Many Santa Cruz County residents have turned to Ipe’ outdoor wood decking. Biowash Natural Deck Oil works fabulous on it too. The days of thinking Penofin or some other nasty mixture would work best on this very dense hardwood, are long gone. I maintain my share of Ipe’ decks throughout Santa Cruz, especially Aptos and Scotts Valley, and and I will tell you that although Ipe’ is supposed to last like 50 years untreated or something crazy like that, I wouldn’t take that route because its beauty and simplicity make this Brazilian Hardwood like no other. I highly suggest taking pretty good care of it. Because it’s so hard, you can easily get away with maintaining it every 3 or 4 years or so..but just like everything else in life, it all depends on how bad-ass you want your Ipe’ deck to be.

To beat the sun, I had to begin staining this five year old deck very early in the a.m. I didn’t stain the rails this year as they didn’t need it and typically don’t. This year I just stained the top piece of the rail and all the flooring. This deck was still drying when I had to leave, but you get the idea. I really think Ipe’ is a super wood to be used for outdoor decking, and highly recommend it. Ipe’ deck project in Corralitos, California.