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I built my deck using Ipe. Built it in two stages – first was 140 sf installed 6 years ago, and second was 320 sf installed last year. I live in MI so it sees sun, rain, and snow. Deck boards are 1×4’s, and they cost $1.20 lf in 1998. Price hasn’t varied much over the years. Other dimensions I used cost proportionately (2×4 was $2.40 lf, etc.) I used 1×4, 2×4, and 2×6 for the deck and rails. Spindles were $4.45 each, but these were special machining to get an octogon shape. Normal 2×2 spindle wsa about $3.10. Plan on predrilling everything. Use only stainless fasteners. It is a very dense wood, but I don’t think it did any significant damage to carbide router bits or blades. Since it’s wood, not every board was dead straight, but I was able to use a pipe clamp to get micrometer accuracy on straightness and separation.
Finish has held up extremely well. I’ve used Penofin, two coats every year or two. Not hard to put down so I accept it as part of my yearly maintenance.
It does look like finished furniture, and really stands out from the average deck, based on comments from my neighbor who’s a GC of custom high end (over $500,000) homes.
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I built my deck using Ipe. Built it in two stages - first was 140 sf installed 6 years ago, and second was 320 sf installed last year. I live in MI so it sees sun, rain, and snow. Deck boards are 1x4's, and they cost $1.20 lf in 1998. Price hasn't varied much over the years. Other dimensions I used cost proportionately (2x4 was $2.40 lf, etc.) I used 1x4, 2x4, and 2x6 for the deck and rails. Spindles were $4.45 each, but these were special machining to get an octogon shape. Normal 2x2 spindle wsa about $3.10. Plan on predrilling everything. Use only stainless fasteners. It is a very dense wood, but I don't think it did any significant damage to carbide router bits or blades. Since it's wood, not every board was dead straight, but I was able to use a pipe clamp to get micrometer accuracy on straightness and separation.
Finish has held up extremely well. I've used Penofin, two coats every year or two. Not hard to put down so I accept it as part of my yearly maintenance.
It does look like finished furniture, and really stands out from the average deck, based on comments from my neighbor who's a GC of custom high end (over $500,000) homes.
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Interesting stuff. Doesn't float, doesn't burn, wicked strong (1x OK for 24" oc!)... $6/sf here in VA. Current issue of one of those woodworking magazines has an ipe deck as interpreted by a cabinetmaker (ie, don't do anything withput a jig...).
*OK, I give up. What's ipe?
*Matt - the brochure I picked up at my hardwood dealer says "Ipe' is an exotic hardwood that is naturally resistant to rot and decay, is 8 times harder than California Redwood, and is guarenteed for 20 years without preservative treatment."I have run across articles wherein guys refer to it, but have never seen it myself. Sounds pretty good though, huh? - yb
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Young Bob- Last summer I built a custom sunspace/greenhouse onto my home...I needed a wood that was structurally strong( taking the roof load down two floors), weather resistant(I didn't want to use SYP because of the massive shrinkage factor plus theadded thickness requirements of covering with a finish type wood), and finally, good looking. So I bisquitted together three- sided posts out of 2x6 ipe with epoxy, those were the primary load-bearing posts, then I used 1x4 ipe for fill-in and window stops. I, too, finished by waxing all end cuts and pennofin'ing, though I hear that Messmers is the reccommmended finish juice. Hope that helps, good luck
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I have a sample piece from the lumberyard -- interesting stuff. Just waiting for someone -else- to buy some for me to play with...
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Ipe is Brazilian walnut. A lot different from American black walnut. Probably something that anyone working with it for a living wouldn't want to touch because of the extra labor, but for those working for free, it produces a deck that's equivalent to the furniture in the house.
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I'm getting ready to install 400 s.f. of Ipe' on my deck, but I can't decide on what width of board to use. For those of you who have put it down in the past, is cupping a problem with wider boards? I want to use 6" wide boards, but one person I know swears by 4". Any opinions?
*One other question I keep forgetting to ask: Spacing for Ipe', both butt end and between boards. How much shrinkage is there? Should I just put the boards next to each other without any spacing and let shrinkage take over, or should I put a sliver of space in?
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Has anyone used it? What kind of climate? How long ago? How is it to work with? What's it cost? - yb