I'm about to build a deck with Ipe decking. I've always liked the look of white stair risers and fascia with the dark wood decking. However, given that the Ipe should be re-stained every year, does that mean I would then need to re-paint the white boards after I stain the Ipe? (since I assume the stain will discolor the white boards) If that's the case, I'll have to go all Ipe - I don't want to repaint every year - unless anyone has another suggestion.
On a related note, the Ipe stair treads will overhang the stair stringers by several inches. If the stringers are pressure-treated, is the usual practice to just stain the PT pine a dark color so it somewhat resembles the Ipe, since the stringers will not be highly visible? Or do most folks cut an Ipe non-structural stringer to tack on to the PT stringer (a few hundred bucks more for a couple 16' 1x12's of Ipe - ugh)? Again, I would go white with the "stringer cover" except for my concerns in paragraph 1.
Thanks for any advice!
Just do not get the IPE stain on the white solid stain when you redo and you will be fine. You want a two-toned deck and it looks great with IPE. All wood that is painted white does not have to be IPE wood. Just use the IPE for the horizontal parts.
Thanks for the quick reply. I guess that's a key (but unwritten) part of my question - how feasible is it to stain the deck and stair treads, and not get it on the fascia and stair risers? It would seem very difficult to me, but I'm not speaking from experience.
People do it all the time. Just stain around the white parts.