Merbau Decking

deck king

A local supplier by me is pushing Merbau decking over Ipe. He said the wood is only available for decking, but Ipe would match for the rails, stairs and pergola. Being that the cost of the decking is half the price of Ipe, it's appealing. ( it could save the home owner about $ 7,000.00)
Have any of you used this wood, and does it match perfectly.
I am trying to offer the best product to my customer, and maybe save them some money, but quality comes first. Thanks for any help!

Chris G

I have never used it, but a quick search revealed that it is about half as hard as Ipe, (1712 on the Janka scale), and not as dense, so it may not be as stable. I would avoid hidden fasteners if that's the case and face screw everything. Also, 1 x 4 will have less movement than 1 x 6, (albeit more labour), so you may want to go with that. These are just thoughts though.

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DecksEtc

You're the deck king, I'm surprised you don't know the answer.

You know the answer to everything else...

John Hyatt

East Teak sells that stuff Pawnster, its good for bugs,nice looking stuff, heatwood is stable far as shinkage goes if dryed the right way. ET sells it as inside trim material

The thing with the indo asian lumber all together is the splits/big cracks exposed to the Sun. You might get a short of it and lay it out, see what happens. J.

Side Note>> you cant really go by weight completley as a quality guage look at Teak its feather light.<<

deck king

"Knowing the answer to Everything else" is a little over stated. I however, am not afraid to admit when I don't know something. Any input about a new product is greatly appreciated !

deck king

Thanks for the info John. If There is any chance of the stuff performing differently from Ipe, then I will stick with Ipe.

RobertCDF

Well you have never shown that attitude on here before.

What I would have expected out of someone like you would be this below.

" I want to use this decking because it could save me $7,000 on this job, but I dont want to get busted by the HO by using a cheaper material and not giving him a price break. Do you think anyone will notice that its not ipe? I would really love to rip this guy off -deck king"

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Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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deck king

Rob, I have never said anything close to what you " expected out of me"
while I admit to defending the facts as I have known them to be true, I always have the best interest of my customers at heart and offer the very best quality of materials and craftsmanship! If you could please show me an example of where I would have given anyone this idea of my values. I would like to thank you for bringing this to my attention and correct my statements.

WBI

Deck King, I'm a direct importer that specializes in both Indo and South American decking. Merbau is an excellent decking product that is very similiar in appearance to Ipe. If the customer plans to let the wood 'gray out' then Merbau is a great choice because it's natural oils make it compable to Ipe in it's longevity of service and it's of course much less expensive. Although the species is roughly half as hard on the janka hardness scale, it feels much denser than one would imagine. Merbau also tends to be more consistent in color. If the owner wants to save some money, then they will be very happy with the choice.
That said, I wouldn't say the species are a perfect match but they are close enough to be used in conjunction.

John Hyatt

WBI,,your so full of it your eyes are brown.

WBI

Wow John. That's a bit strong. What part of my statement do you have an issue with?

John Hyatt

Strong is what you get over here Dude.

Put on your big boy panties and google it up yourself. The lumber is not good for decking or exposed to the sun/weather at all it will split/crack big time in a very short time. To stack it up with Ipe or any other SA lumber is total sales hype.

I dont have to base that on google I got rooked into using it one time by a bad supplier,kinda like you,cost me around $1200 to replace that lumber with SA. J.

WBI

John, I don't need to google anything on this species, we have been importing it in volume for decades...decades. Merbau has a decent market in the Northeast and California. If it was a bad product it wouldn't have a market still. Now granted Ipe is a superior product in every way and we sell far more of it than Merbau, but Merbau is still an excellent decking species and will last almost as long as Ipe if it is properly maintained. Given the price difference, that makes it a very good value.
If you had a claim on Merbau then one of three things happened. You didn't actually receive true Merbau (there are some woods that look similiar but quickly degrade. That's where you need to have an experienced supplier that works with reputable mills and inspects all loads very carefully). You should only buy it if it has a warranty. The second is that you didn't educate your customer on the characteristics of the wood. Yes, you will get a fair amount of surface checking but that is normal and does not affect the structural integrity or life span of the deck ( you see the same thing in Cumaru and Tigerwood from SA). The third and most common problem we see is the installer not following the instructions regarding spacing, hardware, and proper ventilation.

John Hyatt

Blaaa Blaaa Blaaa.

I get my stuff from East Teak. The guy that giped me was local it was a small job and he called it ipe. I dident even look at it until it was installed bad call but I thought I could trust the man. Anyway it started to split not check one day in the sun. Belive me I dont need schooling on the differance.

Then there is the matter of Tannin drip,kinda like sap, that goes on for 6 months or so. I would put on Garapa long before I would put merbau on a tool crate. Garapa is less money with no problems at all.

WBI

Deck King, what ever happened with this project? Did the customer go with an Ipe or Merbau deck?

deckman22

You should learn something about online forums like this one. There's a line at the top of post that has the date it was made. This one is 13 months old. The deck king blew out of here long ago & I doubt he'll be back to answer your post.

Digging up old post gets.........well old.

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