Thought I would post a second useful bit of info. I apologize in advance for not having any pictures.
After ~4 years our ipe deck was seriously gray. We really loved the furniture quality look of the deck when it was new so we decided to refinish it. Following advice learned here we did it with the Penofin Tropical hardwood formula sealant. Short story-it looks awesome.
Long story. First I cleaned the deck with detergent and a deck brush to get off the regular dirt. The wood was still really gray (of course) so we had to use the whitener and brighter penofin sells also. After trying many different things we settled on drywall screens as the best thing to scrub the gray away. You flood an area with the whitener let is sit for a bit then scrub it with a drywall screen to scrub/sand away the gray.
After that we applied the sealant and WOW it made the wood look new again. I really love how the deck looks with the hidden fasteners and the long expanses of great looking wood.
We waited a full week before using the deck and we had one problem. We also have tropical hardwood deck furniture (which we refinished the same way-looks like new again) and some of the chairs scratched the finish. I don’t know why it was only scratching in some spots? Maybe we didn’t let it dry long enough?
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to renew their ipe deck. Its been several months since we refinished and the deck still looks pretty much the same. No real appreciable fading
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
Replies
We originally refinished the deck with a useless worthless product called SunFrog....arrgh. Followed all the direction to a T and the wood was bleaching out after less than a month.
We never did anything else but clean the deck with mild soap-water since then.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
"SunFrog..'I thought that was a brand of sun screen for people.
"SunFrog..'
I thought that was a brand of sun screen for people.
That's BullFrog you're thinking of I think. This sunfrog stuff was useless all I remember now was that the label was white and green-don't buy it.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
You need to clean and re-seal every year for a couple of years, then every other year. Maybe every third year if the sun exposure isn't too great there.
You need to clean and re-seal every year for a couple of years, then every other year. Maybe every third year if the sun exposure isn't too great there.
For which product are you talking about? The original product worked so badly that I tossed it and never used it again.
For the penofin I believe that the can says that 3 months after the first application you are supposed to clean the deck and reapply it and then one year after that do it again and then thats its.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
I am refering to the Penofin. We used it on our last house. Beautiful product on Ipe.But sun breaks it down. You will not be happy with leaving it after a third application. At least not long term. But all you have to do is clean and re-apply whenever it seems to be graying. Sort of, touch up the roots kinda thing.
I used to sell paint professionally before I was an electrician. In my experience anything that leaves a surcoating on a deck is destined to peal/flake. Just out of curiosity I wonder if you have the product on a little too thick?
Just a thought on your scratching.
Chris
Hi Chris,
Hmmm, that could be I was laying it on thick. But only so much soaks in anyways and you have to go back over it to remove the extra.
Still I would highly reccomend the Penofin.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
Thats good to know, the deck is a project that is "on deck" for next summers Honey do list...
Chris
That's good to know Penofin is working. I live over the hill from you (a little hotter) and my first try junk product was Cabot's Australian Timber Oil. Andybuildz has had good luck with it but mine was gone in 4 months, over winter. I refinished with Superdeck, which is only OK. So now I'm collecting all the relevant (CA, low VOC) experiences for my next refinish.
The other strong reco I've gotten is Messmer's. There is a hardwood decking distributor in Santa Rosa who tests them all, and they say this one lasts the longest. My daughter just put it on her deck and it looks great.
She pre-finished - all sides - and she was a little agressive with the surpluss wipedown so we're going to put on another coat when we're done screwing it down. Live & learn :-)
I'm not sure if applying one finish on top of another on top of another is a good thing.
We waited for the ~4 years and had a very silver-gray deck before we used the Penofin. So I was pretty sure there wasn't going to be any other of the old sealer on the wood.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
No arguement - any remaining finish will be long gone before the next product goes on.
Here is a pic of Ipe new. I also recomend sealing the end grain w/ anchor seal to prevent checking.
I used Sikkens SRD and am happy so far -- took longer to dry than the can said -- but I also got about 50% greater coverage than indicated -- coverage was rated for cedar not IPE. Anyway my deck looks great, all 800+ sq feed of it.
Les
Hi Les,
How long have you had the sikkens on the deck for?
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
I put the SRD on about 2 months ago -- I've got two people where I work that sing the praises of the Sikkens products. It is also what the "Deck Clip" people recommended. It really popped the grain pattern on the wood -- Rain (funny it started raining this last week in Seattle) - just beads up on it.
Les