Category Archives: Composite decking

What’s new with AZEK synthetic decking in 2016?

As we’ve written before, synthetic outdoor building materials continue to improve over time. While composite decking brands have come and gone over the years, here in the Kansas City market, we have historically and continue to enjoy success with AZEK. AZEK composite decking not only performs well but it carries a 25-year warranty providing protection from splitting, cupping, splintering, blistering, peeling, flaking, cracking, rotting or structural damage from termites or fungal decay.

In 2016, AZEK is rolling out a new technology called Alloy Armour technology. AZEK’s proprietary alloy blend provides increased performance including better weathering protection, better UV protection and more fade & stain resistance. With the proprietary Alloy Armour technology, AZEK is now adding an additional 30-year warranty which specifically covers fade and stain protection. When evaluating contractors to build your new project, it’s important to look at all the warranties available. With Archadeck, we offer our own additional warranties. We have a guarantee of project completion even if any unfortunate situations should arise with your local crew, a 12-month workmanship warranty and a 60-month structural warranty.

In addition to AZEK’s new technology and warranty, there are introducing some color changes in 2016. Here are the color changes:

Sandridge will now be Brownstone
River Rock will now be changed to Slate Gray
Tahoe will now be changed to Island Oak
Sedona will now be changed to Autumn Chestnut
Walnut Grove will be changed to Brazilian Walnut
Redland Rose will be changed to Mountain Redwood
Rustic Bark will be changed to Mahogany
Harvest Bronze will be changed to Cypress

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

If you are considering adding a new deck, porch or other outdoor living space to your Kansas City area home, give us a call for a free consultation. We look forward to your call at 913-851-3325. Please also visit our Archadeck of Kansas City website.

Composite decking is getting closer to hardwood. Can you tell the difference?

Two industry leaders in composite decking, AZEK and TimberTech, have updated their offerings with new product lines. What can we learn about current trends in decking styles and color trends based on what they have brought to market over the last few years? First, and most importantly, both companies are making terrific progress towards creating products that do a very impressive job of emulating the look of natural hardwood, especially from afar.

Also, dark colors continue to be a large part of each company’s color palette. We saw an increase in the number selections modeled after dark woods in 2014 and the number of dark colors available is even larger this year. Rich color with dramatic streaks is often associated with exotic hardwoods like mahogany, cypress, tigerwood, pecan, and dark hickory, so they often look higher end. They rarely hide dirt and dust as well as a lighter colors, but that can vary a bit from place-to-place depending on the color of your particular dirt.

Another trend in PVC deck boards is hand-scraped finishes. This finish has been very popular for years for interior floors. It mimics the look of antique or reclaimed wood. Customers also love it because they don’t have to fret over every gouge made by the kids or every scratch from the dog’s nails. Your flooring is already distressed, so you don’t have to be. Having said that, these floors have superior durability and stand up impressively to scratches, stains and splits with very little maintenance from you.

When most people think about synthetic or composite decking products, they often envision a cookie-cutter kind of product. One of the notable features of this new generation of PVC products is that their texture lines and color variations make each board unique. In the same way that no two natural wood boards are exactly alike, this flooring has variation that makes it look “real.” This really increases the difficulty in differentiating real from synthetic at a distance.

Both AZEK’s Vintage Collection and TimberTech’s Earthwood Evolutions Legacy will coordinate with dark, slender profile metal railings. Homeowners that want to match their flooring and their railings can coordinate, but contrasting aluminum railings are still a neutral, easy-to-see-through option.

Looking for deck builders in Kansas City with a long-standing reputation for excellence? Choose Archadeck of Kansas City for your outdoor project.

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

If you’re considering the addition of an outdoor fireplace – or a deck, porch, patio or other outdoor living structure – to your Kansas City area home, don’t wait. Give us a call at (913) 851-3325 for a free consultation or email us at kansascity@archadeck.net. We look forward to your call.

Wood or composite? Top five questions that will help you decide…

Once you decide on what you want to build for your outdoor living enjoyment, the next round of decisions you need to make are material selection decisions. Choosing whether to use wood or composite for your decking boards is not a simple decision. Both wood and composite have pro’s and con’s. Simply stated, composite will perform better and cost more. Wood still performs well but certainly not as well as composite. Wood costs significantly less. Here are 5 questions to ask yourself to aid you in your decision.

1) How long are you going to be in your home?

If you are planning on being in your home for another 10 or 20 years, then a composite wood warranty will still be in effect. Composites cost more but most carry a 20 or 25 year warranty that protects against things like blistering, peeling, flaking, cracking, splitting, cupping, rotting, and decay from bugs or fungus. Each warranty is different but these are the sorts of protections that will be covered in composite warranties. Natural wood may have no warranty or a limited lifetime warranty. But, this does not mean that a wood deck will suffer from all the maladies covered by a composite warranty. Wood decks can still last 15 or 20 years and still look good if properly maintained. Because composites are low maintenance, carry such a long warranty, and will look the same in 10 years as it does today, composite is a good investment if it makes sense for your budget.

2) How do you feel about painting, staining and sealing?

Do you get crabby just thinking about staining, painting and sealing? Or, does the annual deck maintenance fall into the category of just another outdoor task for each summer? I’ve found that people generally either don’t mind this at all or or simply won’t invest in materials that require annual maintenance. In order for wood to look good from year to year, it will require annual maintenance. In addition, this annual maintenance will have a cost that includes material and possibly labor if you choose to have someone do this for you.

3) How authentic do you want your decking to look?

Nothing looks more like wood than wood itself. Composites have come a long way and they’re looking better all the time. They are adding more streaking and ridges but this is one category where they will be forever be chasing the real thing – natural wood.

4) What sort of wear and tear do you expect your deck to have?

Some wear and tear will come directly from the environment with the sun being the biggest offender in this category. Other wear and tear issues are general use and moving objects around on the deck such as chairs and tables. A composite deck will resist wear, tear and environmental degrade better than wood.

5) Do you prefer to pay more now and less over time or less now and more over time?

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

Regardless of all of the features and benefits of composite, it has to make sense for your budget. A well-maintained wood deck can last a good 15-20 years or longer however wood will wear and tear over time. Wood will having some cracking and splintering and other wear and tear issues as time goes on.

The bottom line is the only right decision is the one that’s right for you. Based on your answers to the above questions, you should have a good sense whether wood or composite are the best material selection for your new deck.

Do you love the sound of the summer rain?

Most people love the sound of the summer rain. It’s probably because of the amazing smells that comes with it. There is nothing like the smell of summer and the smell in summer just after the rain. The other great thing that goes with summer rain is usually a nice cool breeze. Are you one of those people that goes to a favorite spot in your home when the rain begins because you know you can best hear and smell and feel everything that goes with the rain?

My customers tell me the same thing — my customers that I have built a sunroom for. Now imagine that the special place you go in your house when it rains is actually outside your house. A screened porch fits the bill for this just perfectly. With a screened porch…

You can eat outdoors without the bugs

You can be outdoors and control privacy and sun

You can be outdoors in the rain – it’s great to sit out there in summer rain

You can be out there with laptop or radio or TV because you have shelter from the elements

Before picture

When these Leawood KS homeowners called us, they had a number of problems with their old deck. The deck had issues and the awning which had served as sun and rain protection was ripped and leaked.

We decided to build a new deck and an adjoining screened porch. The style of this home is unique and has a lot of character so we came up with a couple of creative design ideas and presented the ideas to the homeowners. One of the roof designs that we presented for the sunroom was very unique and fitting of the charming look of this tudor-style home. It has a gable on a shed roof.

Another design detail was the redesign of the stairs. They wanted to design stairs to work with landscaping so we designed steps to be completely different than before and to work with their landscaping plans.

Kansas City Screen Porch by Archadeck

Here are some more details about the project and materials. We used Fiberon composite decking in Ipe color. This color imitates look of a tropical hardwood such as Ipe. We used Smart trim is designed to be painted to match the color of the house. We used Fortress railing which is galvanized steel rail that’s powder coated. This rail is very popular nationwide.

Kansas City Screened Porch inside tongue and groove ceiling

Here is a picture of the inside of the sunroom. You can see how the detail on the roof design really adds to the aesthetic appeal inside the screened porch as well. You’ll also note from the picture how much sun comes into the screened porch while still providing some sun protection.

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

Give us a call to discuss some ideas for your next outdoor project. (913) 851 – 3325 or email kansascity@archadeck.net