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Porches & Decks

Wrapping an Ipe deck - PT or Cedar?

16 years ago

I am having a new ipe deck built. The pictures of my builders previous ipe decks show that the skirting underneath the deck and the vertical kick boards of the stairs are pressure treated wood. I really do not like the look of the PT showing. My builder said my options were to stain the PT to match the ipe or wrap it with cedar and then stain it to match.

Is it worth wrapping the frame and the stairs with cedar? Or should I just stain the PT? Is there a better wood to use that will match ipe better? I have read about twp 116 stain here. Will this stain match the ipe on what ever wood I choose?

I am also not sure if I need to sand the ipe flooring first before staining with twp? I am also using ipe for the posts and rail caps. Do I need to sand/prep that wood before I stain it?

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Comments (5)

tom_nwnj
16 years ago
If you have the $$s for the Ipe deck, why not just get the skirting and stair risers of Ipe also.

PT is not close to the quality of ipe. Cedar is nice, but, on the stair risers, I think it will quickly show dents and scuff marks from shoes. J. Hyatt and other may have better information.

Eastteak.com will glue up widths of trim boards, for a fee.

My deck is 3/4 done (no stairs yet). The deck is Ipe, rail, and skirting is garapa (I glued up the 1" X 8" skirting myself - don't do it.)

http://www.duckloe.com/deck/3.jpg
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briggs3
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks Tom. Your railings and skirting look really good.

When you say "don't do it", do you mean don't glue up the skirting myself, or don't use garapa? Is there a reason you chose to use garapa instead of ipe for the rail and skirting?

I will have to check with Eastteak to see how much they would charge to glue up widths.
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Framing with Ipe would be very costley in lumber and Labor. Very Very costley. Defentley Do Not use cedar for the frame. Most of us use ground contact preasure treated lumber for the frame. I have skirted the outside of the frame with ipe.However is you really want 6x6 in ipe East Teak will be glad to sell them to you. Your Builder might be in the habit of using the frame support posts for the handrail posts, that is going all the way up with the 6x6. This kind of building is ice age old but a lot of guys just wont stop doing what they have always done. For the most part House Builders do not keep up with the trade of Deck Building,and dont want to. Its one of the last things to do after dealing with everything else and thats the least important thing and they defentley do not want Anyone telling them what to do. But just in case>>> creet piers,deck frame posts land on the piers not in them,beams land on the posts,joist in on 16'' centers. Do not over span the joists just adding size to the joists will not take the bounse out of the frame. Install the posts for the rail system in the frame,they will be seperate from the frame posts, these can be pt 4x4s or 6x6s whatever then build ipe post wrapps out of 3/4 material this way you get the rail posts any size any shape and any place you want. Its possible to wrap the frame posts in ipe as well There is one half a chance in 10,000 your builder is going to pay any attention to any of this. J.
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I don't care? Sorry man, I might be reading more into that statement than there is but actually I do care. My GC thought the cedar elements would look good (because it adds an element of visual difference) and being vertical, wouldn't see the use that the ipe floor would so it would last longer. I am here posting because I have my doubts, but didn't want to prejudice the question with that statement. I want a deck that will both look good and last, but it has to be all wood or composite that looks like wood. My preference in that case is to stick with all wood.
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Its not really necessary at all,Steve never puts it on.It is something I recomend. For me and my Outfit is a very easy way to gard the fresh ipe from the water escaping from the green pt framing lumber in the first few important weeks of new construstion. Using the 490 hevay bodied adhesive also evens out the bad milling common to framing lumber in a small way. Using that material is one of the reasons I dont have yo yo calls on my projects on the subject of cupping while using 1x6 ipe. By no strech am I saying it is nessecary. In fact if you would love to avoid it, just avoid it. J.
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You can screw down ipe, but you need to predrill. Small trim head screws are available that you can hardly see (Headcote). Ipe is expensive, but many on this site beleive it is worth the expense, myself included. Ipe is available at almost every lumberyard in my area. It is also available on the internet. Mark
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tom_nwnj
16 years ago
Hi briggs,

the garapa is a nice contrast to ipe, and is slightly cheaper. that's why I went with the 2-tone approach.

Both garapa and ipe are very hard, and the sawdust can be irritating (like Poison ivy).

I glued up the skirting (1"X4" and 1"X6" to make 1"X8"), and it was too much work, plus I got an allergic reaction to the large quantity of sawdust. Eastteak.com quoted me a price of something like $.50/lin foot to make the glue-up. It would have added $200 to my skirting cost. I should have paid them to do it.

In my transactions with eastteak, I mostly dealt with Jeffrey Rogers, and occasionally George Guy.

(this pic has already been posted on GW)

Good luck!

{{!gwi}}
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deckman22
16 years ago
Why not wrap it with ipe? If the rails & decking is ipe so should the skirt boards & stair kickers, imo. Sounds like the builder is cheaping out on you, maybe it wasn't included in the bid/contract. Pay the extra $ & get ipe everywhere, it just looks so much better.

Al
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briggs3
Original Author
16 years ago
I agree that complete ipe looks alot better. We are waiting to get prices from George at East Teak. If they are in the ballpark of our local supplier we are going to have them ship us all the wood, including the skirt boards and stairs kickers.

Thanks again for all the great info!
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