I'd go with RSC (rough sawn cedar), it color matches with garapa pretty well. Why bother facing 6x6 cedar post?

Cedar's not good for decking but good for pergolas? I'm confused. :-(

Decks will put wood in situations that will cause rot, pergolas on the otherhand do not, in most cases.

If using a softwood, make the decking where you will use only full boards, not splicing the decking on long runs. Use 2x4 parting boards or change the direction of the decking to eliminate splices. Butt splices is where cedar & other softwoods will rot first.

Say in 12 years or so your decking is starting to show signs of rot at the parting boards (2x4's), simply remove the 2x4 & replace it with a 2x6. This allows you to cut the bad ends back extending the life of your decking.

I know this works, I just did it on a cedar deck I built 13 years ago. My customer was quite happy I did not have to replace all those boards with bad ends, but instead only replaced the 2x4's with 2x6's.

Al

OK, got a follow up question now. Most of the posts for the pergola will be in the corners of the deck, and I also need railing posts there. The place where I plan to get the garapa from doesn't have posts or 2x4s in garapa, and they recommend using ipe instead.

Will it look goofy to have some of the railing posts 6x6 cedar, the rest 4x4 ipe, and the horizontal pieces ipe (with aluminum balusters) with a garapa top? Am I mixing too many woods here? Any alternative suggestions for design?

I swear I'm laying awake nights running through this stuff in my head....

knotty Cedar pergola.
4x4 posts, 2x8 beams, 2x6 rafters.
or 2x10 beams, 2x8 rafters.

steve

East Teak will sell you 2x4 Garapa all day long. J.

Thanks for the tip, John. East Teak came through on all the railing parts, and their 4x4s were actually cheaper than ABS's. I thought that shipping costs would eat me alive, but the extra shipping $$ were more than offset by the savings from buying ipe.

I owe you!

Way to go Weeder, East Teak and the George are hard to beat. Quality material,Great Folks, and that Southern thing makes it a pleasure to do business. J.

john hyatt help! we love the dark look and quality of ipe, but it looks like it is hard to keep stained dark. is this so? ours will be under a shed roof. can you stain garapa a dark color? we love the look of the t and g ipe. thanks

Its not hard for me. Garapa takes finish very well but It will never be the same color as ipe. Mixing twp dark oak/cedartone natural 2--3 will give a nice brown color. I have several T&G ipe projects out doing just fine. J.