Ipe decking is one of the best suited products for you climate. Ipe, being a product of Brazil, is right at home in hot and humid weather. We have sold many jobs into the state of Florida, both commercial and residential with perfect results. Below I have added a link to a section of our web page that shows a deck installed in Sarasota, Florida.

http://www.advantagelumber.com/ipegallery4/

Another product worth looking at for your area would be Cumaru. Cumaru is nearly as dense as Ipe and carry’s the same characteristics such as being natural resistant to rot, mold, mildew, water, and insects. Below is a link to a Cumaru Dock installed in Cape Coral Florida.

http://www.advantagelumber.com/projects/fl/cumaru-dock-florida.html

I hope this helps, please let me know if there is any other questions or concerns that I can help you with. Thank you for your time and inquiry.

Most people choose to build or replace their deck in the spring, summer, and fall. You can oil the deck after it is installed. Here’s the guide to applying hardwood deck oil. Just be sure to wipe up heavy areas and footprints and you’re done.

Thanks,
Chris Foreman
General Manager

You will want to allow the material to acclimate outdoors where it will be installed for about 5 days. This should be done up off the ground on blocks (neither above concrete nor in a garage). Let it acclimate out in the open uncovered. If you were looking to apply the oil finish to all four sides, you will want to do this after the material has become acclimated. If you do it prior to, your acclimation time will be significantly longer. The oil finish will need to be applied to the decking where the material has become acclimated in temperatures of 50 degrees or higher for at least 24 hours along with no rain for 24 hours. Then you should be good to install the decking.

Molds within 1 year, needs specialized cleaner 2-3X a year. color fades within 1 year, NO customer service, and multiple class action lawsuits…I can’t believe the big stores still sell this garbage.

Yes, we do suggest allowing the material to acclimate to the conditions in which it will be installed. You will want to stack the wood right where it will be installed up off the ground on blocks un-covered for a minimum of 4-5 days prior to installation. One mistake people make a lot is allowing the material to sit covered or in a garage. Problem with this is the material will be acclimated to being under the tarp or in the garage and not to the exterior conditions in turn you may see movement issues once installed. Let me know if there is anything else we can do for you. Thank you again.

Thanks!!

1) A 2×2 will work for the sleepers, normally what customers due is use a 2×4 laid flat so you would have the same 1 ½” rise but a little more weight and rigidity side to side than with a 2×2. The weight of the decking will keep everything in place in theory but you will want to anchor the sleepers, check with your local building code to figure out how they will require them to be anchored.

2) The Ipe Clips will work with the 2×2’s but again from a strength and rigidity point of view I would think about going with 2×4’s.

3) ACQ will work just fine and will not have any sort of reaction with the Ipe. The ACQ will still be structural for 20 years or so, it won’t look good but will be covered by the Ipe any way.

4) I can actually offer you free shipping on this as long as you are in the lower 48 states. But in general shipping will cost about 10% of your final cost. Timing on something like this will normally be about 5-7 business days after the order is placed until it arrives on site.

Thank you again for your time and inquiry let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks again!

With this being a roof top deck would I would suggest using is the 5/4×4 Ipe Decking that is pregrooved for use with the Ipe Clips.

This will need to be installed on top of a wood frame system and will leave a gap between the boards of 3/32″. You will need this gap to allow for proper air ventilation and both through the decking and under frame so that there is air flow under the boards. Due to the low ventilation of this application the 5/4×4 decking is a better option since it is a thicker material with less surface area. This, in turn, means it will be extremely stable and reduce the changes of an issue that may be caused by movement of the material.

As for your other question…Without a doubt, Ipe is the best decking product for this application. Nothing on the market will come close to the stability that the Ipe offers for roof top applications as well as the 40+ year life span. I hope this helps answer some of you question please let me know if there is anything else that I can help you with. Thank you for your time and inquiry.

Thanks!

With the decking being so close to grade I would suggest applying an oil finish such as Ipe Oil to all 4 sides of material (end-grain should be sealed with Anchor Seal). This will help to even out the moisture contents on either side of the board in turn helping to prevent any sort of major movement. Also being such a low ventilation application, I would suggest going with a 5/4 thickness for your board and personally if this where on a site of mine I would use 5/4×4 which is nice and thick with very low surface area.

In terms of Ipe Clip use, the instructions call for a construction adhesive such as “liquid nails” to be used between the boards and joist. This will give a little more holding power while also helping to level the decking in turn preventing any chatter when walking over the boards.

Your landscaping barrier may be helpful if it will help with drainage as well as ventilation. These are two big keys when building a deck so close to grade is you need water to drain from under the deck while keeping air flow at a maximum. Your dead load question would be based of what your local building code will require.

I hope this all helps please let me know if there is anything else we can help you with. Thank you for your time.

Ipe would be the perfect choice for your application. With it being naturally water resistant the salt water will not affect the material in any way. Heat also is no challenge for Ipe. I can confidently say this because we have the material installed up and down the east west and gulf coast. With applications including board walks docks and personal decks. You may also want to take a look in to one of our other products such as Tigerwood or Cumaru as these will also hold up with no problems in almost any environment you could think of. If you want to see one application that deals with year round sun, heat, and salt water conditions, check out our ipe wood decking over at the Secrets Resort in Jamaica.

I hope this helps please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with. Thank you for your time.