<p>Emeraldkity! Lol. that forum is so much snarkier than cc and I’m assuming it’s mostly men! Where are moderators over there?!!!</p>
<p>If you’re going to do wood, then consider a more rot-resistant species than fir.
One alternative is western red cedar. It is a soft wood but looks good and is naturally rot-resistant. A tropical hardwood species such as ipe ($$) would be more durable. Black locust (native to much of the eastern USA) is another strong and rot-resistant decking material, if you can find it.</p>
<p>I have had a composite T&G floor on a large covered fron porch in a humid climate for 6 years. Typical wood flooring rotted in a few years. So far no problems other than some staining from red clay dirt that is so common in the south. Power-washing took care of that. My brand is no longer available as the housing crisis killed many small firms such as Tendura that made mine. But I think they are all pretty similar. If it lasts 20 yrs it will have paid for itself several times over and no maintenance other than washing.</p>
<p>Ipe is durable as can be but it costs as much as stone. We priced it for our new deck and had to pass.</p>
<p>EPTR - I haven’t noticed any staining. I do try to keep the leaves swept up so they don’t usually stay on the deck for more than a few days at the most.</p>
<p>I have a huge front wrap around porch–76’ long and 20’ on both ends, the length facing west. Oh how I wish I’d used Trex or something similar…and vinyl type stuff for the 13 columns and spindles/handrails. It’s a constant battle keeping paint on it all. We built it 13 years ago and the vinyl stuff looked a lot more “plastic-y” than now and I didn’t consider Trex type material well enough. Expensive and time-consuming lesson learned :(</p>
<p>The house I bought this spring has a big deck (facing NW and we’re about a mile from Lake Erie) on the rear of it- the deck is made of Trex while the steps are wood. As soon as humanly possible, I am going to replace both staircases with Trex! We bought some of that non-toxic deck wash, applied it with a long handled deck brush and power washed the deck and it looked new; the steps are peeling and have required hours of scraping and will have to be repainted, which I am not looking forward to.</p>
<p>Ipe is a pain to work with! It is so dense that pre-drilling holes for deck screws requires some effort. And it also eventually “weathers” to a yucky grey color…</p>
<p>Trex isn’t good for steps! We have it on our front steps and it is highly dangerous. If it has the slightest amount of frost on it, it is extremely slippery. I have nearly fallen down the steps many times. We are replacing our steps this summer! </p>
<p>I have Trex on the upper deck of a home near the ocean, gets lots of wind and salt spray. It has held up well and washes well. Just not on the steps!</p>
<p>we have a deck with Trex that is now 11 years old. It is a bit different than your situation as it is about 30 ft above ground on a very steep hill (what were we thinking?). About two times H has scrubbed with a mold solution and renewed it. No bugs, birds or leaves. Stains from the grill and the plants.
Our main issue is that it looks warped and wavy and I think this is from the beams settling ( you would not have this issue).
Still would do it again after having two houses with cedar decks and all of the upkeep.</p>
<p>If the steps are slippery , is the deck itself slippery - especially when it’s snow/ice covered?? (which ours would be) - will the Trex take the abuse of being shoveled in the winter? Our deck gets heavy use as we have to walk across it (the whole length of the back of the house and sunporch) to get to the garage - so we would be using a shovel on it in the winter.</p>
<p>Also, any estimates on price w/installation (per square foot or whatever…)???</p>
<p>Well, we figure materials at 1,000 dollars if we go with Trex. My H will install it, God help me.</p>
<p>This image is similar to the shape of my house with the porch low to the ground like this.
<a href=“http://www.broughmanbuilders.com/gallery/med_photo/The%20Emmaline%20Gabrielle%20Farmhouse.jpg[/url]”>http://www.broughmanbuilders.com/gallery/med_photo/The%20Emmaline%20Gabrielle%20Farmhouse.jpg</a></p>
![http://www.broughmanbuilders.com/gallery/med_photo/The%20Emmaline%20Gabrielle%20Farmhouse.jpg[/url]](http://www.broughmanbuilders.com/gallery/med_photo/The%20Emmaline%20Gabrielle%20Farmhouse.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>The slippery surface issue is important as this is the main entrance to the house and we live in New England. I already spent one night in the ER when D ran up on the porch after a thunderstorm, slid and hit her head on a planter. It gets very slippery. We have remedied that in the past with some kind of texture in the paint in the area of the most foot traffic. I would be very leery of using anything very slippery, especially as we don’t plan on moving and we are not getting any younger.</p>
<p>I might go to the local home improvement center today and ask someone about cedar or the other woods mentioned. The more I read about the composites the more I hesitate.</p>
<p>Beautiful image EPTR. 
</p>
<p>Yes, the slippery factor would be a deal breaker for us. But man, I would love to not have to sand, stain, paint every couple of years!!!</p>
<p>Abasket, don’t be fooled by that idyllic picture. My house is a more humble version of that! </p>
<p>I am going to the local lumber store today to see if I can get some prices on options. And maybe some insight/suggestions. The guy at Lowe’s wasn’t much help.</p>
<p>Even if more “humble”, it’s a style up my alley!!! :)</p>
<p>There are Trex boards that have wood-looking texture on one side. I wonder if they would be less slippery than plain Trex.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I happen to be somewhat of an expert on composite decking. I spent several years (in my lawyer job) handling a recall on the product, and I happen to know that Trex has the same issues. There are some good installations and some climates are more kind to composite decking than others. We had an issue with degradation of the decking due to sunlight and other weather conditions, which led to a dangerous situation where the boards could crumble and lead to step-throughs. My sister has Trex decking on her home and it seems to be fine. At our company, there was a lot of discussion about what materials were best for a deck, and the majority view was wood. That said, one of the Sr. VPs had a gorgeous deck with our composite product (a different plant than the bad stuff) and it held up well. </p>
<p>If money is no object- get Epi. We went with wood on our new house. I just can’t do composite- especially not on a high off the ground deck. :)</p>
<p>EPTR, let us know how your visit to the store goes! I have been wanting to redo our porch’s wood floor recently. I wasn’t very familiar with Trex, just heard mostly good things about it, but I hadn’t entirely considered the slippery factor so now that’s on my mind. (This is why I come on forums like these for all of you people to help me make decisions!)</p>
<p>I went to the local lumber store and spoke to the man in the know. He steered me toward something called Fiberon (sounds like a laxative, doesn’t it?).</p>
<p>This product is composite but wrapped in in PVC which hinders mold etc. It looks good but is pricey. </p>
<p>I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for the feedback!</p>
<p>I hate these decisions! I think for the slippery steps issue I’d just get some grip tape.</p>