Wood warps, bulges, fades, peels, molds and eventually looks like hell here in Phoenix with our brutal summers. Plus it’s constantly expanding and contracting with the weather changes, causing all sorts of structural trouble. Here’s why Trex is way better than wood if you’re thinking of building an outdoor deck or a patio trellis:
1. Trex is made out of 95% recycled materials. It’s a composite material made from plastic shopping bags, reclaimed wood and sawdust. Trex hasn’t cut down a single tree during the entire lifetime of their business. Trex is an excellent example of “upcycling”, a word coined by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, the authors of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things. Upcycling means that you’re taking waste materials, like plastic bags, sawdust and palettes and making them into something new that is of better quality and higher environmental value than its
component parts.
2. The Trex company makes a point of making their manufacturing processes sustainable, which is not an easy thing to do. Their trailers are hydraulically powered with vegetable-based oil, their processing method eliminates smokestacks, the factory runoff/refuse is recycled back into the manufacturing line and their packaging is made form recycled paper and plastic.
3. Trex is virtually maintenance free. They use this material for park benches for a reason. It holds up amazingly well in the elements, no re-sealing, re-staining, sanding, smoothing – nada!
4. It won’t fade or scratch on you and it’s mold resistant! You know that everything out in our Phoenix sun will eventually look like crap because it will undoubtedly fade and peel. But Trex won’t fade, it maintains its color even in the scorchiest of Phoenix summers!
5. You don’t have to wear your shoes out on your Trex deck because it stays cool even on our hottest summer days.
Tags: cradle to cradle, decking, green manufacturing, michael braungart, phoenix, trex, upcycling, william mcdonough
trex and every other product like it does fade, does crack and will eventually look like hell. I have seen plenty of park bench made with this stuff and it fails. That’s here in Florida. There is no such thing as a maintenance free product. I’ve learned that if a products claims to be “virtually maintenance free” it simple mean you are going to have to replace it the day after the “warranty/guarantee” expires. Wood will also centuries, as long as it’s, drum roll, maintained.