For the record, it was 3 years later. :-)

I don't consider it a fault of the garapa, but a fault of how I maintained the finish. I'd do garapa again, because I love how it looks (when maintained).

And we will be re-coating in another month or so when it's warmed and dried up around here. Lesson learned!

And, I might add, you'll need to maintain anything made of wood, so I'm not sure that choosing another species would make a difference.

I would be interested, though, in how the finish has held up for others who were building their decks in the same era as I was. Are you guys out there still?

This post was edited by weedyacres on Fri, May 3, 13 at 13:53

We started our tigerwood deck a year ago and we have many hours in trying to get it cleaned and finished. It turned grey in the time it took to build (DIY). We are using Woodrich but ready to pull our hair out. It is sooooo depressing to see our investment looking like this. There is grey we just cannot get out. So if I answer right this minute, I'd say to run far far away for hardwoods. I hope I can give a different answer before too long. But we are losing steam and fighting like cats and dogs over it.

All woods gray, composites will also bleach out from the sun. Pretty much impossible to stop it to some extent only slow it down.