Way OT - Trex Sux!!!

Thinking of building a new deck this Spring, now that you are fit and energetic again?  How about a composite decking material?  Better than wood, never needs maintanance, good for the environment.... How about the Cadillac of composite decking; Trex?? So went our line of thinking, about four years back, when trying to decide on a small deck for our small backyard and small budget.  It cost a premium... but I would never have to bend my fat ass over to sand or treat redwood again     We purchased about $1200 of Trex decking + concrete, rebar, pressure treated wood for the framing, deck screws, got tooled-up... and put alot of blood, sweat, and tears into the construction. About a year and a half later it started bubbling up and rotting    WTF!!!   As no one had ever heard of that happening, I decided that it was an anomaly.... and would take my lumps and replace it again, as it was still under warranty.  Thus began a frustrating and laborous process of getting replacement decking.  Home Depot was as useless as tits on a bull - and Trex turned a deaf ear to my pleas.   After almost a year of correspondance, letter writing, and ultimately threats of legal action I finally received boards - and an insulting $100 for my labor.   Now I am in no way a skilled craftsman - I would starve to death if I did piecework for a living - but c'mon... 100 clams??  That didn't even pay for the deck screws!!!  much less the dump fees for the old decking, wear and tear on my (still pre-RNY) fat ass... or blood pressure meds  But ol' well    Trex said that they had never heard of this occuring... so I took it like a man with a minimum of cryassing. Today I began the odorous chore of cleaning out my shed - as I could no longer walk inside.  In the middle of this endevour, my sweet wife told me that she had some bad news.... the ******g deck is bubbling up again!!  one year after installing the replacement deck  A quick web search today revealed numerous class-action lawsuits.... and that Trex had set aside $45 million to settle claims.... a year and a half ago when they told me that my situation was "the first time this had happened"   I am so ******g mad I could blow out an O-ring!!   So what do I do?  Join a class action?  Take them to small claims court on my own?  One thing for sure - I am NOT going to be providing the labor this time..... Sorry for the rant, but if it makes saves one brother the frustration that I feel, it will be worth the pounding my keyboard has taken. Thanks for listening......... Chris

Wow, what a bummer. If there are class actions suits ongoing, there should be a website when a settlement or judgement is reached which describes how to join the class and what the benefits and detriments of doing so are. Small claims actually works to an extent.  It would depend on the amount of your damages.  The problem is, with a case such as yours, the corp might not even bother to appear, and you would win a default judgement, but in the real world, would quite possibly never see the money -- it's hard to enforce a judgement anyway, especially for small claims -- not a priority.  On the other hand, you might get a quick settlement offer just to make you go away -- it might be a good way to get the attention of someone who will actually listen to you.  Be sure to name ALL parties in the chain of supply as defendants -- this would be the manufacturer and the retailer in your case.  Had you hired someone to install, you would have named them, too. IF you do go this route, be sure to ask for ALL of you damages, including reasonable labor charges, but be reasonable -- don't ask for the moon.  Check statutory limits in your state, and what type of damages are allowed in small claims -- some won't allow anything other than direct compensatory damages (economic loss you can document on paper) while other might allow some punitive damages for aggrevation/stress. Also, the statute of limitations is running -- you may have two years, six years, or more or less, depending upon your state's statutes, from the date of your original purchase to file a suit. At this point, if you could get your money back for materials, plus a little for labor and aggrevation, you'd be doing well, and could just move on and put in a wood deck.

WOW Chris thanks I will remember this . I have a buddy who was thinking of using said product . His deck is getting pretty shakey and ready to drop any time now . If we get any more snow that should do it  We have to wait for the snow to thaw first . That **** does command a high price doesent it ?    Wood productds here in Utah DONT LAST LONG . the weather is too ruff on them . When I built my fence I used plastic ,it doesent fad, chip ,rust or need painting ever again . At first I was not willing to use that stuff , I said its fake its manmade crap . Well its still standing strong , but of course I built it with a LOT of overkill . I set the post 6ft on center and not 8ft like normal ( VERY STRONG )  I looked for the product that had the thickest wall and 10 ft post so you get more in the ground then a 8 ft post ( EVEN STRONGER )    Sometimes we have to take a chance and role the dice on new products;  sometimes we win sometimes we lose . I hope you dont lose to much .             Nick 

Trex had a great reputation - but their lack of quality control may very well bring their company down. Funny thing, when it rotted the first time I asked a few Structural Engineers & Architects about it... they had never heard of a failure before mine.  I mean, these use this stuff on the docks out on the harbors nearby. Well, it'll work out one way or the other.  I guess I'll just have to "double down" on the Zoloft in the interim.

one question baja,

is the bubbling happening where the screws go in? you know, you have to use a special self tapper that's three times the cost of deck screws. they're called poly taps. otherwise a regular deck screw will bubble. now if it's somewhere else, i've got a couple over the years on our deck. i put it down over 10 years ago and it's still going strong with no problems and the back deck surrounds our pool. so it gets all kinds of chemicals on it. next question, which way is your deck facing. ours is north and south, either way, no blisters. was the color grey or something else with the texture too.

i put ours in when the product was fairly new to the market. i installed it for all your reasons too and it's been just great. i'm a finish carpenter and i did all kinds of trick stuff with it and it's held up. it's hard to bend and will delaminate a little but that's about it. it does hate oil stains and i have to sand asap so it doesn't soak in. i never knew about the law suit but if you sue outside of the suit you will not be able to recover in the class action which i think is your best bet. that said, after the lawyers take 99% of the settlement you might end up with less than $100 again! dang.....carbonblob

CB..... Yes, I used the $$ screws both times....  Not sure which direction it's facing, but here are some pics from the 1st rottage: http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c390/bajaddict/IMG_1630-1. jpg http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c390/bajaddict/IMG_1629-1. jpg http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c390/bajaddict/IMG_1628-1. jpg http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c390/bajaddict/IMG_1627-1. jpg and here's a photo of me when my wife informed me of the situation today: http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c390/bajaddict/SANFELPE-ME MORIALDAY2002049.jpg   just kidding!  That's a photo of "El Barracho" in San Felipe!

well, this is all news to me baja. i never knew of these problems but then again, except for our own deck the ones i've put in were all redwood. now i have an idea that might help. if they end up not doing anything try this. you're aware you can sand trex? fire up a good heavy duty belt sander and go for it. maybe try a smaller area if you want to keep evidence and try to get a new deck out of them. when i get staining i break out the sander and take off a layer. you have the same color as mine. the sanded area will be a pale grey and take a couple months in the sun to go dark again. i can see the screws are not the problem and you used the right ones. wow, never even seen this out here. if it happens after sanding then something is wrong way deep in the process of making your boards. however, if it's just the surface and whatever it is has leached out then maybe your deck will stay fixed. so please try this first before ripping the whole thing out.....carbonblob

cb - the class-action covered material pruchased from  '92 thru '04.... I bought mine at the end of '04.   The bad stuff supposedly came from their plant in Nevada - who the hell knows.  They said that they disposed of all the "bad stock", and hence took a big loss in doing so.   My "new" decking is proof that there is either some of that old bad decking floating around that wasn't disposed of..... or they are pumping out bad **** a' new. I am in the process of contacting the lawyers that ran the class action.  I'll contact Trex also to see if they will make good as well.  As far as taking them to court myself... I gotta balance out the payoff in what it will cost me in effort and lost sleep - I tend to turn into a real miserable asshole when on the warpath.... I got to take into account the wear and tear on myself and my ol' lady.  I'm not sure if it would be fair to her. Not sure if Trex would be intimidated by my threats of legal action anyway - they are up to their ass in alligators as it is.  They are also being sued by their shareholders, as their stock dropped 10% on this fiasco. I appreciate your good suggestions, but I think this stuff just expands and rots from the inside..... sure wish I could find a "non-wood" product, I really thought that Trex was the answer - but it seems to be a crapshoot.... and I've crapped out twice already  

"Then if they do not do option one, do do option two." Heh Heh, you said doo doo.