#FIRE PIT ON TREX DECK TRIAL#

The goal was to see whether or not the heat would transfer from the bottom of the board to the top of the board. For this test, Matt took a regular Bic lighter and held it under each of the four boards for exactly one minute. The third test was the consistent flame test. In fact, it was so hot we couldn't touch it with our bare hands, which wasn't the case with the other three products. The interesting takeaway from this test was the TimberTech was much hotter than all of the other boards, even several minutes we had taken the board out of the open flame. For this test, we took a 2 inch piece of each board and put them in the fire pit for a couple of minutes then took them out and let them sit a few minutes to see how long it took for the boards to cool off. The next test was the heat retention test. So, if you're looking for a product that is not going to catch fire AZEK would probably be the one you would choose. The AZEK, although it looks worse, was the only product that didn't actually catch on fire. The TimberTech board did really well until the fire broke through the PVC cap and hit the wood fibers in the center of the board you could see it was definitely catching on fire. The structure was still intact, but you could see that edges of the board had slightly caught on fire. Next was the Ipe, the Ipe board had some charring on the surface but it didn't get much further than that. The Cedar had definitely charred and it was catching on fire, no surprise there. For this test, we placed each of the boards facedown on the fire pit and then we stoked the fire as hot as we could get it, well above 650 degrees Fahrenheit! We kept the boards on the fire pit for 15-20 seconds and then took them out to see if they had caught of fire.įirst was the Cedar board. We went out and found a fire pit then performed 4 different types of tests. To perform these tests, I called buddy of mine, Matt Risinger, who hosts a popular YouTube channel called The BUILD Show. All of these products are great and we proudly sell them all at TimberTown, but let's see how they did. The four different types are Cedar (a softwood), Ipe (a Brazilian Hardwood), TimberTech (a Capped Composite), and AZEK which is 100% PVC Decking.

#FIRE PIT ON TREX DECK TRIAL#

On this episode of TimberTips, we have four different types of decking that we're going to put through a trial by fire and see how they did. What happens to deck boards when they're exposed to fire?

Fire pit on trex deck