To start with the obvious, Trex and other Plastic or Composite Decking alternatives offer no natural features. Plastic or Composite options are either all grey or all beige or somewhere in between. All the boards will be exactly the same color with the exact same printed grains. Ipe Decking and other Brazilian Hardwood Decking offer only real, natural wood colors with real, natural grains. This means a beautiful variation of boards with each a unique grain pattern on every deck. The next downside to Plastic or Composite Decks is their inability to be repaired. If a board(s) gets damaged, scratched, stained or broken, the damaged piece cannot be fixed because Plastic and Composite Decking fades with time and exposure to the elements. If you were to replace one board on a Plastic Deck or Composite Deck, it would stick out, very obviously, from the other boards. The new boards would be the ‘manufactured’ color, while the others would be faded. This disparity will never even out. Moreover, Plastic and Composite Decking cannot be pressure washed or sanded to restore color. You are never really able to bring a Plastic or Composite Deck back to its original condition without replacing all of the boards.
Ipe Decks, on the other hand, can easily be brought back to their original condition. Keeping with the scenario outlined above, if a board on an Ipe Deck is damaged and needs to be replaced, all you would need to do is get a replacement board to put in its place. Because the color of Ipe varies from board to board, it would not stand out from the other boards at all. It’s natural variability in color lends to its advantage if a board ever needs to be replaced. Alternatively, if the board was scratched or stained, one merely needs to sand the surface of the stained board(s) and reapply the UV oil to bring them back to their original condition. Ipe Decks last forever not only because of their resilience to rot and decay, but also because the boards CAN be repaired, a quality not found in any other decking material. Another aspect that many people fail to consider before installing a deck is Heat Dispersion and Flammability. Wood is the best decking material for disbursing heat making the deck cooler to walk on and Ipe also has a similar fire rating to concrete. Basically, it’s a naturally non-combustible material. Plastic and composite decking is very hot and can create a fire hazard if installed outside a UV reflecting window.
Finally, the last major downfall of Plastic and Composite decks, sagging and drooping. The chemical combinations for Plastic and Composite decking options have changed over the years in an attempt to avoid problems like, insects, mold, and rot. Unfortunately, one problem that has yet to be tackled by even the most advanced Plastic or Composite Decks is sagging and drooping. Sagging and drooping refers to the pendulous deformation of deck boards between the joists. As far as longevity goes, this is the main problem for Plastic and Composite Decks. After several years, the chemical components in the decks breakdown which compromises the rigidity of the boards. It can compromise the strength in such a dramatic manner that the boards themselves loose their ‘straightness’ and droop between the joists. This is an extremely well-known problem for Plastic and Composite decks that has never been successfully addressed. Ipe Decking is 100% natural. There are no non-organic chemicals to breakdown. Ipe’s high density and hardness that lends to its’ incredible dimensional stability is why Ipe decks outperform Plastic and Composite decks in regard to longevity, 10 to 1. These are just a few reasons that Ipe Decks are the preferred choice over Plastic and Composite Decks. All considered, there really is no comparison between an Ipe Deck and a Plastic or Composite Deck.
Contact us with any questions on comparisons of Ipe and composite decking.