What are the best alternatives to Ipe for hardwood decking?

By Steve Getsiv, 07/16/25

Ipe was listed as CITES Appendix 2 effective November 2024. Volumes in Ipe have been drastically reduced and customers need an alternative hardwood decking choice. Although Ipe is generally still available in limited quantities from many distributors and lumber yards, new shipments from South America have been reduced to around 10% of former imported quantities. Many companies took large positions in anticipation of this projected shortfall. Most major US markets have now run their inventories down to the point where suppliers can no longer meet demand. It's time for alternatives.

Why Hardwood? Biophilic Design Principles.

Natural beauty. Random patterns that don't repeat. The beautiful grain of tropical hardwood. Ribbon sawn, quarter sawn, cathederal patterns... The key difference between man-made materials and natural materials is the way that it makes you feel when you're hanging out on your deck, in your study, looking up at your wood ceiling, or staring into the depth of a beautiful piece of furniture. It makes you feel relaxed. It's a stress reducer.

First Place - World's Ugliest Deck

Conversely, if you happen to be in a space that has the typical (awful) repeated patterns of wood grain commonly found in PVC / composite decking and fake wood porcelain tile, or fake wood laminates; well, I'm sorry, it's just not very relaxing, is it? It elevates my heart rate and just makes me want to lash out at the next person that I encounter. These ugly products should not be part of your daily living space.

Second Place - World's Ugliest Deck

And Now for Something Completely Different...
A Beautiful (Relaxing) Natural Wood (Ipe) Deck

Why is Ipe SO FANTASTIC? Is anything else even close?

As the world's premier hardwood for exterior decking, Ipe is stable, strong, hard, dense, and beautiful - it looks great when it is first installed; it looks great after it ages to a lustrous silver; and it looks great after refinishing with an oil-based transparent wood stain.

So, ideally, we need to find a replacement wood that at least comes close to Ipe in all these categories. There are plenty of woods that are just as dense, strong and hard as Ipe - Torem, Massaranduba, Golden Balau, Red Balau / Batu, Cumaru (now CITES Appendix 2 as well), just to name a few. In terms of stability, none of these woods comes close to Ipe other than Torem. Unfortunately for Torem, it does not take an oil-based wood stain as well as Ipe; and it does have a dark burgandy color as opposed to a dark brown; but otherwise, it's a fantastic choice. Massaranduba, which is the same genus (Manilkara) as Torem has been tried many times in the US market; it just checks way too much - lots of small micro checks that are impossible to eliminate.It also has twice movement of Ipe; Torem, the same genus of wood, is much more stable (see chart below). Golden Balau isn't a bad choice but it's lighter in color, varies +/- 10% in density, and it's much less stable than Ipe. Red Balau / Batu is a good choice and already very popular in the North America. Red Balau is a bit less stable and it's definitely not as strong, hard or dense, but it's pretty close. Cumaru is on the same "list" as Ipe so it's protected environmentally - and it checks like crazy, and it's not very stable. Enough said.

All of these secondary wood species are commonly used in exterior decking. They are definitely more finicky when it comes to installation. You can't make any installation mistakes. You need to folllow all the rules: acclimate the boards completely prior to installation; allow for great air flow and ventilation around the deck boards with proper ground clearance; you have to finish the material with a good oil-based wood stain; you have to wax all the end cuts; you have to gap the boards 1/4" edge to edge. No mistakes. And you'll still end up with an occasional board that needs to replaced and 6 months to a year due to twist or warp. Any lack of ventilation on the bottom side of the deck and you'll get lots of cupping.

What does the Science say?

Let's now take a look at what the laboratory testing shows. We'll start with stability and then look at all the physical properties. The Water Absorption Thickness Swell (WATS) tests measure how much expansion a piece of wood will undergo from fully acclimated to soaking wet. Samples are usually selected for both flat sawn and quarter sawn and reported separately. Samples are measured initially in thickness and width and then soaked in a water bath until they stop swelling which can take up to several weeks. This is a great indicator of how stable the wood species will be in an exterior exposed application.

Stability Testing - WATS

There's an obvious winner here, other than Ipe. Did you guess right? It's Torem by a long shot. Why? Because it expanded EVENLY - that's huge when it comes to performance in the field. It means that cupping, warping, and twisting are all less likely to occur. Points for Torem.

Mechanical Testing

Torem is the only species in the same range as Ipe. Batu and Bangkirai are both plenty strong, just not as strong as Ipe or Torem. More points for Torem

Hardness? Again, no question that Torem is the winner. Again the only species in the same hardness range as Ipe.

Density? Again, Torem shoots from the 3 point line and drains it. Game over.

In our opinion, Torem ranks at the top of the heap for alternatives to Ipe. As Ipe continues to go up in prices and become even more scarce, an alternative tropical hardwood decking, or maybe multiple alternatives, is going to be even more important.

Find Out More

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By Steve Getsiv, 07/16/25

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