Glad I checked Trex on internet before having my Taos, NM, south-facing deck replaced with it. But I'm totally confused about which way to go, not only for it but also for a full-sun-exposure observation deck on top of a carport that will be built next spring. I hate the feel of Pergo underfoot, so I'm thinking I might not like synthetic. Anyone have anything to say about TimberTech or Moisture Shield, which one blogger elsewhere recommends? Would ipe or ironwood really be better than cedar or redwood in a sometimes-snowy, sometimes-rainy low-humidity environment? We're kind of lackadaisical about maintenance, so what's a decent level that we can get away with and have the deck last 8-10 years?

So funny! You people will never win! Why take it upon yourself to micromanage a job, sourcing material one place and labor from another, if you don't know good from bad in either case! If you paid one contractor $16K to do the floors, you would have a case. But the way you went about the job, you took on responsibility of the general contractor. You should blame the installers for using the defective product. They are the ones with a license, right? 1. you can't measure. 2. your installers do crappy work. 3. you paid them extra for their crappy job. 4. nobody, not you or your installers noticed any defects with the product until after most of the installation was complete? Had anybody ever done this before? HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

Since this post IS so old, I wonder if some who posted early in this string made any decisions, what they went with, and if they are happy with the choices they made. I have builders trying to get me to use EverGrain, another one wants to build with Latitudes. Neither of them want to use composite railing. They are really trying to sell their composite (I'm guessing they have some discounted contract with their dealers), but somehow no one likes composite railing. I was leaning on building using composite (possibly TimberTech, but I haven't found anyone in my area willing to go with TimberTech yet), and I was hoping the deck railing could be complimentary to the material on the deck and actually be made of the same composite material. This seems to be next to impossible for me to accomplish. What am I missing here?

Went to City Hall today and with the Engineer's letter they passed the balusters. Tom8344, thanks for the sober second thought. I know to meet code in Ontario (and for my deck height) my rail has to be 42" and the space between the deck and bottom rail can't be more than 4" (though looking at the engineer's report...it looks like there is no space). I'm hoping that the extra 7" inches will provide some measure of safety (though I suppose nothing will stop a curious child from climbing up on a chair to peer over!). You've also provided some good info about the spacing of the pickets and possible twisting. I'll talk to my contractor about that. If anyone has any info about this (good and bad), it would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking at the architectural balusters and hope by the way they are installed that the twisting issue will not be an issue. Cheers, S