Composite Heat Test Results
Every decking brochure talks about heat. We wanted our own numbers, on our own samples, in St. Louis weather — so we set the boards out in the sun and went down the line with a thermometer.
- 90° air temperature
- Direct sun, 2–3 hours
- 33 colors measured
- Filmed start to finish
Watch the whole thing
Nothing is edited out. Every board we measured is in one of these two clips, in the order we measured it.
What every board read
Hottest at the top. Bars marked in red crossed 145°.
Composite
Reserve and Terrain collections · 122° to 146°
| Dark Roast | 146° | |
|---|---|---|
| Dark Cocoa | 144° | |
| Ashwood | 143° | |
| Antique Leather | 143° | |
| Driftwood | 142° | |
| Brown Oak | 140° | |
| Dark Oak | 138° | |
| Tigerwood | 137° | |
| Pecan | 137° | |
| Reclaimed Chestnut | 136° | |
| Espresso | 136° | |
| Mocha | 133° | |
| Coconut Husk | 133° | |
| Sea Salt Gray | 130° | |
| Silver Maple | 129° | |
| Natural White Oak | 129° | |
| Weathered Oak | 128° | |
| Whitewash Cedar | 122° |
Advanced PVC
15 colors · 133° to 154°
| American Walnut | 154° | |
|---|---|---|
| Mahogany | 154° | |
| Dark Hickory | 153° | |
| English Walnut | 152° | |
| Castle Gate | 151° | |
| Kona | 147° | |
| Weathered Teak | 146° | |
| Cypress | 145° | |
| Timber Grey | 143° | |
| Toasted Wheat | 138° | |
| French White Oak | 138° | |
| Brownstone | 138° | |
| Coastline | 137° | |
| Slate Gray | 137° | |
| Boardwalk | 133° |
What we take from it
Color did more than product line
Light boards beat dark boards every time, in both materials. Whitewash Cedar came in at 122°. American Walnut and Mahogany both hit 154°. That is a 32° gap on the same afternoon, on the same patch of grass, and it came down almost entirely to how dark the board is.
Our composite ran cooler than our PVC
We did not expect that, and we are publishing it anyway. Sorted by shade it holds up on both ends: our dark composites averaged around 139° against roughly 150° for the dark PVC, and our light composites around 128° against roughly 137° for the light PVC. Same direction both times.
Nothing we tested was cool
The coolest board in the whole test still read 122°. If you are picking decking because you want to stand on it barefoot in July, no product on this page solves that on its own. Shade solves it. A pergola, an awning, an umbrella, or a west-facing wall solves it. Color choice buys you real degrees, and it is worth spending, but it is not a substitute for shade.
What we did not measure
TimberTech says Advanced PVC reflects more sunlight, retains less heat and cools down quicker than composite. We measured how hot each board got at its peak, not how long it held that heat. Those are two different questions, and the cool-down test is next.
What we tell customers. If barefoot comfort matters to you, pick a lighter color and plan for shade. If you have your heart set on a dark board, that is a fine choice — go in knowing it will be hot in direct sun, and think about where the kids and the dog will actually be walking.
Pick your color with the numbers in front of you
Our deck pricing tool lets you put a real deck together — size, decking, railing, steps — and see the range before you ever talk to us. If heat is what you are weighing, the temperatures above line up with the colors in the tool.
