Water Hog round mat for under the tree! It was a very minor repair. Hardwood floors can take a LOT. The key is to have solid, site-finished hardwood - not pre-finished. The site-finished is far more durable.
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I have done that (well, DH did, but I helped). You have two options: either remove the baseboard entirely (not recommended if the system is properly sized for your house) or reroute it. Sounds like you're favoring rerouting it, yes? Rerouting obviously requires disturbing at least one other wall for the supply and return lines. Based on your photos, there isn't enough info to know where you should put the replacement. You need to consider these factors: Where are your other baseboard radiators? I see another one in the kitchen but don't see any in the other rooms. If the system was properly designed, each room requires a certain amount of baseboard length (or heat output). So removing that wall and heater will likely make the kitchen colder, but as it will be open to other rooms, you can probably make up for it in those rooms. Where CAN you put a replacement? In the three houses I've lived in with hot water or steam radiators, they were typically on exterior walls, and each radiator had its own supply and return (i.e., not linked, so that each radiator is really putting out heat instead of just serving as a conduit for tepid water). Where is your boiler? (This affects the answer to the previous question too.) If you proceed, and are amenable to new tech, I'd recommend using PEX tubing for your supply and return. Insulate it. Last but not least, depending on your long-term plans for this house, consider all the options for hot water radiant heat. In our last house, we converted old cast-iron steam radiators (single pipe) to hot water euro-style (separate supply and return) because it was easiest and way more efficient. The wall-mounted euro radiators are awesome. In our current house, we decided to go big because we don't plan to leave within the next 5-10 years - we replaced all baseboard radiators with in-floor radiant (PEX). This required access to the bottom of the first floor from the crawlspace below, as well as complete replacement of all flooring on the second story. The end result is WAY better than the original hot water baseboards. Good luck.
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Judy Mishkin
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
we've just had a screen porch built with azek tongue and groove, and a deck above it with azek decking.

i do not love the azek tongue and groove. its shifts and sounds like squeaking plastic if you walk on it barefoot. (shoes masks the sound, but this is really semi-indoor living space, so bare feet are the usual way we're walking on it.)

in the past we had a fir tongue and groove screen porch ( a previous house) that was painted with porch paint and held up very well. i'm sorry we didnt go with fir again but we were going to be all modern and get with the azek program etc. i'm sorry i didnt walk on one barefoot before we went this route.

i can't comment on pine.

the azek decking is good, if thats a choice for you rather than tongue and groove, do that.

one last thing about azek, water beads up on it and takes longer to dry. we bought a long handled large squeegie for the top deck because we tend to get really heavy dew overnight near the ocean.

azek tongue and groove... no spaces between planks

azek decking...spaced planks over sleepers and a rubber membrane.
ellimacgardens
Original Author
5 years ago
ninigret, thank you for your comments and experience in dealing with Azek composite.. Now that you mention it, our tongue and groove is fir, also, and not pine. We cannot get a contractor who is willing to replace it with the same material. The big selling point for composite is often “you don’t have to paint it!” Well, I’ve painted all my life and have gotten pretty good at it but some contractors act like painting is the worst possible chore you could have. Yeah, so it moght take some time, but I have the patience to do it. They say the same thing about the railing. “Oh, you would have to prime all those spindles and then paint them!” So? Apparently I look like I never put in a hard day’s work.
sheloveslayouts
5 years ago
We don't have a covered front porch, but a front deck. I spent a year going back and forth on materials. Everyone seems to be on the Timbertech train around here. I couldn't get on board. In the end I chose wood (Cedar, installed two months ago) and so far so good. Good luck with your project!

Porch Dilemna-Companies Want to Put Down Trex Instead of Wood

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