I'm trying to install them now. So they don't fit tight. If I'm doing it right, they can still slide, correct? And the flat wide part goes on the bottom,correct? The instructions they sent are black & white and so blurry I can't make out the images.

If I understand you correctly, the pointed portion of the insert faces the ground with the edges of the wider flat portion fitting into the grooves on the boards. The gap between the boards, where the insert goes, varies on my deck. That should not be the case of the quality of work/workers on my deck also varied. Some of the inserts on my deck are in tight and won’t slip; others are not so tight

I really can't make out the pics in the instructions they sent but that's what they kinda look like. Maybe I'm not installing them correctly. I can't tell.

Here's a pic from their doc. Maybe you are right. I'm going to try again.

Yep I had them upside down. Put the pointed end in first and make sure it's flat. Then use a putty knife or something similar to very gently push in so the wider sides of the flat part sort of fold up and it's not visible. Poor instruction from Trex!

Here's a clear pic from the Trex install guide. I have to back and push them in.

I sure hope this is helping those of you with this problem. It is sooooo aggrevating. Here is more info I got from Trex regarding installation of these gaskets:

Decking can be placed at a minimum of 3/16" apart width to width, and hidden fasteners are automatically going to gap them 1/4". With this the gaskets are not going to necessarily be snug. The biggest thing that they are going is breaking up the wind flow between the boards, so they do not need to be snug in order to do this. Often the gaskets will be a little loose.

and where they are a little loose huge gusts of wind can and will move them periodic inspection is a must

Has anyone considered suing the manufacturers of the decking material? The issue seems to be widespread but the manufacturers don’t want to admit there is an issue hence why they make you sign a nondisclosure. A class action lawsuit wouls get their attention.

The non-disclosure pretty much just says you can't reuse the material - like if you had to replace the decking. I didn't see anything in there about this issue. However, I'm sure that wouldn't stand up in court. I was going to consider suing the builder of my house, but a lawyer is a $4000 retainer, then $400 an hour. They are probably counting on nobody hasving that extra money for a lawyer. Sure if you win you recoup the $$ but suing someone is sooooooo stressful. There's no guarantee you'll win. BBB and social media can be more powerful and damaging to company too.

If I recall correctly, the paperwork from Trex required us to give up the right to sue in order to get the gaskets sent to us.

Any document can be challenged in court. Especially if the issue is known and the fix provided didn't work. Would be just a matter of how much money you want to put out up front for a lawyer. I did install the gaskets and so far so good.

It would have to be a class action lawsuit, since it isn’t just Trex that has the problem. We had to sign the non-disclosure agreement in order to get the gaskets and then couldn’t use the gaskets on half the deck. Finding an attorney to take this on, I think will be next to impossible.

@Vicki Vincent-Yoskowitz - I would be interested in hearing why you couldn't use the gaskets on half the deck. They are a horrible, super time-consuming pain-in-the-butt to install, but there shouldn't be part of the deck... where needed... that they can't be installed. Anyway, your experience could help someone else. Thanks.

Can you provide some pictures of what the gaskets look like? We’ve been having this same howling sound and I kept thinking it was our screen so every time the wind blows I’ve been going out and trying to put pressure on the screen to see if I can make the noise stop but it doesn’t. I’m honestly shocked that the noise is coming from the deck boards. I would love to see what type of product they are suggesting to fix the issue, some pictures or a link to the product would be fantastic. Thanks

We threw them away. almost impossible to install between the slats. We tacked the landscaping clothe under the deck and it took care of most of the problem.

We just enclosed our old deck with a Fourseason sunroom, and then added a new deck to the west of it. We are having the same issue!. And I don’t know if it’s coming from the deck or the new addition which is completely open underneath as well. I do see small gaps in our deck, which is a Trex deck. So I’m not sure how to fix this.

If your new deck is Trex with hidden fasteners, and you never experienced the "fog horn" before your renovation & addition, then it's a pretty good bet its coming from your new deck.

Actually we could hear it after we enclosed our old deck and before we put on the new. So I think it is the addition which also has a fireplace in it. Possibly the vent for the fireplace?

We have the same issue with a new construction deck here in Kansas. Has anyone tried an under deck ceiling? I am with all of you on the annoying, sleep disrupting problem. Does anyone have other suggestions?

We had a problem inserting the Trex fix between the slats so we tacked landscaping cloth under the deck. It seems to be working well.

Trex is aware of this issue. The higher off the ground the deck is, the worse the noise. The rubber gaskets they send do work. Solved this issue with my deck. They are quite easy to put in but a little time consuming. I posted pics on this sometime ago. They do not have to fit snuggly. Just push them into the groove flat side up. I have not had any issue with them moving either. I’ll post a new poc in the morning.

With how much you pay for this deck why do you have to sign a non disclosure agreement to get the fix for the deck, which doesn’t necessarily work. Will never deal with this company again and is a fraudulent company

Heres a pic of how they go in. I used a simple putty knife to gently push them in. Yes its time consuming and Trex surely should own up to a poor design and fix it

@Joseph Taylor - We are looking to get an under-deck drain system installed this summer. Most of our howling noise problem has already been taken care of with some gaskets (extremely hard to install) but also a lot of deck furnishings which cut down on the wind coming up through the decking gaps. I will post how that under-deck drain system works out for us when the project is complete.

@Vicki Vincent-Yoskowitz - The agreements they make you sign is because the gaskets are an extremely difficult & labor-intensive fix and Trex doesn't want to deal with more complaints about that aspect. Having a professional do the gasket installs might cost more than the deck itself... and that's if you can find someone willing to do it.

This noise is driving us INSANE!

We built a deck -7’ high- using Menards UltraDeck composite last Fall and whenever the wind is out of the south, it sounds like a howling whale! itit’s driving us CRAZY, and I’m sure our neighbors as well!

my husband contacted Menards to ask about this problem & if there’s a solution…he was told nobody has ever had this problem before and that he’s never heard of this problem. THERE IS NO WAYYY we’re the only ones this is happening to!

We’ve read all about, what sounds EXACTLY the same as the howling happening with the TREX brand! We’ve seen the videos. Exactly the same noise. My husband said he’s ready to take it down and build a wood deck.

Why won’t these companies stand behind thei product. AND when something’s broke, FIX IT!!

Before you decide to tear it down and start over, try the landscraping cloth underneath. Our deck is about 7-8 feet off the ground. It has helped dramatically/.

Thank you! Yeah, we’re definitely going to try everything we possibly can, because the threat of tearing it down was only made out of frustration. It took us too long to build it exactly how we wanted it! It just blows my mind that nobody at MENARDS ORRRR ULTRADECK have ever heard of this happening. Yeah, I call foul on that!! There’s NO WAY we’re the only ones!!! We did some research and the look of the TREX boards are VERY simular to the UltraDeck boards, so that makes sense they’d have the same issues.

It was windy yesterday & we were trying to lighten the mood by mimicking the noise whenever we heard it….let’s just say it was very noisy in our house yesterday!! LOL!

Suz Gee We had the same problem. I temporarily fixed our problem by covering the center of the deck with a tarp weighted down with sand bags. It stopped the noise. Our local deck supplier knew of the issues and recommended putting in an under deck ceiling, another $4000. We are going to try an outside rug and heavy deck furniture first. Good luck

We did the lanscaping cloth underneath so it will drain, but I also put a nice indoor/outdoor area rug in the middle of the deck and we screwed in down with stainless steel screws. No noise for almost two winters now.

Can anyone share the specs for the landscape cloth used to solve the howl. I assume the heaviest weight 5.8 oz to mitigate the wind?

I don‘t know the weight but my husband says you do not need the heaviest cloth.

We had a 6 x 12 ft wall with door built at the large opening of deck. It stopped 90% of the noise. If winds are 35+ mph gusts, we get noise but much lower sounds, not lasting as long and less frequent. The rest of the deck is open with boards horizontal covering most opening but allowing airflow.

Hi! This is Julia Dean who commented earlier on installing the landscape fabric to stop the noise. This worked for a while, but we got a really bad storm with very high winds and it tore down some of our fabric underneath. We decided to contact the company and they sent us the rubber gaskets to intall . It worked. We have a very large deck so it took some trial and error. After about 1/4 of the deck we found what works well. We posted a video on youtube with what worked for us. We installed over 2000 gaskets and here is the link to what worked for us. https://youtu.be/sGXSqvpUGCQ

2,000 gaskets? God bless you! I gave up after about 200. The good news is that different things that now live on our deck have helped to block the wind and reduce the noise to a tolerable level. I hope to install more gaskets someday for even more noise reduction, but for now I'm just enjoying the relative quiet. What a crazy problem!

Is the decking from Menards, Trex decking if so see my posts above regarding the gaskets They totally work Trex knows about the issue It is totally i sane that they dont fix this but thw gaskets work

Can anyone provide the part number for the gaskets? We have a deck constructed of similar material to Trex, and we have a huge howling problem.

@Angela Rust - I've attached a photo of the label on the bag. Probably not much help.

@John Walker Thank you so much!!!!

We have had the same problem with our composite deck A large outdoor rug and deck furniture solve our issues

Exactly the same noise is now coming from our neighbor's house: howling, loud, and disturbing throughout the windy nights.

In addition to the composite deck material, they installed wired cable railing. Does anyone know whether that contributes to the noise?

Does anyone have an update to this highly annoying issue?

Thank you!

I solved by having landscape cloth tacked underneath deck to prevent wind from entering between boards. Very inexpensive solution.

The cable railing doesn’t contribute to the howling in our case. Our deck howled before we installed the cable railing. We temporarily tacked sheets of plastic underneath the deck and the howling stopped.

Do we know if this a specific issue with the way it is installed or a general issue with the product? Is there anything that can be done during installation to prevent it? I had planned on using it for our back porch (surface will be about 15-18 inches off the ground) but we get strong nor’easter and southern wind storms and will be highly exposed.

@Lindsay Lagreid - The noise is related to the shape of the sides of the boards and the board spacing needed to use the hold-down clips. I suppose you could nail down the boards with no gaps, but that would leave you with a deck drainage problem. There might be a way to install the gaskets easier during the initial board installation process (rather than afterwards), but that would take some serious installer creativity and cooperation from Trex to get the gaskets in-hand before experiencing the problem. Best solution: First install an under-deck drainage system to block most of the air flow up through the decking.

I am sure that most of you paid a good price $$$$$ for this wonderful TimberTech deck, I have had mine installed for 16 months and the howling started as soon as the contractor finished the install. The manufacturer will not admit that it is a product/installation problem and will work with you only if you sign a release form and then they will not guarantee that it will stop the howling. The contractor wants another $10K to do the work to install the possible fix. The old wood deck never howled and when I confronted the manufacturer, they basically told me that it was my fault that I lived in the country where the winds blow all the time. The only time we get any relief from the howling is if it snows and then the layer of snow seals off the problem of the gaps between the boards. Has there been any talk of a class action suit against the Manufacturer? If there is, please let me know. Thanks

@HU-226668637 - The problem is that multiple manufacturers make their "no nail" (hidden fastener) composite decking in the shape that causes the howling noise. I think it would be very costly to go after them all.

For anyone who finds this thread, here’s a video of my husband installing the solution. Our deck hasn’t sung to us since he installed it 6 months ago. Link to the neoprene: https://www.ebay.com/itm/254177097360?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=10LRKy3YQsC&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ADEdIxYOQ82&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pQNQXLmtxHY