Are there any other things about the boards? Ipe boards should be almost perfect: straight, no cracks or checks, no imperfections, all boards heavy, but not wet to the touch. If the boards vary in weight, like some are much lighter, and if there are bent ones or cracked ones, reject the lumber, it is low quality. I have noticed slight variations in width and thickness at the ends, but nowhere near as much as you describe. This is unacceptable. Either the wood is low quality or the sawmill did a bad job milling it. Did you get it below market price? In CA the 1x6 runs over $3 per lineal foot for good quality stuff.

So Funny Aidan,,,,,I cant even coment on all that. J.

John, do you see this much variation in end dimension? I have noticed like 1/16" diff. in thickness and width right at the end of the board, and that bothers me b/c I'm a little anal. 1/8" difference- I would reject it.

All of th boards are relatively clean and straight from a reputible on-line distributer. What do you think John.
Joe

1/8" difference in thickness is a no no. I've seen it in width, but even that is a problem.

Mark

Joe,

I have already mentioned this problem a few times on this forum. These Ipe boards are milled up in the jungle, so it's not really surprising that they aren't all the same. Typically, the 1x6s that I get are 5 3/8" wide, but they range from 5 1/4" to 5 1/2". I pick out my boards based on quality, grain, and color. If I brought a caliper when I go shopping and only pick out 5 3/8" boards...I'd never get time to work, or enough wood to work with. Fortunately, my urban decks are usually small enough to avoid butt joints, but when they are larger, I bring my portable dewalt table saw. There is no way I would butt a 5 1/2" board to a 5 3/8" board. I rip the wider board down to match the other, and then radius rout the edge.

Another problem is when the board is wider in the middle than on the ends (happens alot). If you set boards like that with with consistent spacing, your deck will develop a belly.

I don't notice a 1/8" difference in thickness within the same load of boards. I have seen it when I buy from different suppliers though. It would be a real pain to have to haul my thickness planer to work, and run 20 footers thru it on site. The planer snipe that you'll get will be worse than the problem.

Your contractor (if you picked a good one) should do what I suggested...size match the butting boards, or rip the larger
one. If he's really good, maybe he will shim the thinner boards by the 1/8" difference. Another option is to rent a floor sand when he's finished, and sand them to the same height. He will have to countersink the screws in advance.

There are contractors that build decks and then there a deck builders that want a great reputation in the area. I advertise high end work, so that's what I try to achieve.

steve

The small differances we are talking about dont just happen with ipe,any kind of lumber from any lumber yard is going to have a mix of them including the black wallnut straight lined planed and sanded material I have been working with. I was geting a little grin because Carpenters have been working with this forever its deffentley not new.

I have never seen ipe 1/8'' thicker than the rest that seems a little much but there are always ways to work with even that. Don from the Amozon has posted pictures showing ipe logs being truned into the lumber we finally get, the headrig saws in fact all the equpt is from the 50s but they turn out the same quality a person will get buying 1x or 2x lumber from the box stores or any place else in the US John

Thanks for the comeback guys...contractor says the 8 footers seem a bit greener than the 20's when cutting and drilling. He anticipates that some shrinkage in the "younger" wood will minimize the discrepency. Is this wishful thinking?

The thicker boards may be really wet. I doubt they'll shrink a whole 1/8" Got a moisture meter?

If you have to do planing, resawing, and then extensive floor sanding as part of the installation, does the extra labor cost justify the $$ saved on material? Time is money.

Try measuring the moisture content first.

If your layout permits, use all the thin boards first, then put all the thicker ones together, so there is just one lip that has to be taken care of.

Yes...wishful thinking, and being suckered by a lazy contractor. You are lucky that the 8 footers are larger. Piece of cake to rip to size. Now, if he had to rip the 20's...that would be tough.

Let's say he is right, what is the chance that he set them right so that they shrink to where you want them? Also, the 20 footers will shrink too...take my word on that.

You hired a hack contractor, and he'll tell you what you want to hear if it means taking the easy way out. Don't come back here in 6 months asking us what you can do to fix his lousy work.

steve

The scrap Ipe from the rip cuts can be used for shim material. A little glue will make sure it stays on the joist.

JohnHmmmmm I dont see the Joezo's Contractor being out of line,if fact for him to come up with that info just from looking at the wood,without the contacts I have,testify well of Him. Its just a matter of working with what you have keeping in mind its a real Honor to work with this material. Ipe should comand a lot of respect from all WoodWorkers.

The person who says it cant be done,should not interupt the Person doing it. John Mon

Thanks John...you may have prevented WWIII here in N.J.... Would you rip and route the short boards or split the difference to account for future shrinkage?

Joe,
If you're just gonna keep asking until someone tells you that you're getting a good quality job...then yes, your contractor is doing the right thing butting together boards that differ by 1/8" in width and thickness, because the wider, thicker boards will shrink in 2 directions and exactly match it's butted mate...and Hillary will be our next president.

steve

You guys are funny. I always get a kick out of your humor.

Tell the contractor to man up and make the job look right! It can be accomplished with the abnormally milled material, just follow the advice about ripping and shimming. The low quality Ipe wood is lighter in weight, you will know right away when you pick up a board. It will probably also be bowed or checked. I see reject boards at every lumber yard, some have a lot more than others. Your first post made me wonder if you got some bunk boards. It sounds like they came from different mills or some are greener than others. I am leaning toward different mills. No wood as dense as Ipe will shrink 1/8" in thickness for 1x mat'l. Your contractor has gotta deal with this during installation.

According to supplier(well known, reputible co.)wood came from same mill, cut on same saws to same specs....longer boards are older. Puts me in tough spot since he agrees with the builder and believes the shorter boards will shrink. Definately more important things in life to worry about for sure, but one of the reasons for this forum.

So, what does the moisture meter read? The green boards must be 25% while the others are seasoned to 5% if you really expect shrinkage to fix this.

Make your contractor get out the moisture meter and prove it.

The vendor and contractor are agreeing with each other b/c it benefits them both, but without an actual moisture content reading, they are claiming the ridiculous.

The shrinkage deal may not be as farfetched as it sounds. We built a ipe deck about 3 months ago. The last month we sided the house. Anyways, we used headcote trim screws, countersunk with the use of smartbits. A lot of the trimhead screws were no longer flush with the surface. They weren't sticking up 1/8, but some were definately 1/16". We had to go around and resink them. No big deal, but it makes me wonder about all the other ipe decks that we have built.

dooer,

Your decks look really awesome. Keep up the creativity and fine work.

What would you do if the screws were countersunk and plugged, and then the wood shrinks? Go underneath and drive shims between each joist and deck board? Just wondering because a lot of the high end projects are installed this way.

Ipe does shrink. I notice about 1/8" shrinkage in width after a season. But for a 1x6 to shrink 1/8" in thickness, it will shrink more than 1/2" in width. Usually all the boards will shrink the same, unless the sun/rain strike them differently.

Joezo,
If you measure moisture of 15% in the green boards, and the seasoned boards are 5%, you can expect the green boards to shrink about 10% in size as they dry out. 3/4" thick may shrink .07" or 1/16" as it loses 10% moisture. It would need to lose 20% moisture to shrink 20%. Does the moisture meter indicate > 20% water content?

I looked at the original message again, and Joe wrote that some of the 8 foot boards were 1/4" larger. How can they shrink by 1/4"?

My take on this is that the 8 footers were cut at a different jungle mill, or cut at a different setting than the 20 footers. The contractor will say anything he needs to to satisfy Joe, and the supplier is gonna back him up. It's all to convenient. I don't believe that the short boards have a higher moisture content. Shrinkage? yeah the Ipe will shrink...but all of the boards will shrink at the same rate, if they all get equal exposure to the sun. My feeling is that the wider boards are going to remain wider...for the life of the deck.

I'm wondering how this discrepancy will affect the look of the gaps between the boards. I hope that the contractor is alternating the joints from row to row...8'/20' 20'/8'

Why won't the contractor just bring a table saw and rip the 8' boards and be done with the problem? I do it when I have to.

Joe...post some photos!!

steve