Thread: modwood

No, not personally, but I have seen it used vertically for a screen - looked pretty neat. Don't know about using it for decking though - although it says you can, I don't have doubts about that, but doesn't it look kind of fake?

http://www.modwood.com.au/

A couple of years ago I heard there were some problems with its longevity. Don't know if the product has been modified though.

Cheers
Michael

I have used the "Choicedeck" branded material on two decks (one was 10 x 38 and the other is 18 x 40) on my house (here in the US) and would use no other decking material when I return to Australia. The material cuts better than wood, never cups or splinters, needs only a power wash every couple of years and is great to look at.

The only negative I've found is that there is a slight color fading of the product that lasts about 6 months. After that time the product does not change in color and I've had my decks down about 5 years. I live in an area that has heaps of snow in Winter, plenty of sun Summer and temperature ranges from and -20c to +35c between the seasons. No matter what your particular brand of product is, it will be affected by this.

I used a Swan Secure Products "Boardwalk" screws http://www.swansecure.com/fasteners1...kingpage11.asp and didn't bother pre-drilling anything and have had no issue. Using these blind screws, you simply push any of the displaced material back into the screw hole and tap with a smooth faced hammer and the hole virtually diappears.

AS A SIDE NOTE - I have put several composite material decks down on my houses (using 16 inch on center framing) and have found that the products that have a "ribbed" profile are a lot less "springy" than solid material. When solid material heats up, then center becomes very elastic and therefore "springs" a bit.

Hope this helps??

Fitzy

You can't use the stuff in a bush fire area, I can tell you that.

Not really my cup of tea but the guy who designed my house raves about it.

I used it and sure wish I hadn't. It is awful stuff. It splits, cracks, warps, and shrinks but worse of all - it grows algae faster than a petri dish. I live in the mountains, so perhaps it would work better in a desert environment. I never had this problem with the old merbau decking.
The manufacturer recommends just sweeping it but I can tell you that, in my case, that did nothing. I tried detergents and other chemicals (like bleach) with a firm brush but in the end, I had to bring out the Karcher. The manufacturer advises against pressure washing, but I had no option as my deck was so slippery with green algae all over it. What pressure washing seems to do is to get rid of the algae temporarily but makes the surface rougher so it is more likely to grow more algae the next time. And faster. I am now considering painting the infernal stuff. I do NOT recommend this product.

Originally Posted by silentC

You can't use the stuff in a bush fire area, I can tell you that.

Not really my cup of tea but the guy who designed my house raves about it.

You and I know that but the council did not want natural timber so they OK'd it. It really does not worry me but others get a bit antsy when they look at where I live.

Some consistency would be good. They wouldn't let me use composite boards, but I was allowed to use merbau. I'm very glad I did after reading this thread.

I bought about a dozen lengths of Ekodeck from Bunnings a few months back. They were having a clearance and I got them very cheap. Haven't got any specific use in mind for them, except that a couple of the lengths will be used to replace holed or split lengths of timber decking in the front verandah floor. The stuff I bought is a much lighter colour than the verandah floor, but if I use them spaced equally either side of the front door, the difference in colour should work as a feature rather than an oddity.

A few years back, another big hardware chain started up in various locations around the country in opposition to Bunnings. Can't remember their name - they didn't last very long & went bust & disappeared. While they were operating however, we bought an artificial decking product from them which was NOT Modwood, but another brand that was reasonably well at the time. I can't remember what it was and haven't been able to jog my memory with google etc. I remember that it was advertised fairly extensively at the time as a product competing with Modwood. Anyhow, we used it to replace the entire timber deck on the front of my mother's house which is virtually on the foreshore of the Derwent River in an outer suburb of Hobart. The front of the house cops plenty of rain and even salt water spray when there is some rough weather around, and the original timber decking was badly warped and was pulling the screws up and forming bad trip hazards everywhere. It was also starting to split. All of the ballustrades / railing etc were also replaced at the same time, using a "plastic" artificial timber.

So we replaced the entire deck (some of the beams under the deck were also replaced as they were warped) with this "plastic" product - I did not do the job myself, we engaged a contractor recommended through the hardware store which sold us the product. That was probably close to 20 years or so ago now. I was down there twice last year - that verandah is still looking as good as the day it was laid.