Looks like there may not be alot of it out there, but FYI

decking notice.

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If it weren't for lawyers, we would never need them.

Isn't it just amazing that with all are wonderful science and technology we just cannot seam to replace wood?

Mother nature. You gotta love her!

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Ted Menelly
"Castle"
Home Inspection Services

Oh great, that looks like the decking that is on my front porch that was just installed this past winter. Same color too. I have no idea if its an LP product however. I have no idea who the MFG. is.

Mine doesnt have the cracking like that though. Lets hope it stays that way. I guess I wold have to call the contractor to find out what MFG he used but we are not exactly on good terms as we had to file a BBB complaint on him. Any suggestions?

EDIT: I looked on side of boards and it has a groove on them running length of boards. Acording that website, those boards are not the defective ones. Lets hope that true

Have we not yet learned ("we" as in "construction industry") that wood fiber composites do not do well even on vertical surfaces which shed water well, much less on roof surfaces which are sloped and shed water reasonably well, let alone horizontal surfaces which do not shed water?

Am I missing something here?

Wood products swell when they get wet, an more wood fiber exposed to moisture, the more they swell, and the more wood fiber surface exposed to moisture, the more the wood fiber is exposed to moisture.

Wood fiber products have more wood fiber surface exposed to moisture, so, in accordance with the above, they swell more to.

It would seem to me, just my opinion, that as an industry, manufacturers would come to understand that "wood", from mother nature, cut up into small and usable sizes (i.e., planks and boards) work reasonably well on vertical surfaces (such as siding) and, when properly treated to resist decay, work reasonably well on horizontal surfaces, and that "wood composites", a combination of mother nature and man, *DO NOT WORK REASONABLY WELL* when exposed to mother nature.

I know I have to be missing something in there which causes manufacturers to continually try to create new products destined for failure. Can anyone here explain to me what I am missing?

Wait ... I think I found it in there ... $$$$$$$$.

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

Someone has said (Dr. Joe?) that if wood was a new discovery today and was put through the approval process for building materials that it would never be approved. It expands, contracts, burns, bugs eat it, it rots and paint does not adhere well, it has knots, splits, checks, etc.

Big difference though is that we know what it does reasonably well, what it's limits are, and there is no one to sue when it fails.

There are some success stories out there for manufactured products. Just think of Sheetrock, plywood, OSB, glue-lam, Hardi siding, MDF.

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Jim Luttrall
Mr. Inspector.net, Inc.
Allen, Texas 75002

Not used exposed outdoors (it would fail) and contains no wood fibers.

Not used exposed outdoors (or it fails, unless preservative treated and exterior glue is used), it does contain wood fibers .

See plywood above (if it even can be preservative treated).

Are these allowed to be used exposed outdoors?

Used outdoors, but does not contain wood fibers.

Not used exposed outdoors, does contain wood fibers.

Of all of the above products, they are, are best, and if intended to be used outdoors, are for installation vertically (like on walls).

Even Hardieplank and Hardie board and their 'roofing product' failed when used on roofing, and would one ever use it installed on the horizontal (like decking)?

I'm not sure you got my point in my previous post - using wood fiber composite material for conditions which have some, limited, or no, water shedding built-into the installation.

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

I got your point, but I was not responding to your post, just a general statement about wood. By its nature, it decays, etc.

I don't disagree with your point, just raising one about the alternative to manufactured products, wood.

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Jim Luttrall
Mr. Inspector.net, Inc.
Allen, Texas 75002

EVERYTHING "decays" (or otherwise deteriorates by a different name, i.e., "rusts", "corrodes", etc.) over time, whether the product is manufactured or natural.

Heck, even uranium-235 decays over time (half-life is 713,000, 000 years).

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

Plastic is one MFG item that doesnt seem to decay...at least not for many thousands of years. The pacific garbage patch is a nice reminder of that. The sun seems to break plastic into smaller pieces but it doesnt decay it completely for a long long time. Yay for humans for designing a long lasting product

But ... it does breakdown ... eventually ...

That's why I included this: "even uranium-235 decays over time (half-life is 713,000,000 years)".

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

Totally agree that composite wood is just a BAD idea outside. When I started inspecting homes about 10 years ago bad LP siding was everywhere. I'd say at least 4/10 houses had it. There was talk of the class-action suit at EVERY inspection and people were getting various amounts of settlement money.

I was absoultely blown away once when walking down the isle at Home Depot to see that they could still sell the crap. How is it that a company can put out a horrible product and settle lawsuits for pennies on the dollar and not only still be business but still sell the same junk? Only in America... there's got to be some pockets being lined somewhere.

I know the 'new' LP lap siding is better but the grooved sheet stuff is still widely used and is just junk... no other way to say it. It swells, buckles and fail pretty much any other way. It's always a struggle for me to try and dance around just telling buyers what I think of the stuff on a new house when it hasn't failed... yet.

Decks with LP composite? Yikes... haven't seen one yet.

Thanks for the info.

Lets see here........

There's ignorance
There's contractor's that don't educate their client's as to how crappy the product is
There's flipper's that just need to make things nice looking enough to sell
There's uhhhhh plenty more I am sure.....

I wonder when the next class action lawsuit will occur.