I have done a lot of lurking on this forum over the last year. We have built a new home. I had assumed we would use a composite for the large porches but every product the builder brought to me just didn't do it for me. When I did the research the composites didn't seem like such a large benefit over real wood. We finally chose IPE. Our local sawmill tracked it down for us. It was cheaper than a composite. It was installed late last fall - late October/November. It has weathered through a record year for snowfall AND rainfall.

We have finally treated it. We didn't use anything to clean it other than water and a wimpy power washer. We used TWP 116 based on what I have read here. It was a very simple process. We have barely had a day without rain for weeks. We finally thought we would have about 3 days.... but a thunderstorm popped up last night about 6 hours after we finished with the TWP. I swept the water this morning and it did OK.

Here are some pics. I know I appreciated pics when I was trying to figure out what to do!

We will probably do another coat before winter. Ignore the dog foot prints. Our home isn't completely done - we have been chomping at the bit to get these porches done though -

These pics are from this am..... still a little wet from rain. We have a lot of mud- and my dogs love to drag it onto the porch..... We also still need to seal the ends.... do I just use the TWP or something else?

Front porch

Side porch..... takes the most abuse and it probably did better than the larger porches!

Back porch