Upgrading your old outdoor deck to a new IPE deck tile system is something for the whole family to enjoy and the neighbors to admire. This is the ultimate DIY project to have completed before the Spring season. The IPE wood is durable, reliable, easy to clean and one of the hottest trends in outdoor flooring. Most consumers will choose to stain the deck to match their decor and design motif. The process is simple and to be completed in a short weekend. Here are a few tips, steps, and clues to get you going on your stained and completed outdoor deck project.

Clean the tiles using a regular mop and broom routine and afterwards allow enough time for the floors to properly dry before continuing on to the next step. 24-72 hours depending where you live and amount of moisture and sunshine contributing to the drying speed.

 

Lightly sand away any scuff marks or major stains. For a small area, sanding the IPE with just a typical pole sander from a local hardware store will be abrasive enough to buff the IPE deck tiles. For decks that have been weather aged for many years and have deep abrasions and scratches, you should rent or buy a high powered floor sander to revamp the old flooring and prepare for the stain.

 

Very thoroughly brush the deck clean of all dusts. Using a large handle broom, thoroughly brush all the dust and debris away from all the IPE deck tiles.

 

Check between the cracks to make sure there's no debri in between the planks. Leaves, fuzz and dust can easily become adhered to the IPE deck tiles during the staining process if you aren't vigilant during removal.

 

Roll, spray or cloth rub your stain onto the IPE deck tiles. All methods are preferred and successful, it’s just a matter of figuring out which technique works for you and your square footage of deck tiles. When plausible, spraying the stain is “easiest” but is not possible in certain situations where stucco or other matter could be stained and ruined during the process.

 

There is a small surface area of IPE wood noticeable through the cracks so being proactive and inspecting your stain job from all angles and taking a brush to the in between cracks, will ensure an even high quality staining application.

 

Do not over saturate the IPE deck tiles during your stain application and after 24 hours, check to see if there are any little “puddles” of excess stain and remove them with an old rag or towel. Allow 24-48 hours and double check that the deck is completely 100% dry before placing furniture and other items back onto the deck. 

 

*You can also spray the backside of the pavers prior to installation, or even do the entire staining process before installation tile by tile and simply install your finished tiles.

 

Porcelain pavers are a cutting edge product seen throughout homes, patios, balconies, roof decks and commercial properties and are perfect for pedestal roof decks. However, the pavers were not always used for outdoor raised pedestal and exterior systems. The porcelain pavers were traditionally much smaller, thinner and only used for indoor applications or exterior balcony tiles. Through high quality manufacturing and engineering, the raised outdoor pedestal paving system was created utilizing 2cm or double thick porcelain. The outdoor pavers have a high level of manufacturing in this thickness and can wqithstand a tremendous amount of weight.  They are impervious to  quality and are created with the safety components that are required for outdoor flooring such as non slip technology and durability to last through rough and tough weather storms and conditions. The raised porcelain pedestals are also 100% recycled so you will have the pride of knowing you have also made an environmentally sustainable home improvement decision. They are zero mess, no fuss and also give your flooring the same height indoor and out with a seamless and level application. 

Porcelain Paver installation is easy to understand and a great weekend project to take on yourself. The rubber connectors will simply lock the porcelain pavers right into place. Installation is fast and only a limited number of tools are required.

Using adjustable height pedestals, determining the height of your pedestals is a just a few clicks away. If you are looking to add serious height, no problem, the pedestals are stackable. Not only do these versatile tiles exude class, quality, and style, you can install them yourself. Yes, YOU! Self Installation of porcelain pavers allows you to take control of your own project, cut out middle man costs from installers and limit the number of strangers allowed into your home.

 

Be a boss! Drink a nice coffee, enjoy your morning meditation and don't hesitate taking on your raised porcelain paver system all by YOURSELF!

 

Roof Decks in New York City and the heart of the green roof movement

Some photos I took from a rooftop, 

This is the typical roof deck with some old outdoor carpet and a few plastic adirondack chairs

OR

you can have this beautiful deck that utilized our Eco Deck 2x2 Ipe Deck Tile Pavers and pedestals. 

When the architectural firm Van Tilburg, Banvard & Soderbergh, AIA contact you in regards to a raised roof deck with porcelain pavers, you drop everything you are doing and you go do a site walk.  Well that's how this project got started. Some background on this project includes a newly constructed modern live work space in the heart of LIttle Italy downtown San Diego. The plans called for a raised porcelain paver floor from our product line. To us, this was no ordinary roof deck however. This was the Kettner lofts roof deck project taking up an entire city block.

This deck, once completed would have incredible views of San Diego bay and the downtown area. We began to present to multiple color and texture options to the landscape architect at Deneen Powell Atelier. In the end a beautiful natural tone called the cornerstone granite line was chosen from Ergon Ceramics. The pavers were shipped directly from Sassuolo Italy to the project site in little Italy in San Diego. 2cm Porcelain pavers are the newest addition to elevated roof decks. A very versatile and hard wearing supported paver decking system.  Porcelain stone wear unlike ceramic has .05 % water absorption compared to the ceramic counterpart at 1.5%. This means the porcelain surface finish will never wear down or fade. Each paver has a breakage weight of 2300 lbs.! That is stronger than a concrete paver and at half the weight.  The porcelain pavers are 2'X2' in size and come in many other sizes including 1'X4'. This project had them elevated over 6 " inches off the surface (the height is adjustable to accommodate any finished floor).

The installation began on schedule by Suncoast, with an occupancy move in date of April we had little time to deliver product on site. Elmich pedestals provided by us were specified to raise the floor 6 inches off the roof membrane. Ergon Cornerstone 2cm porcelain pavers in two color tones (granite and gray slate) would create a design like we had never seen before on a elevated roof deck system. Custom planters where ordered and delivered by us as well to create a stunning roof top deck complete with a 200 sq ft lawn green space in our roof drainage trays. With a complex system of electrical, gas line piping, and irrigation under the pavers, this roof deck would be one of the best roof decks in the city of San Diego.
The first photo here shows the north west corner of the roof deck and our custom planters in the color, The pedestals show about a 6 inch rise off the surface, plenty of room to allow for electrical conduit and gas lines under the pavers. To learn more about us, and how we do modular decking tile roof decks  visit our website www.ecoarbordesigns.com




After a short 10 days of installation we had ourselves a porcelain paver roof deck that will perform better and last longer than any other paver deck we have seen before.
The residents of this new building will enjoy the space for years to come.