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
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Getting back on the road
      How long will it take for EVs to replace internal combustion engines?
      Watching, and hoping, for progress in 2021
      COVID-19 stories dominate 2020 headlines
    • Kickstart: Attention, Walmart molders
      Kickstart: No one said returning to school would be easy
      Kickstart: Best foot forward
      Kickstart: Heading back to the office ... sometime
    • 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
    • Plaskolite wins 3M supplier award
      Green feet: Braskem partners with Dansko on bio-based clogs
      Curbell donates plastic sheet for prosthetics project in Ecuador
      Covestro volunteers build ramp for Ohio veteran
    • 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
    • Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
      Just how big is thermoforming in North America?
      Changing names for compounders embracing corporate branding
      Diversity the key to outperforming the market
    • Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
      The benefits of getting social
      Rising Stars shine bright future on industry
      Getting back on the road
    • Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
      Perspective: ‘Fake news' of a different sort?
      Perspective: Making products in the USA is good for the planet
    • 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 - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
      Polymer Points Live - October 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 Ensign Equipment
      Filling Systems Customized for Any Process or Budget Need
      KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei Retools in US with investment from Parent Ownership
      Sponsored By Mitsubishi
      Innovative new technology from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation helps reduce emission footprints
      Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Sponsored Content By Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Canon Virginia Inc. brings collaboration to the table
    • 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
      Sponsored By Shell
      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
March 14, 2017 02:00 AM

A trendy twist in decking

Catherine Kavanaugh
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Azek Building Products
    A curved deck using Azek Building Products composite decking. A growing number of contractors are using heating blankets to add new shapes to decks.

    A growing number of contractors are using heating blankets to form PVC and composite decking into unique designs that follow the customers' lay of their land, kidney-shaped pool or desire for something different.

    It's just not luxury homeowners looking to decorate their decks with curved boards and patterned inlays, according to Patrick Barnds, general manager of decking, railing and accessories for Skokie, Ill.-based Azek Building Products.

    “For mid-price point construction, it is achievable,” Barnds said in a telephone interview. “It's not a purely custom product where you're spending 100 percent more to get the look you want. These things can be done in the field with relatively available technology for most contractors. If they have the right training and a little experience, they are pretty proficient at getting these forms done on a tight budget.”

    Homeowner spending on improvements and repairs might be easing up a little this year, but the outlook for the synthetic decking segment remains strong.

    The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies released a report Feb. 28 that says the residential remodeling market — including both owner-occupied and rental properties — which reached an all-time high of $340 billion in 2015, will expand at a more gradual rate than recent years but still show “healthy” growth through 2025. Spending is expected to increase 2 percent annually for the next 8 years after adjusting for inflation. That's just below the pace of growth posted over the last 20 years.

    “With national house prices rising sufficiently to help owners rebuild home equity lost during the downturn, and with both household incomes and existing home sales on the rise, we expect to see continued growth in the home improvement market,” Kermit Baker, director of the remodeling futures program at the Harvard center, said in a news release.

    The repair-and-replace market generates most of the revenue for synthetic decking manufacturers. Only 5 to 10 percent of new-home builders install alternative-wood decking, Barnds said.

    “By far, most of the sales go into remodeling and replacing,” he said. “Our best customer is the one who had a wood deck. After people live with one for five or six years they start to see it deteriorate. They say, ‘Gee, I don't want to do all this maintenance and this looks bad.'”

    Even though the overall remodeling market is projected to post gradual growth, synthetic decking manufacturers expect to fare much better.

    “In the big peak of 2005, 2006 and 2007, a lot of houses were built with wood decks and they're reaching 10, 11 and 12 years old and showing their age,” Barnds said. “So there's this great pent-up demand that's building for other deck materials.”

    Bent into shape

    In addition to wanting decks that hold their beauty longer, homeowners are looking for more organic shapes to complement their landscapes and personalities. “Deck board bending” tops the list of “trends ready to take off this year” for Jason Russell, a 25-year decking contractor in the state of Washington.

    “Curves are becoming increasingly popular in the decking world, contradicting the antiquated idea that all decks must have square corners,” Russell wrote in a February column called “Cutting-edge deck trends for 2017” on building-products.com. “Now that I've started doing curves, I don't think I'll ever stop.”

    He uses heating blankets by Seattle, Wash.-based Heatcon Inc. that are made up of wires encapsulated in silicone rubber with a woven fiberglass outer layer. The heating blankets are 8 inches wide and 10 feet long and come in portable kits with heating controls and sensors.

    To create a new shape, a deck board is placed between two heating blankets for 25 minutes to an hour. When the consistency of the board is like a big, hot noodle it can be taken to a forming jig.

    “Most PVC-based decking materials will start to become malleable at over 190° F but they really need to get much hotter to easily bend into a smooth shape and to hold that shape as the product cools,” Barnds said. “The correct temperature needed for properly bending decking material to a permanent curve will vary depending on the product type — PVC or wood-polymer composites — specific composition, density, thickness and width of the material, and the radius of the curve. The range for most products is between 220° and 260° F. That is a temperature range that can be effectively achieved on the jobsite with commercial-grade heating blankets capable of reaching and consistently holding those temperatures.”

    Alternatively, many contractors use ovens at an off-site location to perform the heating and bending process, Barnds added.

    The heated plank then is secured around a jig with clamps into the desired shape until it cools and becomes rigid again. The process is repeated to create interesting effects.

    “You can run the deck boards around kidney-shaped and oval pools like concentric circles of a pebble dropped in the water, carrying that visual out,” Barnds said. “Heat-bending technology allows that.”

    Installers also are creating curved steps and benches or inlaying patterns, such as Celtic knots, to personalize outdoor living spaces. They are heat bending synthetic trim, too.

    Last September, Azek, which changed its name this year from CPG Building Products, posted a demonstration video on its website about forming trim into arches and ellipses with heating blankets. After about 10 minutes, when the trim board had the look and feel of cooked spaghetti, it was ready to be formed into an arch, oval or other shape.

    Trex Co. Inc., which is based in Winchester, Va., and makes decks from recycled polyethylene and reclaimed wood, also has online videos about heat bending its products “to raise outdoor living to an art form.” The Winchester, Va.-based company also sells a heating unit called the TrexCustomCurve that includes a forming table for $7,995.

    Market hot, too

    The chance to customize outdoor spaces with curved decking will give some homeowners another reason to switch from wood to synthetic products beyond low maintenance and durability. The overall decking industry has enjoyed continued growth at a rate of 2 to 3 percent annually to about $4.4 billion in 2016. However, the synthetic segment of the market has been growing at a faster clip of 6 to 7 percent annually and has reached about $1.1 billion.

    Trex, which is publicly traded, reported its 2016 sales were up 9 percent to a record $479.6 million.

    “The market right now feels like it is growing faster than it has the in past couple years,” Barnds said. “We're starting to see some pretty robust numbers from our competitors and our numbers look good, too.”

    Azek Building Products, which produces Azek PVC decking and TimberTech composite decking, has estimated annual sales of $363 million. Along with Fiberon, which is based in New London, N.C., the three deck makers comprise about 86 percent of the synthetic decking market.

    Known for years as a brand of CPG Building Products, the Azek name got top billing following market research that shows it has greater recognition and awareness amongst dealers, contractors and consumers. The Azek name also goes beyond decking and is associated with trim.

    “Azek trim has been sort of a gold standard of alternative materials for trim products for a number of years, and that's where a lot of the brand recognition is,” Barnds said.

    What's next?

    In addition to decking and trim, the product lines under Azek Building Products includes railing, moulding, porches and pavers as well as the capped composite wood decking and railing under the TimberTech brand.

    The Azek siding that debuted at the 2016 International Builders' Show isn't listed or shown online — yet.

    “It will be soon,” Barnds said. “We're about to make an announcement about that.”

    He also said Azek is working on more realistic wood visuals, different blends of resins and colorants in its capstock material, and performance characteristics for other applications, such as marina docks and decorative cladding.

    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
      • 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