What’s In This Stuff?

Can Testing Be Trusted?

In fact, the testing protocols that companies use to justify their 25-year warranty claims are getting questioned. Historically, to estimate potential wear and tear on composites, manufacturers and academics applied the same testing standards used for treated, solid-sawn wood. But at an international conference on WPCs last month in Madison, Wis., a researcher from the federal Forest Products Laboratory said in effect that you can’t subject factory-fresh composites to those tests and get real-life results; the composites have to be “conditioned”–i.e. knocked around a bit–before being put to any tests intended to help predict a product’s long-term performance.

When it comes to creating vs. adequately testing new products, “Manufacturing went faster than science could catch up,” said one conference participant who specializes in polymer engineering. “What we’re now learning would have been nice to know 10 years ago.” New testing standards could take effect later this year.

One hoary business maxim is that a lot of competitors will pile into a new market and that, over the years, a few will rise to lead the market, a few others will hang on, and the rest will quit. The WPC decking and PVC markets appeared to be going that way, such as when CorrectDeck sold out last year to GAF. Principia says the top four players in the decking market have increased their market share from 65% in 2008 to 75% today. But lately some new players are coming in that could shake up the situation.

A notable arrival is Inteplast, which makes several private-label brands and has become the licensed producer of CEVN, a PVC decking in which each board has two colors. Meanwhile, Deceuninck made a splash at this year’s International Builder’s Show with a brand of PVC decking. And Wolf, a distributor based in York, Pa., that has expanded into

New England and the Southeast, dropped AZEK’s PVC decking in 2010 to begin distributing CEVN as well as start selling its own, private-label brand of plastic deck.

How To Shop

“Saying all deckboards are the same is like saying all cars are the same,” says Gramlich of TimberTech. “A Chevette isn’t a Mercedes.”

Though virtually all industry experts agree that composite and PVC decking and trim is far better than it was just a few years ago, they stress that variations between products still run rampant. So how do you tell which product is a peach and which is a lemon? The basic answer from manufacturers is to not accept what companies say at face value and to check closely how they back up their word.

For instance, manufacturers say dealers should press suppliers to give more details about what’s in their recipes, such as what percentage of wood flour is in the total mix (over 60% should ring alarm bells), what size wood particles are used (in most cases, the smaller the better), whether the polyethylene used is low- rather than high-density (higher-density polyethylene tends to be stronger, but it’s also more expensive, and the sourcing can be spotty), and how much of a filler like talc is used (over 10% may signal cost-cutting).

Fiberon’s Ross also urges dealers to ask about the pigment used to color the product. Organic pigments will change over time, while non-reactive pigments are inert and thus will keep a color true for a longer time.

One good way to get a sense of what the manufacturer is doing is to compare its good, better, and best products. Why does the upscale version promise a longer, stronger warranty? It’s probably because it has more additives. Knowing how much more, and what extra is in there, can help you decide whether the differences are worth stocking.

Ask manufacturers what percentage of output from the production line is rejected and reground; if it’s way below 10%, the company may be intentionally permitting some less-than-optimal products to sneak through to your company’s shelves.

Likewise, ask about warranty claims and lawsuits. The volume of claims as a percent of total sales can help indicate the product’s performance. At the same time, companies that get sued over a defect are likely to have spent a lot of time making sure that problem doesn’t reoccur. How long a company has been in the business also should be taken into account.

Even after making those checks, experts agree that the only real way to be sure of a product’s quality is to install a lot of it in a lot of places and then see what happens. Frequently, that’s the first time manufacturers discover how builders’ embrace of other products can have unintended consequences for their decking and trim.

Pace says he has worried lately about whether paint companies that have made darker colors of heat-reflecting paint have spent any time seeing how that paint affects the expansion and contraction of PVC trim.

Likewise, Bob Simon of Gossen says his company got surprised when its first generation of PVC decking was placed below low-e glass. It turns out that the glass can reflect and focus the sun’s rays on a spot near the window.

“We had decks below windows and patio doors that were pretty black–getting scorched,” Simon says. “So we discontinued that whole product line, took substantial losses. That’s when we decided to change our whole process. …That’s a hard knock we went through, and some are going through that now.”

Unexpected problems are a part of the package that comes when you try to sell an ever-evolving product. Understanding how it’s made is your first step to reducing that risk.

Where to Source It