I saw a 51 (sorry to say) Chevy today that it's bed lumber was made of a plastic wood that look pretty sharp. Has anyone here done the same? Are there any picture out there?

I am thinking that this may be the way to go with our Texas weather and heat.

 

I've mentioned it before, the artificial wood expands and contracts more than natural wood, so give it a little more space between the boards and around the edges and drill the bolt holes a bit oversized so it can move. Also it gets HOT! in the sun, so be careful, don't crawl in on your hands and knees or sit on it on a sunny day.

 

I have been Googleing plastic lumber and it seems there is quite a few companies out there and quite a few different systems. I would think the lighter color would be a bit cooler too.

I'd like to see some picture of installations if anyone has tried this.

 

I have seen pictures and it does look good, but not really like wood. Most of the plastic deck planks are 1" thick tho and the original planks were 3/4" so some re-engineering would be required.

 

My neighbor just replaced his deck with Trex brand engineered wood decking. It looks a lot different than the Trex I had seen in the past. Do your homework as these products are changing as the market drives them to better performance.

 

I did my porch in the stuff four years ago. When it comes time to redo my deck, I'll use it again. If you're OK with the look, I wouldn't hesitate to use it as it's virtually stain proof and easily replaced(if you ever need to). It cut just like wood, so I'm wondering if it would plane the same way. I have a planer, but I'm too cheap to ruin a set of blades just to satisfy my curiosity.

 

I am a woodworker and would never run Trex through my planer. Some of the plastic will melt and would gum it up badly. Notice that when you cut it with a circular saw or miter box saw that it leaves a small gummed up edge. That will be many times worse in the planer and will build up quickly into a big mess that would take a lot of work to clean up. And Ax is correct, it will get hot as the plastic holds the heat much longer than wood will, no matter how light the color. The good side is that it will last much longer and look newer longer without any maintenance.

 

I think 1'' would work fine on a flatbed . I used 5/4 white oak on my F2 flatbed and by the time I finished milling it , it wasn't much over 1'' thick . I think you could make it work in a pickup bed , but not sure . You definately wouldn't want to run it through a planner but I'm sure you could cut rabbets and dados with a saw with no problems .A lot of people are using it in their livestock trailers now because of its durability . Being a woodworker I much prefer the look of oak but if you don't have a shaded area to park it wood will weather pretty fast . Here in Texas sunlight is a worse enemy of wood than moisture .

 

I think you could make 1" work in a pickup bed, the issue would be the rabbets along the edges, they would need to be deeper and some of the decking boards are hollow so they would not be able to be rabbeted deep enough without cutting thru. If you used solid boards it would work fine. Use a new carbide tipped router bit and keep the chips sucked away with a shop vac while cutting. I would highly recommend using a router table rather than hand holding the router. The plastic wood might be springy and flexible enough to require outboard support so the overhang weight doesn't lift it up off the table while milling.

 

Our remodeling company has stopped doing the composite and plastic decking. The expansion in the New Mexico sun caused too many problems and they get REALLY hot. No bare-footin'
The colors have a tendancy to bleach out.
Also, they have poor structural stability and require closer support spacing or they will sag.

 

I don't have TREX, but the brand that Home Depot carries down here. I don't remember any gummed up edge from mine.

 

I agree about the bleaching out and less rigidity. I have never noticed the deck being significantly hotter than wood.

 

I have seen the stuff routered and I don't think that should not be an issue. I also thought it was a nominal 1 inch not a true 1 inch. I need to check out the specs.

The newer materials have very long warranties up to 20 years, so the fading may no longer be an issue.

 

Deck boards are 5/4 or a true 1".

 

Yep, that's the way I remember it.