Tatajuba Hardwood Decking

Tatatjuba Decking

Tatajuba decking lumber is another one of over 100 hardwood species that thrives in South America.  All of the species that survive in the wet climate of the long rainy seasons in South America are durable and highly resistant to rot and insects.  If the hardwood comes from South America, it is extremely durable.

Tatajuba is golden colored before being exposed to sun and weather.  It quickly turns a deep russet brown in less than 10 days after installation.  Some boards display a beautiful ribbon-like pattern and the color between boards is very consistent.  Costing considerably less than ipe, tatajuba is a very popular decking lumber.  Some find tatajuba more desirable than ipe because of the consistent color from board to board.  Ipe boards vary greatly from light brown to black to tobacco.  Tatajuba boards are also very stable making installation easy.

Tatajuba rates 2200 on the janka scale.  Ipe is at 3600, Tigerwood at 2160 and Oak at 1230.  See a comparison of other woods in the janka scale listed under the “Documents” tab at BWDepot.com.  This janka suggests that it may last 40 years while other woods like ipe, cumaru and purple heart may last as much as 100 years.

The boards below are Tatajuba before they turn color and after they turn.

Purple Heart Hardwood Decking (Roxinho)

Purple Heart decking lumber is another one of over 100 hardwood species that thrives in South America.  All of the species that survive in the wet climate of the long rainy seasons in South America are durable and highly resistant to rot and insects.  If the hardwood comes from South America, it is extremely durable.

Purple Heart is billiard table PURPLE before being exposed to sun and weather.  It quickly turns a reddish brown in less than 10 days after installation.  The grain is pronounced and there is a gentle color variation from board to board.  Costing considerably less than ipe, Purple Heart is a very popular decking lumber.  Some find Purple Heart more desirable than ipe because of the consistent color from board to board.  Ipe boards vary greatly from light brown to black to tobacco.  Purple Heart boards are also very stable making installation easy.

Purple Heart rates 3450 on the janka scale.  Ipe is at 3600, Tigerwood at 2160 and Oak at 1230.  See a comparison of other woods in the janka scale listed under the “Documents” tab at BWDepot.com.  This janka suggests that it will last as long as the most durable woods in the world like ipe and cumaru, which are rated to last up to 100 years.

Even though kiln dried, Purple Heart has a unique characteristic unlike most other hardwood decking.  The boards display light lines of sap at the grain lines, which dry up within the first 2 weeks after installation.  This sap makes the grain lines more pronounced.  Though sticky, the sap does not stick to your feet.  Oiling the boards with good deck oil like Messmers helps reduce this affect.

The boards below are Purple Heart before they turn color and after they turn.

Earth Responsible Green Building Practices

We all need to utilize our planet’s resources responsibly.  For building materials, this means focusing on using materials that meet earth responsible criteria:

• Made from natural materials without chemicals or oil,
• Biodegradable
• Renewable and sustainable or it is reclaimed

The use of chemicals in building materials creates, at some point, the need to dispose of the chemical waste. By utilizing materials void of chemicals we not only avoid exposing our families but also the eventual leaching and cleanup of these dangerous elements from our environment. Using products made from oil increases the need to buy more foreign oil and oil based products which are not biodegradable and clog our landfills. Additionally, the use of oil based products increases the demand for ethanol, a low cost gasoline substitute. This demand increases the farming of soybeans, the primary ingredient used for most ethanol production. The expansion of soybean farming in Brazil is the second largest contributor to rain forest destruction following the destruction caused from low cost beef ranching.

Using biodegradable building materials is important because we don’t want the refuse from our projects to forever clog landfills.  The material should be recyclable, reusable and / or easily disposed of so that it will decay naturally without causing any impact on the environment.

Renewable materials are those that are replanted and replaced so that the continual growth of new trees is sustained.  When trees are logged, more are planted to supply trees for future building.  Oil is not renewable or sustainable.  There is a finite amount of oil on this planet.  Reclaimed material is that which is being used a 2^nd time or otherwise saved from being discarded as trash.  Heart of pine flooring is removed from old structures, planed and installed in newer buildings.  Sunken logs are salvaged from the bottoms of rivers and milled into useable timbers.  Because of its durability, hardwood decking can be removed, refinished and installed again on a new deck.

There are excellent cost effective choices for decking material that demonstrate these basic green building guidelines.  Pressure treated lumber is pumped with chemicals to increase its resistance to rot and bugs and composite decking is made from oil.  However, redwood, cedar and imported hardwood decking all meet green building criteria.  Of these 3 choices, imported hardwood decking is more durable therefore the most cost effective over the life of the deck and most people agree that it is also the most beautiful decking in the world.  Hardwood lumber like ipe’, cumaru, garapa and jatoba from South America is naturally bug and rot resistant needing no chemical additives.  It’s biodegradable, it can be dismantled and used again for another deck (reusable) and the payment for the replanting of new trees is required before logging permits are granted to harvest the lumber (sustainable).

The regeneration of many ipe’ alternatives like jatoba, garapa, massaranduba, angelim and tigerwood require decades to replenish themselves rather than a century.  This is the main reason that Brazilian Wood Depot  supplies these other species.  They are all beautiful, stable and make great decking.

Being earth responsible and building a “green” deck doesn’t cost any extra money.   Hardwood decking looks better and lasts longer than any other options and it also costs less.  Every day more people are becoming aware of the value of hardwood decking.

Cleaning and Refinishing Hardwood Decking

Ipe’, cumaru, jatoba, massaranduba, garapa and tigerwood hardwood decking is the most beautiful decking in the world.  To maintain the color and pronounced grain patterns, you must finish the deck periodically with a good oil-based deck finish made especially for hardwoods.  Finishes that are not specifically developed for hardwoods do not penetrate the wood enough for proper protection.

When ipe’ and these other decking choices are not finished, the pigment will wash out, the color will fade and the boards will gray over time.  All wood grays but the lively color of these woods can be restored.  You can use a cleaner mixed with water to brush the gray out of the decking.  Then, apply the finish.  The restoration is fantastic and the wood looks new again.

Most of these cleaners have oxalic acid as their active ingredient.  This will not harm metals, your hands, plants or concrete.  Wet the decking down with the cleaner, keep it wet for 30 minutes and then push the gray away with a brush.  Rinse off the cleaner and gray residue.  Leave this dry over night and apply the finish.  Flood Company, Penofin, Messmers and other companies all offer good cleaners that perform well.  Only Flood offers the concentrated cleaner in a liquid, which mixes more easily with water than all of the other powder concentrates.

Here are before and after pictures of a deck that had grayed and faded.

Cleaning your hardwood deck does not require the use of a pressure washer. As a matter of fact it is recommended you do not use a pressure washer on hardwoods as they leave streaking and often tend to raise the grain giving a rough undesirable surface. They can also damage surrounding structures.  Light sanding can be done as necessary using caution to avoid removal of the color of coated screws that are not properly countersunk and also to avoid removal of the eased edges on the boards.  You do not want sharp corners on your deck boards.

Cleaning your deck lightly before reapplications of deck finish is a good idea if there is residue, stains or dirt on your deck.  Sometimes, furniture or other metal objects left on your deck will create black stains.  These are easily removed with muriatic acid.  Dilute the acid with water by 50% and dab it on the stain with a rag.  Watch it disappear and rinse it with water.  It’s that easy.  Muriatic acid will not discolor or otherwise harm your deck.

Hardwood decking made from Ipe’, jatoba, cumaru, massaranduba, garapa and tigerwood is the only type of decking that can be restored after graying.  Simply follow the cleaning steps above to remove the gray then refinish the deck after it dries thoroughly.

There are few things in life that are truly “maintenance free” retaining all of the original “like new” properties.  Hardwood decking will retain its durability if it grays but the beautiful color adds much to the wood’s allure.  It’s wonderful that the beauty of your hardwood deck can be restored if the periodic finishing is omitted.

Courtesy Brazilian Wood Depot

Finishing Touch Hardwood Deck Designs

If you think that you want full length boards to avoid seams between the ends of your boards, you may want to consider some other options. Maybe it’s the rot on the ends of the boards you noticed when you took apart your old pressure treated (PT) deck that you’re trying to avoid on your new deck design. Premium hardwood ipe’, cumaru, garapa, jatoba, massaranduba and tigerwood decking is very hard and will NOT rot. Sealing the ends of the boards with wax emulsion during construction prevents end checking (cracking) too. So, seams between the ends of boards will not result in the rot that occurs on PT decks.

Getting past the concern about boards rotting on the ends allows for some interesting deck design and money saving opportunities. You can save money designing your deck allowing seams because fewer long boards 12’ and longer are milled and imported than shorter boards. By mixing your lengths with as little as one third of your lengths less than 12’, you can save up to 20% on the cost of your boards. I know that got your attention.

Borders and angled layouts are popular design features but other layouts can provide interesting deck designs leaving no seams without paying extra for long boards. This first design using different species of decking nicely breaks up a long deck that might otherwise look like a bowling alley. The 2^nd design also uses different species and shorter boards in the middle. The section in the middle can be moved to the border to accent a doorway too.

You can also make your decking look like plank flooring by easing the ends of your deck boards. This is done by quickly rounding over the top edge of the ends to match the already eased edges as you install them. This actually accents the end joints and makes them match the edges. Here are two photos of beautiful jobs done by Atlanta contractor using eased ends.

While cumaru rosa, tigerwood, massaranduba and garapa are very consistent in color from board to board, ipe’ and jatoba boards have more variety. If you install full length boards with a lot of variety, you may cause a “striped” effect. This is easily broken up using eased edges with board joints. This is especially noticeable on smaller or T&G decks. A damaged edge on a board leads to the loss of the entire board on decks designed with full length boards while decks with planned seams can easily use them by cutting out the damaged section. The ends of the boards in the photo below have been eased to match the edges of the divider board. They go together much better than if the square end butted up to the eased edge.

Use seams to enhance the beauty of your deck, create interesting deck designs, utilize hardwoods more responsibly and SAVE MONEY when building your hardwood deck. All of the comments and suggestions here focus on the use of ipe’, cumaru, jatoba, massaranduba, garapa and tigerwood decking and don’t apply to composite and PT decking.

This compilation of feedback from contractors and professional experience was provided by Brazilian Wood Depot.

Best Finish For Ipe’ and Other Hardwood Decking and Siding

Of the decking choices available in the U.S., hardwood decking is gaining popularity more than any other. The durability, beauty and price make Ipe’ (the most well known), cumaru, jatoba, tigerwood, massaranduba and garapa hardwoods the best choices. The varied characteristics between the species provide color and grain patterns for all tastes and budgets.

Finishing the deck correctly is a key factor to maintaining the hardwoods’ beauty. There are popular finishes designed for hardwoods in oil-based and water-based formulas. We’ve tested all of the products on the market that we’ve heard of. We’ve found that while the water-based formulas hold color longer during the first year after application, the premium oil-based formulas give the wood the best luster and perform better over years of continued applications on ipe, cumaru, tigerwood and all of the hardwood species.

Water-based finishes, Flood Company’s UV Hardwood being the best, seal the boards nicely and penetrate well but never bring out the luster of these beautiful hardwoods like oil-based finishes.Follow-up applications do not penetrate as well and leave an opaque color to the wood, which covers that grain’s beauty. Some contractors have noted that oil-based follow-up applications to the original water-based application bring out the luster nicely for ipe’, garapa, massaranduba and other hardwoods. The finish manufacturers do not support mixing products as noted on their web sites and technical support.

The oil-based finishes made specifically for hardwoods performed better over the long term than water-based finishes. Cabot Australian Timber Oil, Penofin Hardwood Deck Oil, Ipe Oil and Messmers UV Plus For Hardwoods are among the top brands that we tested. We found thatMessmers outperforms the others for penetration, luster, long life and ease of application. We tested these products on Ipe’, jatoba, garapa, massaranduba, jatoba, tigerwood, angelim, tatajuba and sucupira with comparable results. Oil is best applied when the sun is low, the wood is dry, above 50 degrees and being sure to back brush or otherwise leave no puddles. Follow-up applications should always be applied after the wood has begun to weather or fade. This could be as soon as 6 months in hot full sun situations or 12 months on boards having less sun exposure.Successive applications will be applied with continually longer periods between applications. The oil and UV protection accumulates in the hardwood without covering up the hardwoods’ natural beauty. If the wood is left to gray, a good hardwood cleaner can be used to lift the gray out without the need to pressure wash or sand your deck. A new application of deck oil brings back its natural beauty.

Notice this selection of boards that we tested in a HOT full sun environment. After 5 months, the oil-based finishes began to fade while the water-based finish held more of its color. When the oil was applied, the oil-based finishes came alive and back to its original luster in the 2^nd photo.

Courtesy Brazilian Wood Depot

Install Fascia, Trim, Border and Wrap Deck Boards To Prevent Cupping or Warping

These accent deck boards that are installed flat on decking structures provide for moisture to be trapped under the deck boards. This trapped mositure will cause the deck boards to cup as the face of the deck boards dry - the edges turn up. Several joists together provide this type of flat surface under border boards and wrapping the visible perimeter joists do too. To prevent this, you can kerf (groove) the bottoms of the deck boards with a skill or table saw before installing the boards. The cuts should be made from end to end on bottom or back of each board 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart and a depth that is 1/2 the thickness of the board. This will prevent cupping. In addition to kerfing the boards, you can wax the bottoms or glue the boards to the structure with subfloor adhesive. This also prevents moisture from affecting the boards.
Courtesy Brazilian Wood Depot