Does anyone know the advantages of using mahogany vs redwood? How much heavier is mahogany than redwood? What would be a good sealer for a deck? I live near the ocean and there is lots of moisture. Thanks

 

Have you considered using pressure-treated pine, which will outlast any untreated wood.
If treated to American Wood Preservers Bureau standards (and marked with the AWPB stamp), it usually has a limited 50-year warranty.
I would go with a brand-name manufacturer, such as Weyerhaeuser, if you choose to go that way. It can be stained or painted.
Good Luck!

 

What I've found is that redwood and cedar are beautiful but soft, ie) they will dent easily. Mahogany will need treating every couple of years (but should you do that anyway)

 

Pros and cons of mahogany vs. redwood also include cost and availability. Here in No. CA, redwood is the deck of choise. But then, they grow it here. It's plentiful and not all that expensive. Go 500 miles north, or east, and the price increases greatly, assuming you can even find it!

 

We don't have the luxury of redwood for our decking so we go with pressure treated pine. The issue then becomes what treatment to use to preserve the pine because with our combination of brackish water and intense sunshine any PT decking will deterioate. We have tried many of the highly advertised commercial wood treatments on our docks and pond decking with no success. We now have two promising candidates, GE's WeatherMate and Olympic's Maximum. We have had part of our 400' dock treated with WeatherMate for 18 months with no deterioation. We used the Olympic product for a new deck and bridge over our fish pond when the supply of WeatherMate was temporarily interrupted. We chose this product because it comes with a three year written guarantee. So far after 8 months it looks great.

 

Ipe,Ipe,Ipe...redwood rails and skirting ....with natural penofin sealer for the decking,redwood penofin sealer for the redwood.your deck will look like a peice of furniture not a deck

 

thomas kramer,

Nothing wrong with Ipe (pronounced E-Pay), but they don't call it ironwood for nothing!! It makes a beautiful deck, but it IS labor intensive to install! As a DIY project, plan accordingly. It requires pre-drilling for all of the screws. To hire it done, you're gonna pay the contractor for all of that labor. If you are hiring the deck done, it'll be more expensive than a vinyl or composite deck, and those are more expensive than a wood deck, at least up front. Composites and vinyl have a lot less maintenance and up keep down the road than any wood deck.