Anyone have problems with Composite Decking like Trex?

[gtojohn]

This winter I want to refinish my 20+ yr old wood deck. Its 16x16'. My plan is to demo the top, repair and reuse as much of the original underpinning, and then screen it.
I plan to avoid building a real roof and using overlapping shade canopies. 1 extra option is an outdoor hearth wood burning fireplace. Currently composite is 3 times more pricey, but I'd love to not have to worry about stain, splinters, knots etc. Doing some research I've found some folks really against it, showing failures and fading. Ive found a cheaper brand, choicedeck at lowes which is $35 a 1 1/4x6x16' which looks good.

Any failures out there?
Any major fading?
Would you do composite decking again?

 

[rdw1961]

We have two composite decks. The deck on our house is 11 years old, cedar color, uncovered, with full afternoon sun. Other than power washing it every spring, it looks as good as the day it was built. Our pool deck is 5 years old and the color is more of an egg shell to match our AGP. Again, other than a spring power washing, it has not required any maintenance. It too still looks brand new. I believe the savings in time and energy on the maintenance far outweighs the initial cost of composite.

 

[JohnT]

Our Trex has faded some, but it still looks good. No staining, no splinters. I'd never use treated pine again. Dark colors tend to fade more and get hot in direct sun.

 

[4knights]

I'm doing the same remodel job on a second story deck and have to add stringers for support due to the weight of the composite boards. My neighbors composite "trex" deck has no fading after 5 years but man it's too hot to stand on in barefeet during the summer. The color is a brownish, so kind of worried about the same heat issues when I do mine.

 

[gtojohn]

Good to hear good experiences. The vague info I saw seemed a bit sketchy, and I think people with failures might have had improper installation techniques. What I didn't like seeing today at the depot was huge stack of trex all of which were wavy. I'm thinking the half point of not wood is so I don't need to look down boards and pick the straight ones!