Two years ago we entered a new house, with a beautiful ipé-made deck. Now it is greying out, which I would not really mind, but I wondered what it would take to keep that initial marvellous hue intact, with, let us say, moderate maintenance. I live in Massachusetts; the deck has a South-West exposure.
The entire issue came up because a friend who is very knowledgeable about materials (a chemical engineering prof) predicted ruin from the work of ice in the wood fissures if I do not coat it regularly. I tend to trust the multiple postings I have seen in these here Knots which state this is needless for ipé.
(I plan to follow the advice for the non-ipé parts of the structure!)
Thanks,
Puzzled in Worcester.
Replies
Hi TooMuchDust,
IPE is really dense stuff, supposely been on the Atlantic City boardwalk for 25 years with no ill effects..
Seems like there are two camps, let it weather to the silver gray color or oil it to keep the rich dark brown color. With your south-west exposure, the latter will be a challenge.
Most of the oil products such as Penofin, Messmers and Cabots will protect and darken the product considerably, but since IPE is so dense the oils don't really penetrate too far, so re-coating will be necessary to keep the dark color.
Depending on how weathered the product the IPE is oil may return the color, if it doesn't you can sand with 120 and coat with one of the oils. The dust is pretty nasty stuff, so a dust respirator would be required.
Good luck
Edited 8/6/2006 10:18 am ET by BOBABEUI
Dear Too Much,
I have worked with Ipe for 10 or fifteen years now and fully concur with what Boba said. I let my Ipe deck weather to gray and in seven years it has not checked, the ice has no effect (Central CT) and it it pretty much "maintenance free". I have purposely left it untreated to see how it hold up and the answer is that it holds up very well.Best,John
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