Gluing Trex

[phil_o]

Has anyone successfully glued Trex to make wider boards? Trex routs beautifully. It's a great product for outdoor items. However I've tried PVC glue, polyurethane glue, polyurethane reinforced construction adhesive, outdoor wood glue - all have failed. Is there an adhesive that will bond Trex?

[orftm1]

Phil,

In a previous post BTK recommended this website-http://www.bondfill.com/. I checked it out and they have biscuits as well as adhesives. I have never used this system personally yet, but it looks like it might work.

[btk]

I beleive that Trex is HDPE not PVC, so I do not beleive that Bond and Fill will work.

Brian

[larry_r]

I recently "glued" together some ChoiceDek which I believe is very similiar to Trex. I used Goop's Plumbing adhesive. Got it at Home Depot. The Glue joint was about a foot long and seems very strong. Though I would not expect it to handle the weight of a person. I due believe it would be good for a non weight bearing use.

Larry

[phil_o]

Have you tried normal abuse like dropping on the floor from table height? Some of my experiments looked ok until I tried this.

[ryan_slaback]

I figured the best answer might come from them. I emailed this to them just a second ago.

I am looking into the possibility of using Trex as a base for some signs that will be engraved. It appears that it would be a good material for this and it engraves wonderfully. However, I was curious as to if there is a specific type of glue which should be used to glue multiple pieces together. Experiments with different types have not been all that successful up to this point.

Ryan Slaback
Orfordville WI

[ryan_slaback]

I got a response back from Trex.


Thank you for your question to Trex. I would recommend a good wood glue that can also be used on plastic, like Gorilla glue.

Again, thank you for contacting Trex. Please let me know if you need any further assistance.

Pat McCarthy
Trex Customer Service


However, I also found some suggestions on the web and they recommended using an epoxy. The guy that used an epoxy actually glue it down to use as a deck on his boat. I would say that would have to be weatherproof

[joe]

Ryan and All,

I bleieve our shop has tried most glues on the market with little success. Perhaps the best of the lot was Gorilla glue. A few months back, I edge laminated a couple of 6"X1.5"X4'pieces with Gorilla glue. At first it seemed pretty good but it failed with a little pressure.

Sometimes a manufacturer does their homework on paint and adhesive. This isn't allways the case. I remember the recommendations from Extira for paint and primer. Their last post to me, after my examples of failure, assured me that they were not glue or panit manufacturers and had not done any tests.

I love thier product though. We use it all the time.

Just my findings,

Joe
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)

[larry_r]

Phil,
I did what you asked and dropped the sample that I glued together 3 times from waist high. No problem. I would suggest you try your own tests with the various ideas suggested above and see what works best for your application.

Larry

[brian_harnett]

I run a finger joint down the length of the trex boards and use a polurathane glue like gorilla.
I have also used epoxy the key for me was the finger joint, both types of glue failed the drop test when just butt jointed.

[joe]

Brian,

I haven't found a chemical that disolves or softens these composit boards. When and if that will happens, a glue product containing these materials should work. No luck to date. However we did paint a couple of decorative posts two years ago, and the paint seems to be holding up fine.

I seem to remember how heavy those posts were. We made them 12"square and five feet high. I designed them to cover a steel pipe. Lifting and threading them over that pipe was cruel to the back. Heavy, Heavy. Sure look good though. They were all screw together, no glue

For paint, we primed with Kills and top coated with latex. I'll check this out again to see how it's doing. Looks good from the road.


6140

Joe
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)