Ipe & Hardwood Decking

The species we build with

Ipe is the benchmark — dense enough to sink in water, and hard enough that every screw hole has to be pre-drilled. Mangaris and Kayu Batu (also sold as Red Balau) sit slightly below it on density and price, and both make excellent decks.

Density is the whole story with these woods. It is what gives them their decades of service life, and it is also what makes them unforgiving to work: carbide tooling, pre-drilling every fastener, and a much slower install than a composite deck of the same size. A crew that treats Ipe like redwood will split boards and strip screws all day.

Fasteners are not a detail

High-extractive woods react chemically with iron. The USDA Forest Products Laboratory documents this directly: the discoloration is a reaction between extractives in the wood and iron in steel fasteners, and because galvanized coatings still contain iron, staining is likely with them. Their recommendation is stainless, particularly for screws.

That is why we use stainless throughout on hardwood, and why we usually run a hidden fastener system that engages the edge groove of the board instead of face-screwing. No plugs to fall out, no fastener heads to stain around, and the board can move seasonally without splitting at a fixed screw.

Fasteners and connectors also need to be the same material as each other. Mixing metals in a wet exterior assembly is how you get galvanic corrosion in ten years instead of never.

Fire zones: the supplier matters more than the species

This is the single most misunderstood thing about hardwood in Los Angeles. In a fire hazard severity zone, "Ipe" is not an answer. The California State Fire Marshal lists specific products from specific suppliers, not species in general — one supplier's Ipe carries a Class A listing, another's carries Class B, and another's was never submitted for testing at all. The board looks identical in all three cases.

Kayu Batu is listed Class A with no conditions attached, which makes it a straightforward choice in fire zones. For Ipe we check the specific supplier against the State Fire Marshal's Building Materials Listing before it goes on a material schedule, not after plan check flags it.

We buy our hardwood locally in the Valley and, where it matters, from Advantage Lumber. On any fire-zone job we specify the fire-rated stock.

Living with it

Left alone, these woods weather to a silver-grey and lose nothing structurally. Oiled once a year or so, they hold the deep brown people buy them for. Both are legitimate choices; the grey one is free.

What hardwood does not do is fade quietly like composite. It is a natural material and it moves, checks slightly at the ends, and shows its grain. People who want hardwood want exactly that.

Call (818) 345-2866.