Building a deck is something that you want done right the first time without any regrets. One sure way to have a deck that you can look at years from now and still feel great about is through making sure that your initial deck installation is done correctly and efficiently.

Let’s face it…how awesome would it be to take that first step out onto your deck and see a clean

and smooth deck without any nails or popups?

If that’s the deck you want to have, then using deck fasteners are highly recommended. One of the most cost-efficient and effective deck fasteners systems on the market today is made by the Ipe Clip® brand.

Ipe Clip® deck fasteners have the following features: more…

Ipe (pronounced EE-pay) is an exotic hardwood that is used for decking, flooring, and a host of many other applications. Ipe has many names and is also known as Brazilian Walnut, Amapa, Cortez, Guayacan polvillo, and many others. Ipe also gets misspelled in various different ways such as epi, epay, and eepay. Regardless of the name (or the spelling), ipe is gaining greater recognition and notoriety over other famous hardwoods such as teak. One of the main reasons why ipe decking has such a good reputation is because of its density. Ipe is so dense that a single piece of it will actually sink in water. So, while ipe may not be the best wood to use on a yacht, it certainly is perfect for a deck.

One test that is utilized to measure the hardness of woods like ipe and teak is the Janka Hardness Scale. This test measures the force required to push a small steel ball into the wood about halfway. In fact, when tested with the Janka Hardness Scale, ipe was proven to be three times as strong as teak. more…