Thanks Rhoda!

What maintenance was done over the 5 years?

Not much. You can see from a more recent photo that it weathered a bit near the walkway. We also recently built a wall the shield the garbage area with a similar design:
http://www.houzz.com/viewReview/70689/Bill-Fry-Construction---Wm--H--Fry-Const--Co--review
:) Rhoda

I've been wondering the same thing. I'm building rainwall with IPE on a new project and I'm very concerned about how to treat it, if at all. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a rendering of the project

If you want the color to stay the same, the homeowners will need to maintain it. I'd wonder how other IPE projects are holding up in the city with the fog and salty air.

There is a project down the street from me in Noe Valley, Bill, that has a version of an IPE rainwall that appears to be holding up well. It appears that the PE was finished with multiple coats of some type of exterior grade polyurethane or similar though.

we have extensive (and expensive) experience with using ipe for decks, stairs, siding, and railings. if the client, architect or designer is choosing ipe for it's beautiful color they should be building their decks INSIDE their houses. the wood is so dense and oily, it does not hold any finish well enough to maintain that beautiful color for long. there is a house in the laurel heights area in s.f. with ipe siding which has been refinished 3 times that I know of in the last 6 years, each time with a different process! not worth the effort or expense.

What r best n lasting finishing options for exterior Ipe sidings to retail colour n dimensions