LIVE PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONS
Huber Engineered Woods, the makers of AdvanTech flooring and Zip Systems Roof and Wall Sheathing are Proud to Offer Live Demonstrations and Hands on Training

You're Invited - Lunch on Us! September 20th 11:00am to 1:30pm

Location:          Glenbrook Lumber          651-770-9071

                         5215 Gershiwn Ave N

                         Oakdale MN 55128

Huber Woods AdvenTech Flooring Available from Glenbrook Lumber

 

Water Tower Demo

See firsthand what happens when rainfall pounds your job site – and see which product has the lowest water absorption in the Industry!

Panel Buster Demo

You want a strong, stiff floor? This demo is for you. Watch how panel specimens react to the same static load – only one will survive!

Voted #1 in Quality for 10 Years

Come and see for yourself why we’ve been voted #1 in Quality!

Huber Woods Zip Wall and Floor System Available at Glenbrook Lumber

Popcorn Air Barrier Demo

If you’re not conducting blower door testing, you will be soon. Come see how ZIP System out performs housewrap as an air barrier.

Water Penetration Demo

Nee reliable moisture protection? You’ll see how ZIP System stays water tight while osb/housewrap leaks almost immediately under wet conditions.

Get Ready for Changing Energy Codes

Learn how to stay ahead of changing energy codes by building with ZIP System roof and wall products.

Come to Glenbrook to see our Display Exposed to the Twin Cities Elements 250+ Days

The display pictured here has been exposed for more than 250 days to the elements; rain, snow, ice and sun. See for yourself how Huber Woods’ AdvenTech flooring and ZIP wall/flooring Systems survived the elements better than any other alternative! If you are building this Fall, Winter or Spring in Minnesota you need to attend our Lunch on Us event!

For More Information Contact:

Carl Wegener – 651.770.9071

carlwegener@glenbrooklumber.com – Email

www.glenbrooklumber.com – Main Website

www.warmdry.com – Woodmaster Webpage

www.facebook.com/glenbrooklumber – Join us on FaceBook

www.youtube.com/user/glenbrooku – Subscribe to our Glenbrook University Channel on Youtube

When:    April 14th – 8:30am – 9:30am

Where: Glenbrook Lumber

5215 Gershwin Ave N

Oakdale MN 55128

651-770-9071

RSVP: carlwegener@glenbrooklumber.com

See and hear the latest on AZEK for 2011!  New products, new colors and new fasteners.

AZEK In-Deck Storage Kit
Lose the unattractive deck storage boxes and reclaim the deck space to expand the outdoor living area. This highly functional, attractive and concealed storage solution presents a uniquely creative and integrated use of space on an AZEK Deck. Use this clever storage system to hide anything from deck umbrellas to lounge cushions

AZEK Bench Hardware Kit
AZEK In-Deck Storage Kit
In-Deck Storage Top View shown in AZEK Redland Rose® A bench with integrated flower/planter boxes brings the deck to life. Easy to build bench hardware kit utilizes AZEK Deck boards to construct a bench with two integrated flower/planter boxes. Choose the color for the AZEK Bench to match or complement an AZEK Deck or AZEK Porch.

AZEK Deck’s Arbor Collection resembles the warm, vibrant tones of exotic wood. Just imagine…the look of tropical hardwoods with the proven performance of AZEK Deck.  NEW!  Silver Oak™NEW! Cobre®

AZEK Gate Hardware Kit
Owning a working, lockable, great looking gate at home is now easy. The AZEK Gate Kit offers an affordable solution that can be installed on your deck/porch yet resembles a custom application.Your AZEK Gate can be built as a single or double gate and is available in an AZEK Deck color to complement your deck or porch – Brownstone, Slate Gray, Black, Kona and White.   Featuring a self-closing, lockable latch system, the AZEK Gate is strong and sturdy without unattractive cross bracing.

SCRAIL VIDEO CLICK HERE

Scrail® collated fasteners are the incredibly versatile fasteners that can be driven with a pneumatic nailer at a rate twice as fast as collated screws and eight times faster than bulk screws. Enjoy dramatically increased holding power versus nails, while gaining the added benefit of easy adjustment and quick removal. Customers can rely upon Scrail® fasteners to have the bite to hold strong, without callbacks to fix a squeak or a nail pop.

• Use almost anywhere ordinary screws are used

• Saves time and labor costs

• Twice as fast as collated screws, eight times faster than bulk screws

• Easily adjusted, quickly removable

• Dramatically increased holding power vs. nails

• Making projects easier since 1998

Join Us for GeoDeck’s Professional Contractor Decking Seminar

When:    Thursday 8:30am – 9:30am April 7th

Where:  Glenbrook Lumber

5215 Gershwin Ave N

Oakdale MN 55128

651-770-9071

RSVP: carlwegener@glenbrooklumber.com

Why you need to go to this Seminar

The Internet is a game changer! Your customers can find more than 100 brands of alternative decking on-line. Knowing several brands of alternative decking can make the difference in winning more profitable deck bids. Glenbrook makes knowing more deck brands possible by offering the following one hour sessions to professional deck installers. The more sessions you attend the more profitable deck bids you win.

See you there!

April 7th – 8:30am GeoDeck Decking

April 14th – 88:30am AZEK Decking

April 21st – 8:30am TimberTech Decking

Why you want to know about GeoDeck

• In Minessota’s “Freeze-Thaw” weather, GeoDeck’s stability makes it the brand of choice (read more)

• Nothing the Big Box Stores offer matches GeoDeck’s resistants to moisture &   decay (read more) (read more)

• GeoDeck Products are best in class offering 24″ standard & 30″ commercial span performace (read more)

New the GeoDeck Intergra Rail

Need to Win Those Tough Pricing Deck Bids?

We now offer composite deck boards under $1.99 per LF. TopGrain is a full width, full height deck board with a 10 year warranty. Call us for details: 651-770-9071

Spring Contractor & DIY Special – Call us for details on how you can qualify to receive a free LED Deck Light Kit with purchase of a $4,000 deck system. 651-770-9071

Effects of Freeze-Thaw Cycling On The Stiffness of Various Composite Decking Products

Shane O’Neill

Compositology LLC

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to observe how the flexural stiffness of seventeen commercially available composite decking products changes when exposed to water immersion and freeze-thaw cycling. This work has shown that there is a substantial variability in freeze-thaw performance between different manufacturers. Overall, there were eight products from seven companies which had a 20% or greater reduction in stiffness after 15 freeze-thaw cycles. However, GeoDeck Traditional performed very well, and consistently maintained the highest retained stiffness values of the groups examined. CorrectDeck CX and UltraDeck Fusion also had minimal reduction in stiffness, possibly due to the co-extruded casing covering the material.

Background

The use of composite decking has been increasing in the United States over the last decade, yet the product technology is in a relative infancy when compared to many other building materials. Currently, there are many commercial composite decking products available for purchase. However, the durability of these products when exposed to the environment is not always understood. In regards to the impact of freeze-thaw on the long-term durability of WPCs, the International Code Council Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) simply requires that specimens be submerged in water for 24 hours, frozen for 24 hours, and then thawed for 24 hours. This is repeated two more times, and is considered to encompass the long-term impact of freeze-thaw expose on WPCs. The limited duration of this testing was most likely chosen for cost, rather than truly understanding the impact of freeze-thaw exposure. This project was conducted to bring clarity to the freeze-thaw performance of many different brands of composite decking.

Methods and Materials

Table 1 lists the composite products evaluated during the experimentation. The products were purchased anonymously at various retail outlets to minimize any potential bias. Test specimens were cut to a length of 20 inches, and conditioned at ambient conditions (@ 70°F) for 24 hours to stabilize the temperature.

Throughout the study, the same mechanical testing technique was used to measure the material flexural bending stiffness using Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE). The testing configuration was a 3-point bending (shown in Figure 1), with a 16 inch span. The crosshead speed used was 0.2 inches/minute. The specimens were loaded to a maximum load of 400 N (90 lbs). This ensured that the specimens remained in the elastic region and experienced no detrimental effects due to loading. Specimens were loaded seven times at each test, in order to calculate an average value. In all testing, the first test measurement was not used for calculations due to settling effects.

Figure 1: Three-Point Bending Configuration

The individual specimens were exposed to the following conditions:

- Baseline stiffness measurements were collected at ambient (@ 70°F) temperature.

- After testing, specimens were submerged in ambient temperature water for 2 weeks.

- After 2 weeks of immersion, specimens were placed in a 5°F freezer for 24 hours, removed from the freezer, and submerged back into the 70°F water to thaw for 24 hours. This constitutes one “freezethaw cycle”.

- When three freeze-thaw cycles were completed, the stiffness was re-tested, and the specimens returned to the freezer for additional cycling.

- After a total of 15 freeze-thaw cycles were completed, a final stiffness measurement was made to see how much the stiffness decreased due to the additional cycling.

Results and Discussion

Table 2 outlines the compiled changes in the average stiffness due to specimen exposure after three and fifteen freeze-thaw cycles. In the table, the different composite products are sorted based on the stiffest materials first and lowest stiffness last. From this data, the tested product can be categorized as:

- There is a very large range of stiffness losses through the different products tested, from as low as ~ 5% to as high as ~ 33% stiffness lost due to freeze-thaw cycling.

- After 3 freeze-thaw cycles, GeoDeck Traditional, CorrectDeck CX, Trex Transcends, UltraDeck, Fusion, Trex Origins, TAMKO Evergrain, and Azek Deck showed minimal stiffness impact (~ 5% stiffness loss)

- After 15 freeze-thaw cycles, GeoDeck Traditional, CorrectDeck CX, and UltraDeck Fusion showed a minimal stiffness impact (~ 5% stiffness loss)

- After 15 freeze-thaw cycles, Azek Deck, TAMKO Evergrain, TimberTech XLM, Trex Transcends, and Gossen Original showed a moderate impact on stiffness (~ 5-10% stiffness loss).

- After 15 freeze-thaw cycles, Trex Origins, UFPI Latitudes, TimberTech TwinFinish, Fiberon Tropics, Kodiak Composite Decking, Elk CrossTimbers, MasterMark RhinoDeck, and UltraDeck (Natural and Rustic) showed a severe impact on stiffness (~ [1]10% stiffness loss).

Table 2: Results of Freeze-Thaw Testing, Ranked Stiffest Highest -Thaw Testing, Ranked Stiffest Highest

In Figure 2, data shown in Table 2 is presented graphically, showing the overall high stiffness and minimal reduction of stiffness with GeoDeck Traditional in comparison to the other tested products.

Conclusions

In this study, eighteen commercially available composite deckboards were tested and compared to GeoDeck Traditional and Tongue & Groove. The testing examined the loss in stiffness and weight change of 20” long specimens exposed to 15 freeze-thaw cycles.

This work has shown that there is a substantial variability in freeze-thaw performance between different manufacturers. Overall, there were eight products from seven companies which had a 20% or greater reduction in stiffness after 15 freeze-thaw cycles. GeoDeck Traditional performed well, and consistently maintained the highest retained stiffness values of the groups examined. CorrectDeck CX and UltraDeck Fusion also had minimal reduction in stiffness, possibly due to the co-extruded casing covering the material. The testing also showed that the ICC-ES testing protocol of 3 freeze-thaw cycles does not properly compensate for long-term freeze-thaw stiffness reduction. In some of the tested products, there was a substantial decrease in stiffness after the application of the 12 additional cycles.