Azek decking repels stains and never fades. Of course we used Deckmaster Hidden Brackets. With decking this good, who wants to see screw heads? In the few areas where we couldn’t use Deckmaster we used Cortex screws and plugs that match the Azek perfectly. You have to look really closely to see the plugs.

The railing design was a unique blend of materials using Azek for the rails and cap, painted redwood posts, and Fortress Pure View bronze tinted tempered glass balusters. The color worked perfectly, tying together the Azek Brownstone and the dark stain of the redwood siding on the house.

This huge deck took over three months to build. Not only was the site was quite challenging but there were also a variety of complicated areas that needed fussing. The crew took all the challenges in stride and the results are immaculate. The angled stairway was particularly problematic and Miguel really showed an artists touch in the way he fanned the deck boards on the landing.

The Santa Rosa building inspector gave us a great compliment on this project. He said that if everybody built decks like ours, we wouldn’t need building departments! Coming from a guy who has seen hundreds of decks we really appreciated the compliment.

Miguel Flores – Foreman
Alberto Curcio – Head Carpenter
Eli Jacobs – Carpenter
Paul Klawiter – Carpenter’s Apprentice

The view of San Francisco Bay is the prime feature of this Mill Valley (Marin County) location and we wanted it to be as unobstructed as possible. We ruled out tempered glass which requires regular cleaning and Cable Rail seemed like the best option. Our client initially wanted a composite deck but after he saw ipe he realized that the stunning appearance of this exotic hardwood could not be passed up.

Built with Ipe Hardwood

Ipe is in my opinion, among the best deck woods in the world. It comes from South America, is highly rot resistant, and is 80% harder than oak. Ipe is also one of the most expensive deck materials both to purchase and install. Building a deck with Ipe is literally like building a large piece of furniture. It takes about twice as long to install a deck with ipe versus redwood or composite decking.

Every Screw Hidden

With wood this beautiful, the last things we wanted to see were screw holes in the floor. Of course we used the Deckmaster Hidden Bracket in most locations. However, due to the design of the understructure, many deck boards sat directly on top of beams which left no access for Deckmaster Brackets. There were also many areas on the rail that needed screws. In all these areas we elected to hide our screws using ipe plugs. This is quite time consuming because we had to pre-drill, countersink, drive the screw and then glue in the plug. The results however were well worth the effort.

Custom Notching Around Posts

Building with ipe requires every cut to be precise. It really tests the skill of the builder to notch around posts and other obstructions. Some of the deck boards on this project took three hours to cut and install. We just had to keep fussing until they came out right.

Stainless Steel Cable Rail Ices the Cake

There are a number of Cable Rail manufacturers. We selected a product by Feeney (http://www.cablerail.com/) because it seemed to be the most complete system and readily available at our local lumber yards. They start with marine grade stainless steel and include all the components required to make installation simple. Simple does not mean easy though, especially when building with ipe. Just drilling through the 4×4 posts gave us fits. Several drill bits ended up looking like ornate pieces of pasta after the ipe twisted them up.

There has been some controversy about how to make cable rails comply with building code regulations. The cable must be 1/8” diameter and spaced no more than 3” apart. When a 50 pound weight is hung from the cable, the space between cables may not exceed 4” at any point.

One thing I really like about ipe is that there are several styles of shaped rail caps available. They look and feel like fine furniture and nobody can resist reaching out and their hands along the cap.

Miguel Flores – Foreman
Alberto Curcio – Head Carpenter
Eli Jacobs – Carpenter
Paul Klawiter – Carpenter’s Apprentice

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The proud owner of this stunning deck was interviewed by the Prime Buyers Report and I was happy to receive the following email:

“Good afternoon Weston,

I just had a lovely chat with Bill Fxxx. He loves you and couldn’t say enough good things about your work. When he answered the phone, I told him you’d given me his name as a reference and I was wondering about his experience with Deckmaster Fine Decks. He said the truth is that your ego is completely wrapped up in the quality of your work. He raved about how he is thrilled with the deck, and he was blown away that you took time to cut out paper templates and even used scrap wood to cut exact pieces to ensure they’d fit before you cutting the ipe. He told me every contractor who comes to his house says “wow” and comments how great the deck is. He also said your work is flawless, and he told me that your background in furniture making makes a difference–nothing in his house looks as great as his deck.

What a wonderful reference he is for you. You should be very proud your customers are so devoted to you and in love with your work. I’m so glad I had the chance to talk with you and share your information with the public. I hope we help find you many more thrilled customers.

Have a great day,

Lauren

Lauren Bongard Schwarz
Associate Editor
The Prime Buyer’s Report”