How Is Ipe More Eco-Friendly Than Composite for Decking?

When I was young, my father told me not to take things at face value but to research it and look into the statements being presented. Of course I paid little attention to those words of wisdom. As I grew older I learned the value of those words. This is truly a complex and diverse world we live in and as technology expands so does our access to knowledge unlike anything before. This being said, we also live in a world of instant gratification and that can hinder our choices to make an informed decision.

We want it and we want it now. It looks great and sounds great so let's get it done yesterday. The problem results when we realize we didn't get what we thought we were getting and if we had taken the time to research and examine what we were jumping into that the choice would have been different. I know the story of your life but when you are spending $5,000-25,000 on a product, it's not that easy to correct it.

Take for example, the decking industry. This industry is growing by leaps and bounds, just take a look at the number of composite and PVC decking companies that have popped up in the last decade. The marketing ploy has been use eco-friendly products and help save the trees but what it breaks down to is a product with a bad track history and no place to recycle the deck when it has to be replaced due to deterioration, de-lamination, molding, fungus growth, warping and discoloration just to name a few. PVC decking emits VOC's and if near a fire can gas off toxic fumes for some time after fire has been extinguished. How is a deck eco-friendly when it has to be replaced in 5-10 years and has resins that do not decomposed opposed to wood, which naturally decompose back to the earth?

Eco-friendly and recycled sounds great but lets examine this, recycled plastic and sawdust manufactured for long term outdoor exposure with extreme weather temperatures and standing water. The numerous lawsuits and closed composite companies as well as the unanswered warranty requests would answer that. Research has been done on recycled plastics and it does not have the original tensile strength that the original plastic had so utilizing a product that doesn't have the tensile strength it once had doesn't sound like it would work for a product that you trust will hold people. The PVC that some companies boast as a superior deck would sound logical if it weren't for all the health issues that are directly linked to it. As for recycling, PVC was labeled a contaminant in 1998 and efforts to recycle it were declared a failure by the Association of Post Consumer Plastics Recyclers.

Tropical decking such as ipe last 50 plus years without any treatments and decomposes back to the earth. There are companies that plant 4-5 trees for every tree that is felled. There are other species such as cumaru, tigerwood and garapa that also last without treatment and are available from sustainable forests and legally obtained. Our government has processes that assure that we report our suppliers and information on container stuffing to ensure we obtain legal lumber. Our earth has supplied us from the beginning of time with this precious resource and in order to avoid using the land for cattle and agricultural cropping, buying wood ensures we preserve our land for wood.

Rosi Lehr is a contributing writer for Advantage Trim & Lumber Co.
Ipe Decking

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