What an amazing season we have enjoyed yet again in 2013/14. We are fortunate to have attracted and retained the very best carpenters and installers in the Waterloo Region and this season was yet another one where they did not disappoint. I am always amazed at the time and effort our carpenters take to invest in their own education regarding the introduction and use of new materials and fasteners in our industry. In our foundation days, JWS Woodworking and Design Inc. built decks primarily using Pressure Treated Lumber. Back in 1986, Pressure Treated, Western Red Cedar and some Hardwoods such as Ipe and Kayu were the order of the day with composites an ugly and expensive alternative that was far off in the distance in Canada. As fact would have it, with the evolution of our company being what it is, as president my role has changed significantly over the years we have been in business such that, while I personally have built hundreds of wooden decks, I have yet to build ONE composite deck start to finish! Luckily we have trained professionals that have taken over that role, and have now successfully installed 1000’s of running feet of our evolving friend, composite! While the durability and “maintenance free” appeal of composite is certainly attractive, the longevity and integrity of the product can leave some people feeling disappointed at best and livid at worst! Let me be clear, we have NEVER sold composite decking of any brand, as “maintenance free”. We have explained that this “new” decking will need cleaning and that it does stain and fade with age and with the passing of time. After all, it LIVES outdoors in Canada 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year! We live in a climate that sees the Tropical temperatures of the Borneo jungle in the summer and the frigid plummeting of the mercury in Anchorage in the winter. Is it any wonder ANY wonder that this material undergoes changes over time? Just like anything else that is outside all year long, your car, house siding, brick, mortar, cement side walks, pool covers, spa covers, the tips of nuclear weapons, your deck will need to be cleaned. For some light reading if you are waiting for paint to dry or the kids at swim lessons a fundamental understanding of The Janka Hardness scale can be gleaned from visting the site www.superiorflooring.ca/janka-hardness-scale and educating yourself on, what turns out to be, fairly fundamental principles of physics and materials engineering. However, if you are impatient like me, I can sum it up for you here…. “HARD STUFF SCRATCHES STUFF SOFTER THAN IT” Yes, if you drag your metal chairs across a composite / vinyl / aluminum / wood deck, it will scratch it. If you wear muddy boots across a composite deck that has millions of embossed “grain like” impressions in it ( so it looks like wood rather than plastic) it is going to be really hard to clean! If you think that there is nothing in the “environment” that causes fogging and dirt deposits naturally, try taking a close look at a black car drying after a summer rain. Granted, those surfaces are much easier to clean but having a glossy surface on a deck would certainly come with its own set of challenges – think water slide! Since I mention cleaning, I will inform you, it is the number one issue we deal with. We even take a different pair of safety shoes/boots to sites where we are building composite decks to change shoes when decking! Try keeping the cost of that, efficient! Alas, after we build and clean decks for our clients, it rains on them, leaving a foggy minerally like deposit on some of the darker colours that will make you crazier than a Black Friday shopper trying to clean off! The lighter colours seem to be able to fare a little better but those aren’t the ones that people want. Ironically, of course, those show the scratches and fogging the least as well! About the only thing that is for SURE about a composite deck is that you will NEVER have to stain it! You may be thinking that I have a “bee in my bonnet” about composite, and I want to be clear, I don’t! I actually love composite, I love the end result, I think there is good value in the end product and the visual impacts for design, contrasting borders, curves, patterns, are much more pronounced with composite than with wood. However, it simply is NOT suitable for clients that expect a PERFECT deck. And that is the good news; NOTHING is! So if you like it and can afford it, it is great! I also don’t like the way its “performance” often pits contractor against customer with Manufacturers and Distributors remaining typically indifferent. Our local supplier actually has been amazing, and to be fair, our Timbertech sales rep has been very supportive as well. The fact remains however, that, the damage is long done well before those folks are involved, with the smoking gun pointing, all too often at the nasty contractor! 🙂 Luckily, the answer has been simple for us. Taking the time to “sell – then unsell – then sell again” the composite to customers by “end-ucating” them seems to have worked fairly well for us. This season it was a discussion. Next, it will be a special contract. Managing the clients expectations without turning them off a neat and fun product, that does last very well, seems to be the answer. At JWS Woodworking and Design Inc. we have always found the more we communicate WITH a client, the more we show them what we are doing and why, the better the result. In effect, the closer we can get to having them experience the end result of using a material, site visits of composite decks, new and older, large format samples of decking left outside year round and visits to wooden decks for comparison, the better we are able to manage their expectations and successful navigate “The Razors Edge”
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