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Porches & Decks
icyone_gw

Cabot Timber Oil slobbered on Ipe -- salvageable? Help!

17 years ago

I am having Ipe installed on a small second-story deck. The carpenter hasn't used Ipe before, but the carpentry work seems to be going well.

Unfortunately, he showed up with Cabot Australian Timber Oil, purchased at Lowe's. Naturally they didn't give him any info, and I could not find anything directly applicable to Ipe on the Cabot site.

After installing the first 6-7 boards Friday afternoon, it was time to leave, and before leaving he applied oil -- lots of it, with a fat roller. Now it is a gummy, sticky, disgusting-looking mess.

I've searched everywhere & learned something about oiling Ipe, but not what I can do about this existing mess -- other than rip it out & start over. I do NOT want the gray weathered look -- this deck is directly outside my living-room, with cedar & Doug fir everywhere, and I am investing $$ to have it look NICE. I don't know whether this mess can be cleaned off or if it would have to be sanded, and in either case, what the wood would look like, and how it would take oil compared with fresh boards on the rest of the deck.

The installed area is about 1/4 to 1/3 of a ~100 sq foot deck. Is it even worth trying to clean this up, or should I just throw in the towel & tell him to order up extra boards & start over. (And BTW get oil from a real lumber yard, with real product information, and put it on myself...)

Thanks for any advice..

Icyone

Featured Answer
  • 17 years ago

    Finally a question on this site I have an answer to!

    My Dad had a similar problem - not the same product but an oil was put on the deck. If theres only 6 or 7 boards that have oil on them, I would just throw them out and have your carpenter replace them. Otherwise, we used a hot power-washer. The importer said Ipe doesn't absorb quickly so we lucked out and if this just happened you should too. I dont remember what we used to stain the deck but any Ipe importer or supplier should have a better answer than Lowes.

    Comments (6)

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