No problem, install cup down. That board was most likely on top of the stack as it sat in the lumberyard and the top dried out more than the rest of the boards. Since you are seasoning the Ipe for a month, the wood will be drier than if you installed it right away. The wood will continue to dry out after installation, especially in the sun. All the boards will cup (just slightly) as the wood dries out quickly, but the decking will flatten out as it reaches a stable moisture content. So don't panic. The wood may not look so great as it is drying out. It will show considerable surface checking (small cracks) and some minor cupping during the first season as the hot sun dries out one side. The surface checking is how the wood breathes. The cracks close up and the cupping flattens out (if the decking is installed correctly) once the wood reaches a stable moisture content. So keep these properties in mind as you design & install the deck. The boards have to be able to reach the stable moisture content. That is why cross ventilation is essential. Both sides need to dry out. The decking needs to be screwed very securely to the joist and a little adhesive will help keep the board flat. After a couple of seasons the boards will not want to cup anymoore, so by the time the adhesive wears out it has done its job.

Your roof top deck has plenty of clearance,most of mine have the width of the stringers 1 1/2''. I would sugest using counstruction adhesive as well as SS screws be very sure the screws do not go thru the stringers be very sure as well during install you dont damage the roof...like hiting it with the edge of a board,droping a drill bit first on it,steping on a screw things like that. Your right if your going to use anything on it use the S American lumber not manmade material. With your pool deck provide cross ventalation. This can be done with screen vents in the framing if this is not completly possible install floor vents in the decking combined with the frame vents. Cross ventalation is a vastley over looked but much needed addtion to any decking project. The gap between the decking boards will have no effect one way or the other venting your project unless there is air moving under it. If possble a drain system under the pool deck might help if done corectley but do not put a ground cover like plastic sheet/tar paper under it 1'' ipe will react the same way 3/4'' ipe will under the same conditions. The life span of both is also the same. J.

Hi ipgregory, As one of the few posters on here that hired a PB, but ended up having to act as the contractor, I can tell you about the pros and cons from our perspective. Our pool is the "Infinity Edge" one on another thread. The best advice I can give you is this - there is no right or wrong answer. You'll probably be fine regardless of which method you choose. We started with a PB one year ago this month. We had done our homework with the ROC and the BBB, our PB had won multiple awards, but he still ended up taking a nosedive. We took over finishing the pool about a month ago. There are many GOOD qualified pool builders out there - they will give you a beautiful pool for a fair price. They definitely know what they're doing and most are very good at it. However, I thought it would be reassuring that someone else was managing the subs and the timing. I was very wrong! If you are the take-charge type, having a PB can be difficult. You have to hand over the reins and let someone else do it. I was forever being the go-between lady with the subs and our PB and quite frankly, felt that most of it was just a waste of time. Our PB was practically non-existent and we ended up answering the questions that our subs had about the design, etc. We had made the same arrangement with our PB as you are talking about - we negotiated his price down (he was originally the high bidder) by doing a lot of the things ourselves. We dug trenches, expanded our main electrical panel, provided the flagstone and stackstone, and were doing our own deck and BBQ kitchen. We did this in order to keep the items we wanted for our pool without breaking the budget. It didn't work out for us because our PB went under, but it certainly doesn't mean that it won't work for you. If you hire a PB, just make sure that the pool doesn't sit for weeks on end with no progress. We ended up hiring our own plumber and electrician to finish the job our PB had started, and the final phase (the interior) is being done by a different PB simply because they were able to do it for less than we could with a sub. Many times builders can get a better price on tile, interior finishes, etc. than a homeowner can. It all depends on their mark-up. Good subs know what they're doing and don't need someone to tell them how to apply shotcrete, plumbing, plaster, etc. Our pool will be finished this Monday, and we've gotten further in the last month than we did for months on end with our PB. The people on here are incredibly knowledgeable and this forum is priceless for information. Do LOTS of research, I can't emphasize that enough. It sounds like you are well aware of the process and what it entails. It's a tremendous amount of work, especially for the inexperienced. We knew nothing about pools a year ago, and now I know more than I ever cared to. If we had to do it all over again (YIKES), we would hire the subs out ourselves from the beginning. The only reason I say that, though, is because now we know WHO to call to get it done correctly. There are many around Phoenix who have been in the business a long time and know what they're doing. They build them every day! Get a good excavation company. They provide the base which everyone else will be working off of. If they get it wrong, everything else will be off. Our excavator was top notch, and used the backhoe like a finely tuned instrument. He was fascinating to watch, and was incredibly precise in his elevations. I would recommend these companies - Nichols Excavating, Discount Steel, Jay's Plumbing, Diversified Shotcrete, and Cal Plastering if you can get them. Cal was the tricky part, because they don't bid to homeowners - only pool companies. Even if you have to get a PB at the very end to finish it, do it. If you choose to go the PB route, remember that there are many beautiful pools that have been finished by reputable companies. There are risks either way, not matter how you slice it. There are some excellent PB's right here on this forum - including natural_one. This whole thing simply depends on how much you WANT to do. If you want to leave the hassles for someone else and wait expectantly for a beautiful pool, hire a PB. If you like being in the thick of things and researching like crazy, then go for building it yourself. That's my two cents worth. Hope this helps even a little.

As someone who currently has an OTR and *IS* 5+ years down the road from when we put it in with small kids that didn't use it at the time, I can say that it WILL become an issue when they're older. My son is now 10 and he does use it and it's a huge pain in the rear. Not only is he perfectly capable of using it but he has to lift anything WAY up and over the stove to put it in and then reach UP to push the buttons. I'm always nervous he'll spill whatever he's heating and then I'll have a huge mess on the stove. And if I'm cooking on the stove, he's not allowed to use it at all, which makes him feel "little". My six year old has no issues yet. But if the microwave was lower, I guarantee, she'd be perfectly able to heat some things by herself now, which would be very convenient for me! LOL! The door gets in the way if one of us is cooking and the other needs to access it. The venting is nonexistent. I hate hate hate that we can still smell a hearty meal in the house the next day. I'd NEVER put one in another kitchen unless I absolutely had to. IMO, your kitchen has plenty of room to have the microwave elsewhere, so that's my vote. In our build, we're putting a microwave drawer in our island. It's more convenient for everyone and out of the main view as well.