Great forum! I have decided to let those cans of Penofin lie dormant in my garage and go with a new product. I was considering TWP as George and Eddie at East Teak recommend. For me that is going to the dark side as I believe once you go for the sealer there is not turning back! Then the "Zodic" appears! Im looking at saving labor so this is very appealing! Quick question for both Obi Won and Darth TWP: Can I mop off the excess with a sponge mop instead of getting non hands an knees with Rags? With "Zodic", will I need two coats to get started? Can I spray on TWP on my Ipe Furniture and wipe off with rag? Ken, your saying we can use "zodic" on wood just a few hours after "Rad" treatment??? When is the "Zodic" site going to be ready? Bottom line is more competition means more choices! Thanks to all again for the great info on this site!

You can save some by using 5/4x6 or even 1x6 for the rail cap. Don't run the 2x4's behind the post or the cap isn't wide even to run a reveal past the 2x4 on one side & the post on the other side. Looks better butted anyway. Kinda hard to build rails any other way than post first. Here & in S.A. between 36-42" works for rail heigth. Make it easy on yourself & build according to the baluster length, 26" plus 7" (2 2x4's on edge) = 33" plus 3 1/2" from decking to bottom of 2x4 = 36 1/2" post heigth above decking. I just finished a garapa deck that I used cedar rails w/ deckorator balusters. A couple of hundred feet of ipe railing was just too much $ for customer so they went with cedar. Certainly not as nice as ipe rails, but it goes well with the garapa decking color wise. Al

IÂll answer two of the posts here as the questions are similar. mclemens, If you have the 4 x 12 beams on hand, fineÂ..use them. If not, (2) 2 x 12Âs would be adequate for the beams on top of the posts. I say on top of the posts, not bolted to the sides. By bolting to the sides of the posts, the limiting factor is the shear strength of the wood parallel to the grain in the posts. In other words, if the loads acting on the bolts split the posts, you can imagine the result. To cut a long story short, this is the load on the bearing area of the bolt shank in the hole and is expressed in PSI. If the load in PSI exceeds the allowable for a particular species or grade of lumber, you violate the building code. As for the joists at 16" on centre, 2 x 10 is adequate and this is factoring in a 75 lbs/sq. ft. load on the deck. This will be way above what your local code calls for floor loading but I have seen well over a foot of snow on my deck for a prolonged period. Better that little bit over than not. As an extra, it wouldnÂt hurt to put one row of bridging mid span between the 2 x 10Âs. Bsd777, When you say supports along the edges, I assume you mean the edges would be the 30Â long beams. OK, depending on how many posts you want to put in would be the determining factor for the size of the built up beams. For instance, (2 or 3) 2 x 12Âs. Not that IÂm saying thatÂs whatÂs needed but If I knew how many supports the beams would have, I could determine what would be adequate. As to the 20Â span over the sand mound, it could be done with engineered wood joists such as "Microlam" or "Trus-Joists" but youÂd be getting pretty pricy in comparison to sawn lumber. IÂll e-mail you a brochure for you to look at. The structures here arenÂt the problem though, you should both check with your local authorities as to limiting access to the septics. That could be your biggest stumbling block.

Moisture Barrier 101, Class trun off all devices you brought with you the ipods,lap tops,cell phones and all the stupid time wasting things you have in those purple back packs I am only going to say this one time and one time only. Pick it up now or fail the Course Ipe is moisture cranky in the first few important weeks because>>> the preasure treated lumber has a lot of water in it from the treatment plant,add to this its mostly yellow pine that is movement prone in the sun anyway and really open grain thats why they use it to pump all that copper and water into it. If a person seals the ipe on all four sides,or pre treats at all...A during construstion its going to get really beat up..B the wood will be hampered in its breathing,remember when you started this class?? thats right wood has to breath...Martha Zolinkisi!!! get that plug out of your ear!!!! you think I cant see that??? another bump and run like that and your headed back to the shop clean up!! Lets start up with those two givens,,using construston adhesive on the joists helps leval out uneaven framing that is the norm with pt lumber,it adds a little hold down power,and protects the ipe from the fast escaping water in the first few important weeks or moons while at the same time lets the ipe take a breath when it has to. This combined with cross vintalation in the skirting gives this high dollor and most execlent material the respect it has coming.Doing all we can to keep it from cupping and buckling. All you young people are the Furture of Construstion, I am proud of every one of you,That includes you Martha, The big test is next week,ride hard, ride safe,stay away from the high side,and Get Er Done!!! John