Step-By-Step

1. Planning

Before you purchase any ipe, sit down and plan out the entire project so you know exactly how much to buy. This page has detailed instructions, but here is an overview of what you have to take into consideration:

• Joist Spacing – Provide a sturdy frame for the deck boards to rest on
• Board Spacing – Allow for board expansion and water drainage
• Ventilation – Make sure any liquid that gets underneath the deck can evaporate
• Pitch your deck! – Ensure the underlying deck framing is pitched at an angle to allow water to run off adequately. Professional installers will tell you that a a pitch of a 1/4″ per 10 ft will allow for proper drainage.
• Building Codes – Follow the rules, stay out of trouble

Also, make sure you have all the tools you’ll need.

2. Ordering the Ipe

Two important things here. First, make sure the lumber is air dried. Click here to find out why. Second, figure out what type of board you want to use. If you plan on just face screwing the ipe boards into place, then standard decking is fine. If you want to be fancy about it and don’t want any screw heads showing, then get pregrooved boards so you can use a hidden deck fastener system. You could cut grooves yourself, but you’ll probably find that the work and effort you save will be worth the extra money.

Only use tongue & groove decking if you’re building a covered porch. Why? Click here to find out.

3. Preparing the Ipe

Store your lumber in a dry, covered location elevated off the ground. Let it rest for a while, adjusting to the moisture content of your local climate. It’s important to have good air flow all around the lumber. This process can take a while, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time. For more details, and to learn why this step is so important, click here.

4. Construction

Build the frame, following the plans you made in step 1. When you cut ipe boards, make sure to seal the ends as soon as possible.

Standard Decking

Ipe is dense, so pre-drilling 1/8″ pilot holes may be necessary before face-screwing the boards into place. For appearances, we recommend installing wood plugs after face-screwing to hide the screw heads. Glue the plugs in place with a waterproof glue such as Gorilla brand or Epoxy, then sand them.

Pre-Grooved Decking

If you’re using pregrooved boards and a hidden fastener system, the fastener is inserted into the grooves, and a screw is put through at an angle. This diagram illustrates it pretty well:

Tongue & Groove Porch Decking

Tongue & groove decking will need to be installed directly on top of the floor joists, not on a sub floor as the material will need cross ventilation underneath it. For installation we suggest that you predrill a hole on a 45-degree angle where the tongue and the face meet. You will see a slight v-groove in this corner. Then, on that same 45-degree angle drive a trim head screw through the predrilled hole, through the deck board into the floor joist. Trim head screws are required because the head will sink into the corner where the v-groove is. This sinking action will allow the next deck board to slide into place and will perfectly conceal the previously installed screw head.

5. Finishing

While not necessary due to ipe’s durability, you may want to coat your newly installed ipe deck with some sort of UV protection to prevent color fading. The process is easy. Click here for more information.