From Mary,
Message: We are looking at various composite decking materials. Can you tell me anything you may know about Trex Transcend product. I know it is a fairly new product. I believe the problems from the past are the Accents material. Do you recommend one manufacturer over another? We have a 1800 square foot deck and do not want to replace it again.
Thanks, Mary
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Dear Mary,
I haven’t been able to keep up with the decking materials for some time, due to an illness in the family. It’ is my son, a contractor who has worked with Trex as I am an old redwood and cedar guy.
As you state, all the problems I have heard and received about Trex were with the Accent brand, especially the earlier product. My son has installed only Trex Accent and not any of the others. Since we live in Idaho, he has installed Trex Accent in all types of weather, from extreme cold to extreme heat. He says he has not had any complaints.
However…since I started Plumb-N-Square, I have received nothing but complaints about the Trex Accent decking. I can’t recall any positive feedback .. Half the comments seemed to be about receiving bad product from the supplier and the other half bad experience in extreme weather, especially cold.
Suppliers-both lumber yards and home centers, buy their lumber in bulk. When you purchase a product, they pull it from stock on hand if they have it. When purchasing a product, you may receive some product recently arrived, and some product that has been stored for some time. If some has been stored incorrectly or if say half is from one batch and half from another batch, their may be weathering, some color difference, etc.
If you buy decking, order it all at once, so you get it all from one batch and make sure that it is covered properly.
As far as the Transcend goes, I have heard that it is a good product, but that is only what I have heard from a few scattered sources. Not enough in my opinion, to give you an answer one way or the other.
My suggestion, would be to Google customer reviews on the product and do some serious research. Being an old contractor, I take more stock out of a customers experience with a product. If you Google just bad reviews or good reviews, that’s all you will get. I would Google “Customer reviews of Trex Transcend.”
One last thing…Trex does certify installers of its product, as do others. You can get list of Trex installers from your local lumber yard or home center. Do not take a contractors word however…ask for names, numbers and address’s of customers, then go an take a look and pick their brains. It does take some effort on your part, but is the best way to go.
Remember…Customer reviews of a product are best!
Sorry I can’t be of more help at this time, but hope you can use some of the above information.
PS: One big problem with any decking material, especially the composites. If not installed in strict accordance with their installation instructions, it could void your warranty. If you use a Trex certified installer, then you have a good means of regress.
Posted by Vinman | May 17, 2011, 9:17 PMHi again Vinman,
Brittany here from Trex. Some good info as always. I’m curious to know what type of complaints you get about the Trex Accents in relation to cold weather. Thanks!
If any of your followers have a problem or suggestion with any of our Trex Products, they can reach me directly at question@trex.com.
Brittany
Posted by Brittany M | May 19, 2011, 9:27 AMNice to hear from you again, Brittany. Thanks for keeping up with the blog and willing to help my followers with their problems and suggestions.
You can read all the comments on Trex Accent under Composites/Trex Accent. I believe there are twenty comments on the page, including those concerning Trex Accent problems in cold weather.
Posted by Vinman | May 19, 2011, 8:47 PMMy transcends (tree house – grooved) came in two different widths the 16′ about 1/8 wider than the 12′. Been almost 6 weeks now trying to get Trex to fix.
Posted by Tom | June 1, 2011, 11:45 AMNever heard of this sort of problem Tom. If anyone else, has a similar story, please leave a comment. As a side, Brittany from Trex stops by occasionally to check out comments on their product. If you like, contact her at question@trex.com, then follow up with us on the results.
Posted by Vinman | June 1, 2011, 9:37 PMThe material and install was all bought through Home Depot (thankfully), they have been working on getting the decking replaced. I sent an email to the Trex email above about a month ago and have never gotten a response. Trex says that they are going to replace the product, its just taking forever for them to do it. It makes for a very ugly deck when the lines don’t match up. Other than the width variation, Ive been happy with the product itself, it seems like it will be good. It has the hard outer shell that should clean easily and stop the mildew issues.
I just want to get the width issues worked out so the deck can be completed.
Posted by Tomsegel | June 2, 2011, 5:35 AMThanks for the update Tom,
I have worked with Home Depot and Lowe,s over the years for some of my supplies. Both have been reasonably good in helping resolve issues, as they want to build and keep customers. They are a major supplier for most major manufacturer’s so doesn’t surprise me they are working with you.
As for Trex, a month is a long time to wait for a response. I sent an email to the Trex Rep, who watches my blog, to see if she can review some of these complaints. Well see what happens.
Regarding the Trex Transcend product…my son hasn’t used it around here yet. I am hoping to get other visitors to comment on the product, as I hear it is good stuff, but we just don’t have any experiencing with it yet.
Posted by Vinman | June 2, 2011, 9:49 PMI recieved a call yesterday from the contractor, he was told by HD and by Trex that the new correct width boards would be delivered to my house today and that he would install them on Saturday. I will let you know how things go. Thanks
Posted by tomsegel | June 3, 2011, 4:03 AMWell some good news bud! Still, I am wondering what the problem was with the width? Sounds like it had to be some manufacturing process, that didn’t quite get the dimensions right.
Posted by Vinman | June 3, 2011, 9:55 PM*Reply to my message about Toms problems, from Brittany at Trex
Hi Vinman,
I would like to apologize to your subscriber that he didn’t receive a response to his email. We work very hard in replying to every email within a 1-2 business days so I’m not sure what happened. If he has any trouble going forward, he may contact me directly.
Thanks for the updates,
Brittany question@trex.com.
Posted by Vinman | June 6, 2011, 6:33 PM