Trex - Stair Materials And Manufactured Lumber

Trex is a man-made or engineered lumber used for decking. It can also be used for stair treads and risers, but can't be used for structural framing. In other words, don't plan on buying Trex, for floor joist, beams or posts.

Problems I Had With Trex

The biggest problem I have with this building material, is the price, it's expensive. I used a lot of it, when it first came out on one of the apartment jobs that I was remodeling. Before we even finish the job, the color had faded from what the manufacturer referred to as natural, to gray.

The last time I checked, I believe that a 16 foot long, 2 x 6 was almost $50. Even when I installed it on an apartment job in the late 1990s, it was $29 for each individual piece of decking material.

This product is soft enough to gouge, mark or scrape easily. Even in the picture above, you can see lines that were probably caused from someone using a rolling cart to move something over the deck.

I've also had problems with attaching this product to the floor joist. Even with pre-drilling holes, the Trex would bulge around the screw head, creating small bumps in the decking.

Benefits Of Using Trex

It's supposed to last for years, but will it still look great. Hopefully, by the time you've read this article, they've improved the product and made it better. There are plenty of building materials, who advertise as superior products, only to find out later that they weren't.

Don't get caught up in any product hype, until they've actually proven themselves.

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