ChipSB

On the egress test I would like to see a drain at the bottom of the well and a cover over the opening. Having a window that opens would be useful too. :-)

I went with the ipe option in 2004, as I too preferred the look of real wood, and ipe looks awesome when its new. Five years later and another cleaning and staining task on the to-do list, leaves me wanting to pull up my ipe and replace it with the latest syn. I've just grown weary of the maintenance of real wood and just have better things to do than re-stain the deck again. I just don't like the weathered look of ipe, the rich brown is my preference but I'm just getting too old for the hassle and am too cheap to pay someone to do it for me. New deck plans will re-purpose my ipe and install the no maintenance option. I just have to find a product I'm happy with first and there are a lot out there now.