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Just as putting a hard candy coating around an M&M's chocolate core protects the insides, manufacturers say pouring a cap around a WPC center protects that core from what in the past has led to its demise. "Wood fiber is the root of all problems" in WPCs, says Peter Gallagher, manager of sales development at Polyone, a leading formulator of additives. It's what in the board (that) is susceptible to bleaching from the sun, decay from the wet, and consumption from the mold, while tannins in the wood flour can get out and stain the composite.

Capstock's advocates regularly say that adding this armor coat to the board significantly improves its long-term performance. What they bring up less often is that using capstock could make it possible to slack off a bit on what's insideCthere's no need to put in coloring there, for instance. Whether firms actually are cheapening the insides remains an open question that likely will take years of field testing to determine.

For its part, Trex maintains that the core of its capped decking, Transcend, is exactly the same as its uncapped Accents line. "We don't have the philosphy that you can junk up the core," says Kyle Lancaster, Trex's director of technical services.