Use a deck cleaner to restore the color. It is WAY faster than trying to sand the surface down.

Master Deckers (Hyatt & PressurePro) - many moons (May 05)ago I asked about attaching ipe to metal. Your advice was sound and the deck is finally complete and rock solid. I've finished plugging, and plugging, and plugging the plethora of screw holes. I stained the railings and the pergola last year and they seemed to be holding very nice - although I will have to do the railings again. I've sheared the heads of the plugs and am ready to sand the deck (around 700 square feet on two tiers). The local hardware store rents a drum floor sander. Good to use? What grit? I've waited a year so now the wood has gone a little silver in the Texas sun. Should I keep sanding until I get down to natural color, or sand until smooth and use PressurePro's cleaning and brightening solution to bring back the beautiful ipe color? I did the railings and pergola in TWP 100 and plan to use this on the sanded deck. PressurePro - been to your website - looks good. Now that I've waited a year

Thanks Weedyacres. I just sanded the deck this weekend and plan to stain in 2 weeks. I'll probably give it a light sanding before I do.

I just got done staining our new Ipe deck with Woodzotic and was pleased with the results. As I couldn't find a picture of what the stain would look like when applied, I was a little apprehensive before ordering. Now I'll just have to wait and see how it holds up. By the way, I did not sand before applying and didn't have any trouble. Here's a link to a page with pictures. Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of Ipe deck with Woodzotic