Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • NPE exhibitors question handling of deposits for canceled trade show
      Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Recognizing Plastek Industries for all-around excellence
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
    • Kickstart: A different kind of auto plastics in Spring Hill
      Kickstart: They're not used shoes, they're 'refurbished'
      Kickstart: Holy guacamole, science is cool
      Kickstart: Coffee with a splash of sustainability
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • PE resin trends highlighted in Shell report
      Dow's Lowry honored by World Economic Forum for sustainability work
      Africa impacts new colors from Ampacet
      Plaskolite marches into madness with its own online bracket
    • Climate debate in Washington increasingly includes plastic
      There was no choice but canceling NPE still a big deal
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
    • Annual PN LSR directory grows
      Want prices? Introducing historical resin pricing, now available in a downloadable form
      A new annual ranking: Top processor gains
      Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
    • Working from home: Rugrats edition
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
    • Machine builders press through pandemic with innovations
      PEX pipe maker Uponor donates $30,000 for Texas storm relief
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
      PPI puts $200 bounty on exhumed HDPE conduit
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Perspective: The Materials Wars: Is plastic actually better?
      Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
    • Mailbag: Additional fees for electric vehicles ‘unfortunate'
      Mailbag: Where's the plastics industry's response to critics?
      Mailbag: Manufacturers struggling to follow COVID-19 safety rules
      Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
      Video: Structural foam molding
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      College training, programs
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - April 2021
      Polymer Points Live - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Sponsored By Chase Plastics
      Styrenic Thermoplastics: 4 Polymers and Benefits of Each
      Sponsored By Bandera
      Bandera US was born for the North American market
      Sponsored By Ensign Equipment
      Filling systems customized for any process or budget need
      KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei retools in US with investment from parent ownership
    • KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei Retools in US with investment from Parent Ownership
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Shell Polymer
      Sponsored By Shell Polymers
      Food and beverage trends impacting the polymer industry
      Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
February 03, 2016 01:00 AM

Completing the 'outdoor room'

Catherine Kavanaugh
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Trex Co.
    Trex Co.'s pergola line recently added a model called Vision that has a synthetic canopy.

    Las Vegas — Composite wood deck maker Trex Co. is giving homeowners more reasons to stay outside with the addition of a television cabinet and a new shaded pergola to its line of outdoor living products.

    Like the storage units for swimming gear and garden hoses that the Winchester, Va.-based company debuted a year ago, the new products shown at the International Builders' Show from Jan. 19-21 in Las Vegas are made by other businesses and sold through a trademark licensing agreement.

    “This is about completing the outdoor room,” said Andy Sears, vice president of Structureworks Fabrication, which is based in Fredericksburg, Va.

    The business launched Trex's pergola line about five years ago, Sears said, and added to it recently with a model called Vision that has a synthetic canopy. The pergola has an aluminum core wrapped in flat sheets of cellular PVC.

    “It's proprietary technology that we've developed to reduce the number of seams, and the chance that it will split or pop or open up over time,” Sears said. “We call it our mono-seam technology.”

    The pergola columns are made of structural fiberglass and the canopy options are a high density polyethylene mesh or vinyl-coated polyester. They come in kits called Air, Balance and now Vision.

    “Adding a structure gives you a sense of enclosure and it provides shade, which allows you to use your outdoor living space more,” Sears said. “In a lot of today's suburban developments, you could be out on a deck with no trees around. This allows you to have shade and something for side privacy as well. This is the framework for your outdoor room, where people are mounting heaters, audio systems and TVs, and expanding their outdoor living.”

    Some will expand their searches, too, for game and TV remotes.

    NatureKast Weatherproof Cabinetry in Freeport, Fla., is manufacturing TV cabinets for Trex out of PVC at a facility in Canada, owner Mike Moras said. When the sides of the cabinet are glued together, he said it creates a welded frame that keeps out water and won't warp or fade. The finish coat has a UV inhibitor, he added, and the cabinet doors are made of the same materials.

    “You could hit it with a baseball and you won't dent it because it's harder than wood,” Moras said of the cabinet.

    Trex, which describes itself as the world's largest manufacturer of alternative-wood decking, has been adding to its product line to help homeowners make the most of their outdoor spaces no matter the season or region.

    “Thanks to advances in all-weather materials, furnishings and accessories, you can outfit an outdoor living space in much the same way that you would any room in the home,” design expert Paul Lafrance of HGTV Canada said in a Trex news release that calls him a “Trexpert.”

    Through the third quarter of 2015, the company posted net sales of $351.6 million. Trex is ranked No. 11 among pipe, profile and tubing extruders in North America, according to Plastics News' latest ranking.

    Across the board

    MoistureShield

    MoistureShield, a composite wood decking brand, said its product can be used even in high moisture areas.

    Trex decks, which are made of wood dust from flooring and cabinet makers and recycled polyethylene bags and film from retailers, come in three lines for good, better, best options. The decks are protected against fading, staining, scratching and mold on the top and sides with a polymer shell. Transcend decks top the trio in price, the company says, and performance.

    However, competitors are bringing other innovations to the market, including Azek, which has a new “alloy armor technology” for all of its decks and new colors; TimberTech, which is a wood composite deck with a cap on all four sides that comes in new colors; Fiberon, which debuted a new deck line capped all around; Royal Building Products, which bills its Zuri deck as similar to Transcend but best when it comes to price; and MoistureShield, which came out with a capped deck last year.

    At IBS, Azek introduced its armor alloy technology, which allows the brand to offer a 30-year “industry-best” limited warranty against fading and staining, according to spokeswoman Rachelle Shendow.

    “It is the next-generation innovation in capping,” she said. “Extensive testing has been done for a number of years. All Azek deck colors now have it.”

    Azek is owned by CPG Building Products, which also makes TimberTech out of post-consumer PE and wood flour. The company says its shell for that brand is a protective polymer that covers all four sides to guard against staining, rotting, cracking and moisture.

    “We are proud to say that the TimberTech brand has your ‘back side' covered and that we don't cut corners,” CPG Building Products Chief Marketing Officer Julia Fitzgerald said.

    With estimated sales of $285 million, CPG is the No. 14 pipe, profile and tubing extruder, according to Plastics News' most recent ranking.

    Fiberon, another composite wood deck manufacturer, launched its new Horizon line at IBS, which it says has a “unique low-gloss formulation and micro-texturing process to give boards an elegant matte finish.” The decks are capped on all four sides while other products of the New London, N.C.-based company have the protective coating on three sides.

    Thinking cap

    Over at the exhibit booth for MoistureShield, a composite wood decking brand, the need and function of board caps is always a hot topic. MoistureShield has had a non-capped deck product for 27 years and it has performed well — even for ground and water contact and even after a decade of heat and humidity at Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, according to President Randy Gottlieb.

    “Others have taken their non-performing uncapped decks, put a raincoat over them, taken cost out of the middle, and said it must work better,” Gottlieb said. “We say take our uncapped version, and if you want to literally put it under water, it still has the same warranty.”

    The Springdale, Ark.-based company added a cap option in 2015 because the market was asking for it, Gottlieb said. It serves mainly as an aesthetic difference, he added.

    “There's some fade and stain benefit” from the cap, Gotlieb said. “You see more of a natural wood grain in the uncapped product and around a dock or pier or marina that's what you're looking for. But we don't push people in either direction.”

    MoistureShield decks are made from all grades of recycled PE, like grocery bags and milk jugs, as well as wood fiber waste, by Advanced recycling Environmental Technologies Inc., which is ranked No. 46 among PPT extruders with sales of $76 million.

    Royal Building Products makes cellular PVC decking called Zuri, which a company official said sold out in 2014 and 2015. The Woodbridge, Ontario-based business, which is the No. 5 PPT extruder, added capacity last year. Zuri decks have a topcoat that the company says resists UV light and color fade.

    “What we're attempting to do is provide the best aesthetics with our siding and decking at a highly competitive price,” said Vice President Simon Bates. “We've been improving our manufacturing process and bringing the price of that product down. It does compare quite favorably with the very high-end composite decks like Trex Transcend.”

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Processor of the Year submissions