The Deck Handbook Part 3: Exotic and Imported Deck Woods
The Deck Handbook - Contents Click to select another page
Part 1: Introduction to Decks
Part 2: Domestic Wood for Decks
Part 3: Exotic and Imported Wood Decks
Part 4: Composite and Plastic Decks
Part 5: Railings, Lighting, Pergolas and Seating
Part 6: Staining, Sealing and Maintaining Your Deck
Part 7: The (Almost) Maintenance Free Deck

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here to download Adobe Reader. In the ever-widening quest for wood that looks good, is structurally adaptable and resists rot and decay, imported hardwoods have become significant niche players. The most common are Ipe (pronounced "ee-PAY") and the old standby mahogany. Others include Teak, Cumaru and Jarrah.

Ipe Wood
Ipe Wood Deck Beautiful, durable and requiring little maintenance, Ipe may be the ideal deck wood. Ipe decks are most commonly found on the coasts. It has deep, rich color tones that make it unique as a deck wood. It is virtually maintenance free and requires no coating or treatments to maintain its strength or structural integrity. A clear oil finish can be applied to maintain the natural color, if desired. Otherwise, the color will fade over time.

Imported from South America, Ipe wood (also know as Cambara Decking, Brazilian Walnut, Greenheart, Jatoba, Purpleheart, Massaranduba, and Ironwood) is very hard (3680 janka) extremely resistant to decay, insects, damage from ice, salt, abrasion, splintering, chemicals and fire. The superior strength, density, hardness, stability, and durability of Ipe hardwood decks makes it one of the very best materials for an outdoor deck. And one of the most expensive. It is 5 to 7 times more costly than a treated pine deck. Is it worth it? Essentially an outdoor hardwood floor, Ipe makes one of the most beautiful decks available.

Mahogany
Mahogany Wood Deck Long used as the preferred material for wood pleasure boats, mahogany also makes a beautiful deck wood. Mahogany is an old standby — possibly the original premium deck material.

Used extensively in the 1930s and '40s as deck and hull material for power boats, mahogany's resistance to decay and durability in an exposed environment are well known. Mahogany, however, is not really a species of wood as much as it is an umbrella term covering a variety of woods with similar characteristics.

There are many different species and subspecies of mahogany, and some woods called mahogany are not true mahogany at all. Colors can range from white and yellow to light and dark red. True American mahogany, which comes from the West Indies, Mexico, and Central and South America, is dimensionally stable and decay resistant, with a beautiful red color that made it the staple of Chris-Craft wood power boats a few decades ago. You are probably most familiar with this wood in fine furniture. Philippine mahogany (Luan or Meranti), comes in all colors and even has a dark red variety that looks like teak. Luan has a wide range of decay resistance and only some varieties are suitable for decks. Its most common used is in inexpensive hollow-core interior flat doors. Luan must be maintained with water repellent to protect it and keep its dimensional stability. It is not as durable or dimensionally stable as real American mahogany. American mahogany has a beautiful, dark red appearance that will last for decades. True mahogany lasts up to 30-years. Luan somewhat less.
Teak Decking Untreated teak weathers to a silver-gray but can be restored to its original luster with a little sanding and sealing.
Teak
Teak is one of the best deck woods. It is hard enough to resist dents and mars (1000 janka), but no too hard to be worked with fair ease — although it does tend to eat up saw blades. It is another of those woods that started life as a maritime product. It is still commonly used as a material for luxury ship decks and upscale outdoor and patio furnishings.

But it is getting harder to find and more expensive as the planet's tropical forests are depleted. It is very expensive — probably the most expensive natural decking material. In many applications it is being replaced with synthetic teak.

Cumaru
Camaru Decking Camaru decking. Plantation-grown Camaru is considered a "green" sustainable decking material. Cumaru ( Dipteryx odorata) is an exotic hardwood species native to South America also known as Brazilian Teak and Southern Chestnut, and very similar to teak in appearance. It is extremely dense and rich in color depth. Camaru has a yellow brown color that varies from a light yellow to mahogany red. It will darken slightly with exposure to light over a few months. At 3540 Janka, it is about five times harder than pine, cedar or redwood and is generally considered one of the most durable of deck hardwoods. Its life expectancy in a deck is about 25 years, but survival to as long as 50 years have been reported in semi-tropical areas. Sealing is optional. The wood naturally weathers to a silver-gray much the same color as weathered Eastern Red Cedar. It can be stained and fading can be halted at any time with a UV resistant sealer such as Penofin.

Cumaru wood is incredibly fire resistant, having a Class A rating (the same as steel and concrete). Harvested from managed forest projects, it is considered a renewable and sustainable "Green" material. Denser and harder to work that the softwoods, it is considerably more expensive to buy and slightly more expensive to install.

Jarrah
Jarrah or Jarrahwood is the common name of two entirely different woods. The first, (Eucalyptus Marginata) is Jarrah Decking Australian Jarrahwood deck. an Australian import. Widely used in that country for decks and outbuildings, it is a temperate climate cousin of the Eucalyptus and has the reddish hue typical of that family. It is fragrant when fresh, durable, resistant to rot and insect damage.

The second (Manilkara Bidentata) is a tropical wood found in the Caribbean, Central and northern South America. Slightly browner than the Australian native, it is commonly known as Jarrahwood, Massaranduba and South Atlantic Jarrah. It is not related to the Australian Jarrah although it is very similar in appearance and working properties.

Both species are dense and hard. The Australian wood tests at 1910 janka. The tropical variety at 3190 janka. For comparison, Western Red Cedar, one of the softest woods used in decks is 350 janka, and Ironwood (Lignum vitae), the hardest wood known (so hard it was once used for battleship main bearings), is 4500 janka. Both varieties are hard-wearing with a surface texture that finishes well to a deep rich color. Straight-grained Jarrah looks something like a red-stained Douglas Fir and like some composite decking materials (which were in fact modeled on Jarrahwood).

Bamboo
Bamboo Decking Bamboo decking is often ridged for drainage — a good idea except that the ridges tend to collect dirt. There are flat versions available. With strand-woven bamboo flooring growing in popularity, particularly on the West Coast, bamboo decking could not be far behind. Essentially the same material but with an outdoor adhesive resin binder, bamboo decking is just becoming available through U. S. distributors.

The ultimate in sustainable, renewable materials, bamboo is not actually wood. It is grass stalks that have been pulverized into strips, boiled in boric acid (to remove sugars and repel insects), then woven together and finally bonded using some for of a phenolic resin under 2000 tons of pressure into a plank. It depends on its bonding resin for much of its resistance to deterioration.

It is frequently market as a green material, but it really is not. Natural bamboo is useless for decking. It is the elaborate processing it does through, using lots of enviro-unfriendly chemicals and a whole lot of power, that make it a suitable decking material. It may be "greenish", but is not really green.

Bamboo is a wear resistant product with a hardness of 2850 janka — much harder than most natural deck materials. Manufacturers are pretty confident of its durability. Some support their products with a lifetime warranty.

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