Rebuilt my covered porch last September with t/g mahogany. I ended up using Messmer's UV Plus, with a 10 % additional red stain added to it to give it a slightly red brown color. The final look was exactly what I was looking for. Its now April and the porch looks just as good as when completed (I live in metro NY). We didn't have a horrendous winter though. I was told to expect to reapply once a year. Note Messmers has been criticized for not having enough mildewcide in their product. I used PPro's Restore a deck on the new mahogany first (slightly diluted as the wood really wasn't dirty), waited 2 full days (without walking on it at all), and then applied (while wearing socks so no dirt would get on the wood). I realize it hasn't been much more than 6 months but I haven't had any black spots as of yet. Note TWP was not an option for me as I'm in a green state- I had to travel to CT to get the MEssmers and could not find anyone w/ TWP in that state.

Help! We recently installed a new mahogany deck (probably about 1.5 months ago now) and builder has not sanded, stained, sealed or anything yet. Today someone told me that we had better do something soon - likened it to leaving a good piece of wood furniture sitting outside. I have several questions: 1) Should I really rush to get something done? 2) we like the reddish natural color of the wood. Does that mean we just seal it without staining? Or, what is the best way to preserve the color? 3) Is there something you can do to reduce splintering? My son and his friend just got splinters in feet. 4) Some birds pooped on the railing and it left stains. Can those be sanded out? 5) Builder left brochure for Cetol Dek finish. Is this a good product? I read that if you use it there are a lot of steps to follow, including powerwashing first. What else do I need to know about this? Thanks!

Tigerwood is certainly a good choice, with the added benefit that it will match your existing deck. Many exotic hardwoods, including tigerwood, are actually great for poolside decks because their dense grain structure resists splintering, making them safe for bare feet, and keeps them from getting too slippery when wet. They also contain some natural oils that help resist moisture. I would definitely recommend sealing tigerwood with an oil-based sealer though to maximize its performance. Ipe Oil works very well: https://buyhardwood.advantagelumber.com/p-701-ipe-oil-uv-finish-for-hardwoods.aspx

We’ve used a lot of Ipe over the past 15 +/- years. It has a higher up-front cost and is somewhat difficult to install, but wow the stuff is very resilient and very beautiful. We let it weather to silver with no surface treatment except for washing it once in a while, stays very smooth. We have not used it as a pool decking though, so I would want to see some others first and how they have fared over many years of exposure to pool water. Alternatively we’ve had redwood decking (aged terribly, splinters & rot) and have also used pressure-treated pine (mixed results mostly not good). For an open deck I would never use PT pine again, we still have it on a pier surface and it splinters terribly.