First if you are planning any furniture on the deck 6' is too narrow as for decking I like real wood and IPE is great choice since you can let it weather or oil it depending on your house style and color

I agree- six foot means all the furniture is backed up against the house wall- seems oddly narrow to the length. To your original question- I have azek ‘dark hickory’ and love it- easy to maintain and completely non slip. Ipe is beautiful too and had it in my last house but I wanted something more consistent this go round.

We are getting ready to replace our old deck and have settled on Millboard. I mentioned this a while ago, but I suspect some thought it was spam since I didn't get anyreplies to my question. Anyway, after investigating and talking to the US distributor, we are going with it. Very little upkeep (sweeping and washing with soap and water if needed) which is important to me as we are older and finding competent people to pressure wash and seal a wood deck yearly is just not easy. I got samples from Outlive (John Fowler) who is the US partner and it does not get as hot as the other composites which matters here in the summer. Also has hidden fastening system which I like. Our deck faces east like yours. The Millboard may be more expensive, though.

When using any kind of tropical hardwood just make sure that it has been harvested sustainably, either from dedicated timber plantations or from water reclamation. Please do not add to the climate crisis by rain forest destruction or the support of illegal timber harvesting (which accounts for 50-90% of the loss of tropical rain forest trees).

IPE is durable and beautiful but if you want that rich brown color you have to seal it regularly. Otherwise be prepared for it to fade in color. If I was to do it over again, I would choose a composite like you because I wanted that rich color with less maintenance. Good luck!

Thank you all for your input! Friends in Manhattan Beach have Ipe decks, they ARE beautiful. Thisisnotadrill: Yes, Ipe's fire-rating did rank it highest on my comp sheet. But, looks like we'll go with cedar and redwood though, as it its easier to drill and cut. I've learned the advantages to composite material, but neither of us care for the look of it . My apologies to all, I should have been more clear in my rough description. The "deck" is more of a runway or breezeway, along the east side of the house: it transitions from the height of a pair of french doors down to a garden path. This path leads to the patio (furniture/bbq-land), and below that is the horse property. We're replacing an old redwood deck, installed 63 yrs ago, poorly laid out, which ran along east property line. If we ever get done, I'll try to post photos. Thanks again everyone.

That is definitely a consideration - ipe is incredibly hard and much harder to work with. we also sealed the ends of the boards as we went along with marine grade sealer. As for upkeep we do re-oil it every couple years - it is really not much harder than mopping a floor! glad you settled on something that will work for you! cedar and redwood will be striking.