Ipe, Brazilian Redwood, Mahogany, and other imported hardwoods travel a long way to get here. From the manufacturing process the wood usually ends up with sap stains, wax stains, mildew, and other forms of discoloration. Additionally the wood picks up a layer of soot, dirt and grime along it's journey from the mill to your house. As you get these pieces from your local lumberyard, they may still look good, but nothing like they look after they've been cleaned, sanded or planed smooth. You can get a floor sander to clean up your deck surface after it's been built, but who will take the time to do the proper preparation of your railings? Forget about trying to sand everything clean after it's been installed. This is where JrMillworks comes in. Not only do we clean, sand, and plane our railing lumber, but we shape it into beautiful, elegant, functional shapes.

A distinction has to be made here for understanding purposes. JrMillworks is not promising you perfect furniture finish lumber. We do not govern the manufacturing process or moisture content or the drying process of your deck materials. You are still buying a grade of decking lumber as if from your local lumber yard. You will still see occaisional saw marks or a deep down dirt mark or a host of other blemishes that is inherent to all decking lumber. We simply take a reasonable amount of time to clean it up. We sand and shape or cut all surfaces so all the dirt and grime is removed, and it appears to be at it's best. It's not quite furniture quality - but it's darn close - and better than you could ever buy from your lumberyard. That's what you are paying for, a total upgrade in shape and cleanliness in hardwood deck railings. Now you're ready for your stain or finish and your railings look like furniture.

Deck Fasteners
After your decking is initially installed, it should be sanded clean ready for a nice finish. Additionally, about every 4 to 6 years you may want to re-new your decking by having a floor sander run his machine over your deck making it look brand new again. Sanding takes off a small layer of your deck and usually can not be done when the deck has been top fastened with screws unless the screws have been recessed at least an 1/8". Stainless steel screws are what is reccommended by most manufacturers for all types of decking. Today they also have color coated stainless steel decking screws which tend to hide themselves from visibility. There are also blind fastening systems which attach to the deck board's edge or underside and completely frees up your top surface for even more sandings. See the Eb-TY fastening system. However, we have been following Ipe deck installations and have seen that stainless steel finishing nails used in a pnuematic air gun shot in on an angle, along with construction adhesive (we like PL-Premium adhesive) seems to be the only way to go. We've demonstated that 16 guage stainless nails can penetrate the Ipe decking with no problem. On the 3/4" and 1" boards, a 2-1/2" stainless finish nail will almost always bury it's head from view without splitting or checking at the nail hole - (not 100% but nearly)...If you look at the deck, you see no nails, but if you look hard, you can find the tops of the little shiny heads here and there. The only place that will split with the pnuematic nails or any nails for that matter is at the very ends of the boards where you nail down to the first and last deck joists. The solution to this problem is to place an additional joist about 4 to 6 inches in from the end joist, and do your end nailing there and just glue - no nailing at the very end.

The cost and labor advantage of pnuematic nailing and gluing is tremendous compared to the alternatives.

As far as I'm concerned, the hidden fastening systems are still out to lunch. They are expensive - labor intensive, and we still wonder about how it will stand up after going through a bunch of freeze -thaw cycles. At the lumber yard we've experienced complaints of the clips loosening, and complaints of the boards warping or picking up because the fasteners don't allow for the deck board to move. When Ipe wants to move, you better give it some room or else something gives. The ipe will expand and contract, and if you don't have the free space available for it to grow into, it will force itself against the adjacent board and one of them will lose the battle and pick up. For the above reasons, we don't reccomend 'hidden fasteners'.

Deck Finishes
Finishing your hardwood deck is a major consideration. I believe Penofin is the best product for your hardwood deck. The challenge is to find a long lasting product with uv's, mildewsides, and oils that penetrates the deepest into the hardwood surface. Penofin proves itself with it's highest quality ingredients and it's blotter tests. Unfortunately, even with the best finish, you will need to re-apply it about every 2 years in an effort to keep the look. Additionally, after cutting each piece of lumber for your deck, you should immediately apply a coating of Anchor Seal to the ends of the wood to help prevent the ends from splitting and checking.