Protecting and Staining Ipe, Mahogany, and Ironwood Deck or Porch Floor

We have tested numerous coatings over the years, and all have certain advantages and disadvantages to specific jobs. We continually test a variety of available wood care products. All the deck coatings we feature at PaintSource.net are the best we have found in various product categories.

Exotic hardwood has always been a challenge. One TIME is our product of choice for exotic hardwood where a natural, non-varnished look is desired. It does bring out the natural beauty of the wood like an oil, darkening and enhancing. One TIME addresses and overcomes almost every disadvantage and performance shortcomings of traditional oils, new acrylics, and other products (drying issues, film-building, lap-marks, peeling, short-life, poor appearance). One Time cures in the sunlight and becomes part of the wood structure. There is no film building even with repeat applications. There are no lap marks, and there is no solvent hazard. It is environmentally friendly for use around water, and does not require harsh chemicals or strippers for later maintenance (also a plus around water). One TIME uses transoxide pigments which are premium UV blockers, but also very translucent and natural looking.

A huge advantage of One TIME Wood Protector is the ease of application, and lack of lap marking. Backside and end grain can be sealed prior to construction, and any bleed or runover to the front side blends in when we coat the topside after construction. It is very critical that low to ground decking, and porch flooring be backside sealed prior to installation. You still want to minimize run-over, but most products are very tedious and difficult to precoat with when trying to coat the back without getting coating on the board face. One Time is very forgiving of frontside overrun.

Below is is a client's deck finished with One TIME Golden Honey on Garapa Gold:

On new exotic hardwood, like Mahogany, Cumaru, Ipe, etc., I like to see the wood dry and weather 2-3 months to lose a little of the surface oils, and draw in the sealer. Acetone wipe can be used for quicker application, but weathering a little is always best. After weathering, we consider preparing the wood with an oxalic acid brightener. If wood is coated quickly when new, we may see a little shorter life on the first application if we are unable to deliver enough product into the surface. I like clients to understand the nature of hardwood. We normally get about 250-300 sq ft / gal on most wood, but we see more like 400 sq ft / gal on hardwood, so obviously we are getting about half the amount of product on the surface of the hardwood. We sometimes see greater longevity of the color after the second application in a couple of years, after the wood is a little seasoned.

Staining Ipe, Mahogany, and Ironwood

No stain lasts forever on tropical hardwoods or Ironwood, but One TIME lasts the longest. While One TIME is not the “silver bullet” we all seek, it is the closest we can get. While it will lighten and need rejuvenation, we at least get a fantastic summer and full winter out of it. Most oils go only around 6-8 months on tropical hardwood, with little protection and no beauty left by fall, going into the winter months. The winter graying leads to needed harsh chemistry, and sometimes sanding.

One TIME does not require, or need, any harsh chemistry to maintain. It will not darken or lead to stripping. You can simply clean with a detergent like Simple Green, SoilX, or Dirtex, and recoat as desired. One TIME cannot soak as deeply into Ipe as it does into most domestic woods, so be sure to apply maintenance coat thinly on tropical hardwood when color becomes faded. Maintenance and touchup is very easy with this product.

The only limitation of the One TIME is that it does require UV to cure, so it cannot be used in a covered and screened in area. Test a small sample board in any deeply covered area that gets no sunlight.



See Colors on Wood

OneTIME on Hardwood video discussion.

More on Tropical Hardwood


Doug

Deck Care Advice

This is part of our “Common Problems/ Better Solutions Series featured at PaintSource.net.

Please pass this article to anyone you know who is about to stain or paint a wooden deck. You may be ready to stain your own deck. It may be your neighbor. It may be a contractor you are hiring to stain your deck. Why should you care what you, your contractor, or your neighbor uses on his deck, you might ask? 

Consider This:1. The average deck stain available at Home Depot or Lowes, and all the ones highly advertised usually last about 1-2 years on most decks. Then you or your neighbor get out the deck stripping and cleaning chemicals that will be rinsed into the ground in your neighborhood. Then they might use a GASOLINE powered pressure washer to rinse, destroying the peace and quiet of the only Saturday you have had off in weeks. Finish off the day with the noise of a SANDER, then multiply that by all the decks in your neighborhood, and you have a bunch of pollution and noise on a regular basis. These problems that can be eliminated through using proven solutions featured on the PaintSource Network.

2. We know what works, and we know what doesn’t from over 20 years experience in wood care. We have used and tested countless wood coatings, and only a few products out there really last.

3. You should consider kiln dried wood, or  to get treated wood dry before you build your deck. Why would you build your deck with wet wood, knowing it will Warp and Twist,and Split, as it rapidly and uncontrollably dries out once you unbundle it? Read More

Simply order your wood a couple of months before you plan to build your deck. Have it unbundled and restacked, allowing air movement between the boards. Use thin wood strips or rack wood, and cover from the sun, best indoors if space allows. Wood can be slowly dried (sometimes with dehumidifier) and even sanded and coated, ALL 6 SIDES, before installation.

Backside coating is an important step to get a good looking, low maintenance, low cost Deck Care Solution. If wood is near the ground, and the sun beats down on the top surface, moisture is drawn from the cool ground underneath up through the bottom side of the boards. This causes expansion and contraction of the wood, leads to cupping of the boards, and greatly reduces the long-term performance of any coating. Even elevated decks will absorb moisture through the uncoated backside, even if the lumber is "pressure-treated". More

For new wood, we have found One TIME can be applied on new wood dried about 30 days, sometimes sooner. Many Stains and wood coatings fail due to original application on wood that is either too wet, or wood that is too polished from the milling process. We like the ability to coat the topside quickly after building the deck to prevent UV damage. Smooth Cedar and Redwood should be weathered a bit before applying One TIME.

If you are building a new deck, get your wood dry before you build, prepare the wood , sand it, choose a proven solution, coat it (including end-grains), install it, coat the top, and maintain as directed.

If you have a deck with existing failed coating, you will likely need to strip and possibly sand the surface for proper performance of the new stain or coating.

Help us stamp out the injustice of inferior deck stains and water-proofers, by making good choices before you build or stain a deck. Nature will love you for it, and so will the family. Less work on your deck means more time for other things.

More on Decks: PaintSource Blog
More on Decks: PaintSource Deck Care Solutions

We feature additional insight for wood deck care at PaintSource Radio.
Words of Wisdom: Don't go for plastic wood. More on that topic soon.
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