Wondering what you decided for the railings? We are in the same spot. Just finished TREX for the floor/decking but plan to use pressure treated for railings and keep posts pressuretreated. We tried the BEHR solid stain that is marketed to match the TREX colors. Hate it! The stain looks like dirty brown paint. Now looking into semi-transparent stains to let some of the wood grain show through but do not want to compromise on the protection factors. Read about Ben Moore and their Abercoat clear finish (?) maybe apply that over a watered down BEHR for the color? Very confused and disappointed right now.

Ipe is very beautiful - we built our new deck out of it last year. However if you don't want to let it go silver, then we are finding it is quite a bit of work to keep a finish on. I have another post on this board on just this subject. Initially we had thought we would just let it weather and go gray, but that rich natural reddish color of the newly installed wood is so gorgeous it makes you really want to hang on to it! Plus, even though ipe is extremely durable, it will start to get some fine checking, etc. without UV protectant and that is what we saw. It is a large investment, and we found we wanted to do everything we could to protect the wood even though we know it is very durable even when left on its own. I don't claim to be an expert of any sort, this is just what our experiences have been. At the end of the day, I do wonder if we should have just gone with composite, but there are definite drawbacks to that approach as well. Sometimes I have felt that we've saddled ourselves with a big ongoing maintenance task, but I realize we are choosing to feel this way about keeping the wood UV protected and looking very nice. Good luck with your decision!

Hi Oakrun, Yes, it is a daunting process. In fairness to all the homeowners here, (and respect to the pro deck builders who give so much help), we homeowners have pretty much one shot at the deck. In other words, we are not builders, and we are not Martha Stewart types, so we have to live with our decisions, warts and all. But on the other hand, we can afford to take a chance on something new. It will not wreck our livelyhood. I have nearly finished my 5/4" Ipe deck, 12' X 30'. After much thought, I went with the hidden fasteners - Tiger Claw TC-G http://www.deckfastener.com/products_tcg.asp They look great! Time will tell if they work. One difference between these clips and many of the old ones is that these are solid stainless, not fiberglass. To get these fasteners to bend would take quite a bit of force. I put one in a bench vise and hit it with a hammer. It didn't bend. One definite advantage of this system (assuming the boards don't lift) over face screwing, is the whole deck is "floating" on the pressure treated frame. The ipe boards are free to expand and contract slightly. In the long term, this may minimize end checking. Also, your air circulation under the deck seems optimal. (I have the same situation). I suspect that many installs of hidden fasteners don't have good air circulation. That may contribute to failure. Installation notes: 1) I used a biscuit joiner to slot the boards where the fasterers attach. It takes time, but I think it's a better job that having the boards slotted along the full length. 2) For butt joints, definitely ease the edges with an 1/8" radius. I think that's a John Hyatt trick. Looks great!! 3) I had to ease the backs of the ipe boards with a 1/4" radius router bit where the fastener attached. (the ipe comes with a 1/8" radius edge, not enough for correct installation) 4) most of the SS screws for this are # 8. If you are screwing into another hardwood (Ipe, Garapa, etc) I think the correct drill size is 9/64" . I broke a screw very early using the recommended 8/64" Here is a pic of a few weeks ago (I am doing most of this myself):

We recently redid our deck with Azek. Fasteners are different than our previous no-name now out of business decking installed by our builder. They also provide pugs to hides screws when done through the deck. So far so good.