Im not real sure I would call mangaris a hard wood,its like mahogany but mahogany with an indonesian start point, I have used a close ralative of this plant and ended up tearing it out. The indo stuff looks good in the yard not so good exposed to the Sun down the road.

Ipe and teak come from a differant contanint both are a 100 % upgrage from indoesian lumber in all ways. Cost depends on where you buy it.Teak is more $ than ipe, a lot more, but man is that some sweet material.
Providing Cross Ventalation is very important to any decking project,S exposure,drainage,part of it covered has no bearing on this subject.Air has got to be moving under the framing or many problems will happen.

For a quick look see on price of Teak or Ipe give the George a call>> East Teak Lumber 800 338 5636. John

Thanks, John...I called, but George was out in the yard...

I guess my question still stands. Why is Ipe superior to Managris? From my research it appears that Mangaris is marginally softer than Ipe, but otherwise shares many of the long term characteristics of Ipe in regards to decay, bug resistance, looks, etc.

Although I have seen a number of glowing reports of the folks @ East Teak, I am able to get what appears to be (in my estimation, so far) an equivalent product from a local lumberyard at a similar price to Ipe (once delivery is added).

Maintenance isn't an issue for us...this deck will be built next to a white pine log home that requires annual attention in some way, shape or form. My in-laws & I thoroughly understand the maintenance related to wood products.

It stumps me when I read about folks who believe that they should be able to buy product "X", not do a darn thing to take care of it, and expect it to last forever and ever and ever...

I simply want a long-lasting, good looking deck that my in-laws can enjoy for the next 30 years!

Let me word it another way: Is the preference for Ipe related more to experience with installing Ipe, and less to specific problems with Mangaris, or are there horror stories of Mangaris installations that aren't spoken or written because they are so horrible that they could maim or kill just from reading them ;?

Thanks again for the input!

pedalbrake37

I am thinking it all depends on what you rank as failure, if spliting and cracking is not failure in your eyes go with the fake mahogany and save a few bucks, there are no stories involved with mangaris because no pro builder is going to use it. This mateial makes a nice inside trim but its simply not an outside product.

If you like it, the $ is good for you,you have looked at it and are good with it,looked at ipe as well with its 100 year + track record, The George was busy at that min. because ipe is in such high demand and you cant wait.

Then go for it Bro! put that stuff on!! give us a look see in 6 moons or so. J

OK Brakester,so I went over the top a little, It just gets to me that people sell stuff like that because I deal with the Business all the time I might have goten a little short with it. Like Tjunk,you would not belive the jive that has gone on over here defending that stuff and when pictures get posted showning the new stuff failing the same way do they show up??? Nooooooooooooo.

Anyway,sorry bout that,its just my way sometimes. For the money ipe is way under priced, I wont go into that now but the new guy on the block is > Garapa

I'll chime in since I built a deck last summer out of Mangaris.

I used ipe clips to secure the boards to the joists, which was a terrible mistake. Mangaris swells more than ipe and the boards went from a nice even spacing to touching over the winter...then they all badly cupped. This summer I ended up renting a floor sander, sanding it flat and top screwing the heck out of it. I used the large headed #10 x 2 1/2" SS screws into joists on 16" centers (and plugged all the holes) so it should be almost indestructible. I'm curious to see what will happen this winter. Incidentally, if you use Mangaris and want to plug the screw holes, you'll have to make your own plugs. The only pre-made ones I found were made from ipe and didn't match at all. (Naturally the plug cutter I bought made "slightly oversize" ones for a "tight fit". Guess what? 0.377 hardwood plugs don't go into 0.375 holes without splintering. I ended up redrilling most of the holes with a "V" size drill.)

After sanding and finishing, the wood is beautiful, with a rich mahogany color. I haven't had any problems so far with checking or cracking. The wood is definitely softer than ipe; my dog (a 80lb Golden Retriever) has scratched it a couple of times with his nails...usually when he's jumping against the sliding door to get in at dinnertime. That's no biggie. It is, after all, a deck.

bhalper...thanks for the input. Like my grandpa used to say, "if it's not one thing, it's thirty". Have you put any type of finish on the deck?

j...any pictures of a garapa deck? Curious about looks.

have a good one.

so did you build it and with what. Looks like im going to build the exact same deck only 900 squares!...VERY INTERESTED!!!