Deck Forum - excerpts
 

1. Posted:   02-19-04

We purchased a 4-hr-old home 2 years ago. The TREX deck almost immediately began to swell and buckled to the point we had to rip it off. TREX company officials and local distributor were no help whatsoever.

I would not recommend TREX because the company will not stand behind their product. We replaced with treated lumber. Still have a large screened in porch with TREX floor - terrible mold and stains - very high maintenance. I would not recommend TREX at all.

MBasler (---.tnt23.atl2.da.uu.net)


2. A 10-9-02 post from deck builder in New Jersey:

 

TREX Decking ... I use composite on some of my jobs but TREX is not one of them.  I used it when they first came out and some of it, not all of it, had a black mold problem that was coming up from the inside. TREX stonewalled about it. We ended up replacing it with Choice. I had several repair calls with the same problems but they didn’t have the money to replace. Even after stripping and acid wash, this material would still have the black mold come back up in a few months, ... "

John

3. Posted February 4th 2005 by a Trex customer from Kentucky:

I am writing to make sure as many people know about the problems I and others are having with Trex.  I built a Trex deck in 2003 that gets full sun all day long.  This past summer it developed mold spots all over it.  ...  When I contacted Trex they said that mold was an act of god and that they weren't responsible. 

They then sent me a cleaning kit that includes a sealer... they tell me I need to clean it and use "AfterKlean" which they deny is a sealant. They still deny that Trex needs to be sealed but I think the fact that they supplied one says it all.  I'm amazed at how willing they are to flat out lie.
John Daley

4. Posted November 10, 2003

Three years ago my husband and I needed a new deck and everyone told us to get Trex. We looked at it and figured that since everybody else had it, it would be ok for us. Soon after the deck was completed, I knew we had a problem.

I noticed that the deck had faded to a different color and also the stains would not come off. I contacted Trex and they sent me a kit with cleaners and gloves along with instructions. They told me that because we have trees in our yard there would always be a problem with staining. Their product information didn’t say “Do Not Use Around Trees”. I cleaned the deck but after a few weeks it was stained once again. Next, we hired a person to use a steam cleaner on the deck. It looked better for a while but within a few weeks it was back to the same old stained look. It was as if the deck had a virus that wouldn’t go away. It was molding from the inside out.

I read on their Web site that I could stain the deck. I followed the directions to the letter and I still didn’t like the look. That’s was it!

Their brochure had these beautiful photos and claimed it would be" the deck of a life time”. I hope that other people looking for a deck will not make the same mistake that we made.
Lora

5. Posted: March 24, 2004

We are currently having a serious problem with a Trex deck with no satisfaction from the Trex company. They are blaming our contractor which is totally wrong! Do you know of any class action suits against the company? We are at our wits end with this problem.

It has never looked like our neighbor’s Trex deck (supposed to be the same color). The deck is absolutely covered with dark spots which do not come off with cleaning. Our neighbor has a few light colored spots and the decks were installed within a month of each other – product came from a different distributor than ours. We think it is the fault of the distributor but again we come up against a stone wall. We think that they may have stored it improperly for several years. We want it replaced.

If you have any information on how to deal with Trex, we would appreciate it.

Thank you,
Joanne and Dick

(See below)

 

Litigation

  1. Law suit by Trex customer: (See #3 under Litigation below.)
     
    http://www.meislik.com/recentnj/blcases/blc00894.htm 
     

  2. Stanford Law School: Summary of class-action suit against Trex management for manipulating the sales data in their public reports. http://securities.stanford.edu/1019/TWP01/
     

  3. NEW JERSEY, June 2,'04 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 28, 2004, the Superior Court of New Jersey certified a nationwide class action in a case originally filed in 2000 (#1 litigation above) against Trex Company, Inc.
If you are a dissatisfied owner of a deck made with Trex or Timbrex composite decking products, you may be able to seek compensation.  You can reach Marc B. Kramer, attorney for the consumer protection class-action case, at (973) 847-5924.

The complaint alleges that Trex  products rot, splinter and degrade as a result of inherent defects in the manufacturing process. The defects are allegedly inconsistent with claims in the marketing materials distributed by the Company. In addition, although the Company claims that the product does not need sealants, after the product exhibits mold, the Company allegedly recommends that consumers apply sealants. Plaintiffs also seek to reform the Company's warranty to include costs of repair and replacement of allegedly defective product, cover costs of sealants and eliminate the exclusive remedy of providing replacement product.

 

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