Bought houses with Pressure treated and cedar decks. Recently changed current deck to IPE. Summary of experience & research: 1) Cedar is soft and subject to mildew. Poor deck choice. Will have short life. Eventually stepping through deck boards convinced me to replace! 2) Pressure treated: The old standard. Cheap to put in, relatively cheap to replace if needed. Vulnerable to carpenter bees(a real problem here). Being porous PT wood, accepts stain well. Can use without stain, but life shorter, greys and develops surface cracks 3) straight plastics. Best spill & stain resistance. No splinters. Get soft in high heat, high expansion/contraction with temperature can lead to sag/wavy. Need joists 12" apart or less to avoid excess sponginess. Minimum maintenance required. Like everything, color fades with sun exposure over time. Unlike wood products, can not renew color by restaining. 4) plastic+sawdust products(e.g.Trex). Stronger and stiffer than straight plastic. Originally claimed low maintenance. After class action lawsuits by deck owners, manufacturers have backed off claim. Mildew eats out sawdust leaving spongy plastic which disintegrates. Most of these products now recommend regular cleaning to prevent mildew growth. Newer versions have external solid plastic wrap to try to prevent mildew. Would not buy until at least 5 year track record of these newer products surviving without mildew or other disintegration problems. 5) IPE. Tough, strong, fire resistant, resist carpenter bees. Difficult to cut, screw(need to predrill and use stainless steel screws) increases installation work. Theoretically, very long life. Can be left unstained (like everything else, sun will turn it grey eventually). In order to keep attractive wood color, regular staining is required. Does not take stain well. Need special tropical hardwood stains. Need to restain more frequently than PT wood. Subject to discoloration by spills/stain if finish wears off or leave unfinished. 6) Other tropical hardwoods. Generally either same as or inferior to IPE in function. Worth considering if want different look than IPE.

Here is the deck from a higher perspective. This is a remodel project. The original porch was much smaller and was completely under the roof. I wrapped the original support posts (white) with 6" hardi-trim.

Hi, I've just discovered this site and am curious how your solved your problem. I have a concrete porch consisting of just 3 steps with the top being about 4 ft. square or a little smaller. I'd like to make the steps larger and add a little decorative style. Wondering if I can add to the size without starting all over. (which I definitly won't do. - too much work) Our house has half-log cedar siding and a smallish cedar deck would look nice there too so wondered if you did that. Thanks a bunch. Granny

It can happen if too much is put on. It shrinks a little bit as it dries. Sand and do your second coat, it should be ok. You may actually need a third coat depending on what your doing. Are you using fiberglass mesh tape or paper tape or nothing? There should be something used on the joints under the first coat. Exterior corners you should use a metal corner bead with paper facing.