Hey guys,
My deck is 10 years old, probably redwood or pressure treated wood. Anyway, Colorado UV rays and constant sunshine have really done a number on it. Combine this with low humidity and the wood is really dry and brittle.

Worse yet, we've never sealed it. It's in bad shape aesthetically. But most of the wood is still structurally sound.
Now we had a hail storm, and some of the wood got splintered from the impacts. The insurance wants to pay to pressure wash the wood and seal it- but that won't solve all the problems, esp since about 10% of the decking boards are starting to rot and pull up, all the screws look rusted.

I've thought about using Trex, I like that you don't need to stain or seal it and it lasts a long time.

Options:
a) Replace all the horizontal wood (the 'floor' and steps) with Trex, it's $18 / piece (2x6x8'). Would cost about $400 if I did the deck and the stairs. Insurance wouldn't cover it.
b) replace all the horizontal wood with redwood, it's $12/piece. Would cost $280. Insurance... might cover it? But might not
c) Just get the current wood cleaned and sealed, and only replace the "bad" pieces with new redwood, then stain to match later on.  This would be the cheapest option.

does it have to be red wood? you can put yellow wood down, give it a year and stain it what ever color you want...and
I kind of doubt insurance will cover this damage, but, I've bee wrong before..

I've had a similar issue and just took out all the old surface wood, double checked all the uprights were healthy, replaced what wasn't and did what I stated above..

$12 to $18 a section? not with my pocket book even when I was workin for a living..

I'll say C as my answer. However if you entertain guests often and want it to look good for obvious reasons i'll take B. I grew up around people who treated wood like gold. They wouldn't remove the wood unless it was damaged beyond repair. Hell maybe you could distress all the wood too make it have that old barn wood effect. It could possibly hide all the knew blemishes from the hail. Hope you get it sorted.

pics could help

Yeah sorry. I'm at work and so I don't have pics right now. But I can add some later.

It's not a big deck, maybe 8x8 or 8x10 + a landing for the silly 12' long stairs going down, we have a walkout basement and it's off the main floor.
It was on the house when we bought it. Structurally sound, but not really a "nice" deck. Builder's grade.

Eat the cost for Trex. No maintenance. Ever. Do the railing tops too in Trex.
Seal the wood under it to shed water with thomsons water seal.

If you lay Trex deck boards, seal the joists and support structure, and cover the tops of the joists with aluminum flashing tape to keep water from sitting on top.

Not trying to be a smart ass but if you don't know the diff between redwood and P/T you have a bit of a climb on the learning curve of homeownership.

You can't lay Trex over a deck frame built for redwood. Trex is not built to span the same distance between joists as wood.

Repair, clean, restrain is the easiest path given what you described.

If your deductible is low enough that you would file a claim for $280 or even $400, you are paying for too much insurance.

I'd be shocked if insurance covered this, but yea, if the deductible is that low the insurance is too high. I didn't think anyone wrote a policy with a deductible that low anymore.