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Composite Decking Yellowing in Sun! (Dow Symmatrix)

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Composite Decking Yellowing in Sun! (Dow Symmatrix) Thomas G. Marshall 08-21-2006
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Posted by Thomas G. Marshall on August 21, 2006, 5:21 pm

A friend of mine has purchased enough of Dow Symmatrix for a fairly large
sized deck. Grey color which is officially called "driftwood" apparently.

It is yellowing in the sun while sitting in the driveway. Almost to the
same yellow that old newspaper gets after a few decades out in the open.

The salesman told her words to the effect of "That's an industry wide
problem with gray composites: they yellow due to the tannin within the wood
particles but it'll fade back to gray in a week."

Seems sketchy to me.

It's been a few weeks and it's only staying yellow.

Has anyone seen this? My composite decking was Rhino Deck, and it faded
just fine from brown to light light brown with no yellowing---not much
information for my friend but it was the only comparison I had.

Any suggestions? She's nervous enough to return the entire thing.



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Posted by on August 21, 2006, 5:53 pm

Thomas G. Marshall wrote:
> A friend of mine has purchased enough of Dow Symmatrix for a fairly large
> sized deck. Grey color which is officially called "driftwood" apparently.
>
> It is yellowing in the sun while sitting in the driveway. Almost to the
> same yellow that old newspaper gets after a few decades out in the open.
>
> The salesman told her words to the effect of "That's an industry wide
> problem with gray composites: they yellow due to the tannin within the wood
> particles but it'll fade back to gray in a week."
>
> Seems sketchy to me.
>
> It's been a few weeks and it's only staying yellow.
>
> Has anyone seen this? My composite decking was Rhino Deck, and it faded
> just fine from brown to light light brown with no yellowing---not much
> information for my friend but it was the only comparison I had.
>
> Any suggestions? She's nervous enough to return the entire thing.

Assuming there is a warrenty on the product I would send the company a
letter confirming the salesmans comments and wait a week or two. If the
stuff goes to an acceptable color then all is well, if not then you
need to arrange a return,

In my opinion if this is a known issue then the customer should be
advised of it. I would hate to have a half built deck that turned a
urine yellow color...it would freak me right out.


Posted by Thomas G. Marshall on August 21, 2006, 9:33 pm
marks542004@yahoo.com said something like:
> Thomas G. Marshall wrote:
>> A friend of mine has purchased enough of Dow Symmatrix for a fairly large
>> sized deck. Grey color which is officially called "driftwood"
>> apparently.
>>
>> It is yellowing in the sun while sitting in the driveway. Almost to the
>> same yellow that old newspaper gets after a few decades out in the open.
>>
>> The salesman told her words to the effect of "That's an industry wide
>> problem with gray composites: they yellow due to the tannin within the
>> wood
>> particles but it'll fade back to gray in a week."
>>
>> Seems sketchy to me.
>>
>> It's been a few weeks and it's only staying yellow.
>>
>> Has anyone seen this? My composite decking was Rhino Deck, and it faded
>> just fine from brown to light light brown with no yellowing---not much
>> information for my friend but it was the only comparison I had.
>>
>> Any suggestions? She's nervous enough to return the entire thing.
>
> Assuming there is a warrenty on the product I would send the company a
> letter confirming the salesmans comments and wait a week or two. If the
> stuff goes to an acceptable color then all is well, if not then you
> need to arrange a return,
>
> In my opinion if this is a known issue then the customer should be
> advised of it. I would hate to have a half built deck that turned a
> urine yellow color...it would freak me right out.

Yeah, well, they're very hesitant to spend all the energy in installing it
without knowing for sure if it'll return to normal. It's been well past the
week that the company claimed it would take for the yellow to "fade back to
gray".

Have any of you ever heard of this "industry wide problem" with gray
composites? Seems really fishy...


--
Puzzle: You are given a deck of cards all face down
except for 10 cards mixed in which are face up.
If you are in a pitch black room, how do you divide
the deck into two piles (may be uneven) that each
contain the same number of face-up cards?
Answer (rot13): Sebz naljurer va gur qrpx, qrny bhg
gra pneqf naq syvc gurz bire.



Posted by taz on August 21, 2006, 9:51 pm
Weird, I have had a trex composite deck in my back yard for over ten
years and it has faded to a light grey / tan. Never would've installed
it if it turned yellow.

I cannot for the life of me understand where the salesperson is coming
from saying this is an industry wide problem and it is caused by the
tannin within the wood fibres.
Sounds like a bunch of crap to me. I would have it replaced within the
warranty period or go with another brand that has a good reputation.

Regards,

TAz


Thomas G. Marshall wrote:
> A friend of mine has purchased enough of Dow Symmatrix for a fairly large
> sized deck. Grey color which is officially called "driftwood" apparently.
>
> It is yellowing in the sun while sitting in the driveway. Almost to the
> same yellow that old newspaper gets after a few decades out in the open.
>
> The salesman told her words to the effect of "That's an industry wide
> problem with gray composites: they yellow due to the tannin within the wood
> particles but it'll fade back to gray in a week."
>
> Seems sketchy to me.
>
> It's been a few weeks and it's only staying yellow.
>
> Has anyone seen this? My composite decking was Rhino Deck, and it faded
> just fine from brown to light light brown with no yellowing---not much
> information for my friend but it was the only comparison I had.
>
> Any suggestions? She's nervous enough to return the entire thing.


Posted by Thomas G. Marshall on August 22, 2006, 6:06 pm
taz said something like:
>
> Thomas G. Marshall wrote:

...[snip]...

>> Any suggestions? She's nervous enough to return the entire thing.
>
> Weird, I have had a trex composite deck in my back yard for over ten
> years and it has faded to a light grey / tan. Never would've installed
> it if it turned yellow.

(post converted to bottom posting to aid with interleaving)
Was the Trex Gray to start with? The Symmatrix color that they are using
is called "driftwood", which is just a fancy word for medium flat gray.

> I cannot for the life of me understand where the salesperson is coming
> from saying this is an industry wide problem and it is caused by the
> tannin within the wood fibres.
> Sounds like a bunch of crap to me.

This has got to be crap, yes. The biggest red flag about this entire thing
is that if it were truly an industry wide problem then this would have been
the first thing told to the customer, or else they would have had their
phones ringing off the hook ever since they offered this product.

...[snip]...




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