I’m building two decks for our Toronto home and had a few questions while going through my planning:
-The first deck which is attached to the house is 15′ x 16′ (at grade), full sun.
-The second deck is a 20′ x 16′ structure that will be at grade on two sides and extend over a declining grade with a pergola over 60% of the space and walls on 2 sides (1×3 horizontal slats). Two large norway maples cover this deck completely (full shade).
– I would like to keep the rich brown hue of Ipe floor boards for the life of the deck and plan to treat with Penefin with the suggested schedule.
My questions:
– How will the Ipe decking do under the full shade? Deck will have good ventilation. Is Penefin the right product for full shade?
– Is it too late in the season to properly treat the Ipe (Penefin on all sides before install, second top coat 1 – 3 months later)? I’m in Toronto and fall weather is coming!
Replies appreciated and feel free to pass on any information on how you would do your deck (not production job, I’ve got family labour :).
Replies
Use the Penofin formula for tropical erotic wood.
It'll do fione in the shade.
The wood ( any wood) will still age differently in shade than in full sun, but there is another component here. Under the tree you are also more likely to have pollen settle that feeds the algae or whatever else wants to grow there and look green.
Like as not, for the freash colour you want, you wil be using a deck wash peroxide ( armoural has one. Flood has one, probably many others available at different places.) and re-applying the Penofin every two years
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Thanks for the reply. Hadn't thought about the pressure wash due to pollen and sap but that makes sense. Had planned to do it every 2 years after the initial applications of install, 1-3 month, and 1 year.Van G
Note that he said "deck wash" NOT "pressure wash". You don't wanna pressure wash a deck. It forces too much water into the wood, causing more problems than it solves. Gently scrubbing with a deck wash product & a brush works best.
FWIW, natural-aged ipe isn't all that bad looking. True, it's not the chocolate brown mahogany color of new, but it might grow on ya -- especiall after a couple of times washing & re-staining the deck. ;-) Do keep it clean, though -- especially the pine needles that will collect between the cracks -- they'll promote rot of the joists, if not the decking.Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.
When can you come down and show me some of that "gently scrubbing" stuff? I've got some decks that I've pressure washed that I can't get clean! Brute force isn't enough to get the mold off of decks down here.
use the deck wash solutions and all you have to do is stir some with the scrub brush to make it foam. The stuff does all the work for you
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I wish. Even though I was skeptical I tried Deck Wash. Might as well been green water for all the good it did. Used 2 gallons on a 200 square foot dock, didn't even take the mold off. Just for the record I've cleaned several hundred thousand square feet of wood, paver and concrete decks and patios.
You gotta move to Pittsburgh which, since Global Warming struck, is the world's capital of good weather! None of that Florida moldy steam oven carp. ;-)Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.
<<You gotta move to Pittsburgh which, since Global Warming struck, is the world's capital of good weather! None of that Florida moldy steam oven carp. ;-)>>Huh? You're joking right?Have you forgotten the annual "dark ages" which begins every November??Nobody ever moved here for the weather. I thought they all moved here for our great baseball team!
Confused since there are both positive and negative opinions as to Ipe (sealed with Penefin) will maintain it's brown hue.Grey aging of an untreated Ipe deck is not what I'm after for this project.-> Will Ipe, sealed and cleaned as orginally discussed, maintain it's rich brown hue?Van G
Tomorrow, I am going to a job I did in '04. I will shoot some photos of the IPE`decks. I think they only got the original coat of penofin in '05 and none since.IIRC, you will be impressed.This spring I did penofin on a deck that had been built in '06 I think, and had never been oiled.
I used deck wash on it, which brought it to looking perfectly new, then gave it the penofin. End of summer now and it still looks great.
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Piffin, would greatly appreciate any pictures you could pass along.Van G
Ok, here is from the one we finished in '04. It got one coat of penofin that year before they moved in in May, nothing since.You can see that it has greyed, but still shows some of the brown hue, and that is stronger when it rains. I have no doubt that with a deck wash and another coat, this will look brand new because I've done similar with other Ipe`With added oil every couple years, it will gradually get darker too.
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Yeah, dark, but it hardly ever really snows anymore.
Bettern' a hurricane every other week. By a LONG stretch! ;-)
And the only folks who come here for the baseball team are all the hords of bottom-of-the-barrel "prospects" they keep replacing the good players with. ;-(Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.
My youngest just started law school in Wilmington, Delaware. He's been telling me that the temps don't bode well for a warm winter.
You have no idea. It was 90 today and the humidity is still about 90 percent. My shirt gets soaked riding my mower. The only way I know I'm in the pool is because it's a little cooler.
erotic wood?copper p0rn
Who better to catch that than the site copper p0rn magnate?;)
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Supplier keeps on telling me how sexy Ipe is, I guess the word is spreading.To be honest, I'm only putting this much effort into the deck in hopes of a little erotic on the wood.CheersVan G
I wish I could be more positive, but, nothing, nothing, will keep a deck looking new in this climate, short of sanding and refinishing evey year .. better to use a less erotic woody, cedar, and save the coin for another project ..
I see that you're in snow country and so am I. I had a friend finish Ipe with penofin on a deck that led to the front door and it was a hazardous skating ring all winter.
Mark
Alright, I'm officially nervous about doing our decks in Ipe! Even if it is an erotic wood.I'm definitely not up for sanding and staining every year to maintain the brown hue. I was comfortable with sealing every year for the first couple years but eventually I wanted to be confident that the work was done.The only composite decking that intrigued me was the TimberTech XLM Desert Bronze (hadn't gotten trade price quotes yet but it was even or above with Ipe at retail cost). At the end of the day it's still plastic under my foot and I put a value on natural materials.If I were to consider cedar board (or another wood) how does the care differ to maintain a brown hue?I should note, the pergola, horizontal slat walls, and trellis will be done in cedar (knotty).CheersVan G
Just take a trip down to the Toronto waterfront on Queens Quay. The entire boardwalk along the water is ipe. I can assure you they do not refinish this walkway. You can then decide how you feel about the natural aging of the wood. Keep in mind that the boardwalk receives a beating from walking traffic that your deck will never need to endure.... regardless of how erotic things get.
I said every other year, not every year.Ipe will keep true to color with the Penofin better than most any wood I know of. If you want consistent colour with no work, go plastic.
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Piffin, I wonder if the more drastic seasons in Toronto (winter) calls for the sanding and sealing every year that some others have posted.If it is a matter of simply keeping clean, and then a routine of wash and seal every 2 years then Ipe is absolutley worth it to me.Any others have experience with Ipe in northern climate with a true winter?Van G
I am in a true winter climate here.Island off coast of Maine.But it is sunshine - UV rays - that effect the wood surface colour negatively, not the winter weather. The wood has natural oils and is very dense so by time you have it oiled, water penetration is not the problem.
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The only Ipe deck I've done received no finish.
The house sold about a year later, and I haven't been back in the 10 years since.
But I often wonder how it's holding up. Maybe I'll drive by some day and knock on the door. If I do, I'll give a full report.
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As far as the plastics go, has anyone seen one that don't try to look like wood? I think fake wood grain is one of the tackiest things ever.
If I could get something like a 3/16"-1/4"grid, I'd consider the stuff.
AitchKay