“…Nevertheless, in terms of durability and maintenance, studies have shown that plastic lumber provides a better performance than wood lumber (WINANDY;STARK;CLEMONS, 2004;GARCÍA et al, 2009;AZWA et al, 2013;NDIAYE;GUEYE;DIOP, 2013;WEI et al, 2013) and are also economically advantageous in the long term, as their maintenance can be performed less regularly and using simple products, such as soap and water. Plastic-based products also absorb less water (STARK, 2005;CHEVALI;DEAN;JANOWSKI, 2010;KORDKHEILI, 2011;BENTHIEN;THOEMEN, 2012;LEU et al, 2012;AZWA et al, 2013;CHAVOOSHI et al, 2014;YOUSSEF;EL-GENDY;KAMEL, 2015), which contributes to a longer useful life, as effects such as swelling (KLYOSOV, 2007), component buckling (KLYOSOV, 2007), decrease in mechanical strength (STARK, 2006;STRÖMBERG;KARLSSON, 2009;MORRELL et al, 2010;KORDKHEILI, 2011) and biological degradation (STRÖMBERG; KARLSSON, 2009;HEMMATI;GARMABI, 2012;NAUMANN;STEPHAN;NOLL, 2012;AZWA et al, 2013) are minimized. However, can they really substitute wood lumber products?…”