In my attempt not to be "wordy," perhaps I didn't explain myself clearly enough :-) I would be fine with any of the choices, and am more concerned about maintenance. 1)Painting it white --- when rain and dirt splashes in, as it inevitably will do, may look dirty frequently - and ultimately require more routine work. 2)Stain - requires a sealer every couple of years, I think? 3) White stain would give it a more casual look than paint, but might have same problems with dirt after rain, etc. I know that it's ultimately my decision, I'm just looking for experience w/ the different choices. (I found this site after the fact and cringe so often when I see my prior mistakes explained on here and say "if only I'd read this before doing....." so I value the expertise and try to heed it before acting. Thanks for all your help.)

You can't compare the finishes on Ipe between a covered porch and an exposed deck...apples and oranges. Her deck is exposed to UV/rain/maybe snow...yours isn't. If she wasn't happy with Penofin, she just isn't going to be happy. steve

They did not wipe it correctly. The way it works is to flood it on heavy, allow it to absorb into the wood for several minutes, then wipe OFF any excess. This is the universal method for applying any type of penetrating oil, or long oil finish. Long oil is a finish that does not cure to become a hard film. Some penetrating oil finishes have resins added, and they slowly polymerize to become hard. Others are purely long oil, and never really "dry" The right way to apply oil finish to a deck is to go around doing 3 boards at a time. You can reach over 3 boards easily, while still standing on the unfinished part of the deck. Flood it on 3 boards wide, across the whole deck. When you get to the end, go back to where you start. By now, the oil has absorbed into the wood. I usually go over it again with a wet brush, to pull the wet spots onto the dry spots, in case the dry spots want to absorb more finish. Then the next pass, a few minutes later, wipe it dry with a clean rag. Then move on to the next 3 boards; repeat the process. Your contractor did not follow this method, nor did he wipe it off after it had absorbed. When they wipe it off a day later, it will probably have some gummy spots. Those need to be scrubbed away with turpentine, then the whole deck needs to be redone, correctly, with another coat of the wiping oil. The right way takes much more time, but how much time is your contractor going to spend fixing this? I hope he uses this as a learning experience. If this is the normal way they finish decks, insist that you are not satisfied, and make them do another coat the right way. At least give you some money back for additional gallons of product, turpentine, rags, and a few hundred cash for the labor. If all else fails, call woodrich directly. They are a very good company, a small business, and they know their products. They'll tell your contractor what's up. Here is a link that might be useful: woodrich product support

Gorman, off topic here, but do you have any photos of your screened in porch? I also did a tg floor on my screened in porch area, but I have not stained it yet. I already purchased the RAD system and plan to put down Woodzotic, but that is probably not for another month. Let us know how your process goes.