Hi all,
I’m rebuilding a deck at the home we recently purchased, and I was torn between Ipe and Trex for the surface. Then my wife saw “Tough Teak” decking advertised at Lumber Liquidators. She liked the fact that it appeared to be a lighter color than Ipe. I went to the local Lumber Liquidators outlet to take a look. Its heavy and dense, like Ipe, but with a grain that looks somewhat like red oak. And (at least to me) it seems pretty damn cheap at $1.99 per linear foot for 5/4 by 6″ decking. And that’s the problem. Given everything I’ve read about Teak, it sounds too cheap; at roughly $4/sq ft. It makes me think…if it sounds too good to be true…
Do any of you know anything about it?
Replies
I know nothing about it but I do know about Lumber Liquidators...personally I'd stay away.
Ipe around here as of yesterday is $3.24 a LF for 5/4X6.
I've written to Bear Creek Lumber to get prices from them shipped from Washington to here in NY with a big order of cedar I need as well for fencing and railings/ballusters so I'll see how that works out...
I'm doing about 500 sq ft of porch so I've been looking myself.
I'll be going with mahogany at about $1.89 a L.F for 5/4 X 6.
As for me Trex is too artificial looking but has its advantages for a lot of folks.
Good luck
andy...
If Blodgett says, Tipi tipi tipi it must be so!
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There are a bunch of "secondary" woods that come out of the same South & Central American forests as Mahogony, Ipe, etc. and they are a lot cheaper. Typically they go by 3 or 4 different names - just to keep ya guessing - LOL.
My deck is Machiche, aka Caribbean or Brazilian Cherry, Partridgewood, Cabbage Bark. It was ~ $1.20 less a foot than Ipe.
Other secondary decking materials are Cumaru (aka Brazilian Teak, Southern Chestnut), Southern or Royal Merbau (not to be confused with Asian Merbau) and Cambara from Latin America and Meranti from Asia. IIRC, I looked at one of these and it seemed kinda light weight, and I found some references to needing pressure treating. Other references say all 3 can be used as decking - and have extensive history for those kinds of uses in their native lands. All are lower cost than Ipe.
Given all of that, I'd approach LL with caution, find out what species this stuff is (of course, no info on the Web - looks like it is their own brand name for ???) and then research it elsewhere before buying.
I must come to the defence of Lumber Liquidators. I bought about 750 sq ft of Ipe from them twice ( first batch was stolen from job site). Although the price took a jump, $.30 per lin ft, , the quality of the product was excellent. It was delivered on Ipe palates, with cross sticking every 2nd course, no damage to wood at all, and every square inch was useable. I will continue to use LL as a supplier. Of course, thats just my opinion.
I have also used Lumber Liquidators for hardwood flooring, Oak & Cherry & I also would do business with them again.
As Wrudiger pointed out, there are a lot of species coming out of South America, gotta know what your looking at.
There are several flavors of teak, some better then others.
Doug