I’ve used Ipe` and like it, but in my search for a particular job, the lumbersalesman showed me samples of canberra and merantii.
For this deck, the customer wants a solid surface like the old one which is a T&G FIR. This old has rotted out. I looked at Tendura but it is not suitable for installation where there is not a roof over it. the canberra is easy to get with a 1×4 T&G pattern, and the Merantii probably can be had that way too. The Ipe` is not available in that milling.
So, it is looking like i will need to make a decision between the Canberra and the Merantii.
what I know so far,
Canberra is Brazilian and has a nice tight closed grain.
The Merantii looks pretty good too, but appears to have an open grain that could wick water into it. It appears similar to Phillipine Mahogany and does come from that part of the world.
My concerns – are either of these toxic to work with re dust etc?
Has anybody found other peculiarities about them? if you have used both, which would you choose for a deck over an EPDM on sleepers and exposed to the sky? This will be painted too because what the owners want is a wood painted 1x4T&G deck surface. The rest is up to me. Fir has gone down in quality lately, thus the search.
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Meranti is basically Luaun..IMO too soft for a floor
how's about having a t&g milled on Ipe?
probly cost too much come to think of it..
Last Porch I did was SYP 1x4..it was not as good as I expected..fast growth..a lot of later movement..
VG Doug Fir is still my first choice.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
now that you mention it, the grain does look like a luan surface, but they sell this product specifically for decks. I'm still a bit dubious about it. It will get paint anyway but...
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Go to 37798.1 it's a deck I did last summer using Pedra, a Brazilian Mahogany look-alike. Oily, easy on the tools, nice grain and no knots.
Meranti has two subspecies, if I remember correctly, and one of them is prone to rot.
One of my local referances is http://www.windsorplywood.com. They have an exhaustive list of specialty woods.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
Thanks, I'll check that later, gotta run to diner now.
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I build alot of decks in New England on the coast and the pre-oiled Meranti is a very durable product while easier on the tools than IPE. I have not built a t&g deck in a long time especially painted but my supplier does carry t&g Meranti but I am unsure of paint compatibility.
Why build t&g especially over a rubber roof ? Any decking should be spaced for drainage and water run off to scuppers or drains
Here's to answer why - the eternal question mankind has always asked!
because SHE said so.
The customer's wife is a high bred southern lady who is used to seeing heart pine or fir T&G on covered porches in the ancient architecture of the south. So to her, anything less is anathema.
Add to that an emotional response to the fact that this deck is about 20 to 28 feet above the ground below. Any "holes" in the decking amterial she stands on make it "feel" less secure in the same way that I would feel less secure on a rope bridge where I could see between my toes to the river below, than on a solid roof of a skyscraper where I could not see directly down without making the effort to approach the edge and looking over.
I have used Fir in thesse applications and allowed for drainage and ventilation under while limiting the amount of water that can find its way between the deck and the rubber. My preference is for the spaced square edge stock, but the reason I am looking for the right quality material is to do the best job I can within the parameters given me.
She wants wood, but hubby will go along with a composite if I can find one that looks suitably like wood.
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I used Blue Star Merranti on a deck I built for my house 7 years ago. It has held up very well and when I was buying it they did have it in TG. Soft it is not, a finish nailer wouldn't even send a nail all the way through it. I had to predill all the nail holes for 2200 lineal feet. The only down side I found is that it is fairly high maintenance if you want to keep that deep red color to it. Mine grayed out very quickly.
Mark
SYSOP
[email protected]
Piffin,
Jump over to Knots and ask John Arno. He is the expert on all exotic (and not so exotic) woods.
Wayne
Check out http://www.ipedepot.com/
http://www.ipedepot.com/custom.htm
They will mill ipe to t&G.
Dave
Edited 4/23/2004 10:48 pm ET by David S.
OK, now you have t&g ipe. How to blind nail it? By hand, pre-drilled? Or with a flooring nailer/stapler? It seems that a cleat nailer would split the ipe terribly, due to its extreme hardness and density, and same for a stapler.
My dad had a meranti deck put down ten years ago to replace the SYP on his century-old house. It is painted and under roof with ventilation below. Looks great. I'd go with the meranti if it was a traditional VG fir deck situation. Exposed over EPDM sounds like trouble, though.
Bugle
Dave,
Thanks for the ipedepot url. Very cool.
Bugle
I just talked to a sales rep for tendura today and he says that stuff can be submereged in water with no ill effect. Why not on your roof?
I've talked to the Tendura people too, about this very project. It will handle water and even ice just fine, but there is so much thermal expansion/contraction when exposed directly to the elements that they fear the fasteneers won't hold it down. They will not warrant it for direct exposure. All their literature and the website state that it is for porch decks protected by roofs only.
I ended up ordering 1x4 square stock Canberra, preoiled with penofin. The owner is willing to listen to the wood scientists and lewt me gap it to breathe. The rubber went on yesterday and today. The wood is sceduled for sometime after June 2
Thanks all!
The wood guy said that the Merranti marketed is actually from a family of about five or more species of tree from the Phillipines, all related to philipine mahogany/luan. It can be impossible to tell from one shippment to the next what quality wood you are getting with it.
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