Here is a link to some images of my first of two ipe decks I am building: "Current Projects" This deck is a "dock" going from the garage area back to the patio area. Obviously I still need to finish the planter which will probably be sided in ipe to match the deck and I am going to order the wood for that as soon as I get done with this post. The deck was a little tricky to build because I could not dig too deep as our utilities run below it so I had to use joist hangers to be able to keep the deck low enough to be level with the driveway, grass and patio. That ended up making it really tough to keep all of the joists level and thus I ended up with some areas where the decking is not perfect but overall I think I did OK.

While I am pretty happy with the results I am a little concerned with ventilation so maybe some of you more seasoned deck builders can chime in on that. I have about 12" of clearance between most of the decking and the ground below but as you can see the sides of the deck are pretty much level with the ground for the most part. Am I going to have a serious ventilation (thus mold) problem with my deck? If so does anyone have any ideas as to how I can get some air flowing under the deck? Also, we are going to be building an addition directly next to the deck where the grass is. It is going to extend from the patio alongside the deck for about 24' which is approximately where the planter starts. I don't know if that will help of hurt ventilation. Below the pics of the first deck are a couple of the framing for the second deck. I was able to get that deck quite a bit higher off the ground and I will put vents in the fascia of that deck as well.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and all feedback is welcome.

Matt