Has the summer taken a toll on your hardwood deck? Or, has your five year old just had a ketchup and mustard party on a hot summer day?

Ipe Clip® carries just the right deck finishing & cleaning products to get your deck clean and looking new. Messmer’s Deck Cleaner and Messmer’s Brightener is just what your deck needs. Both are biodegradable and environmentally safe powder concentrates. If you are also thinking about staining or oiling your deck, these products are a must.

In order for your deck to take a good stain or oil, it first must be thoroughly cleaned. It takes little time and is surprisingly easy and cost effective. See the steps below to see just how east cleaning your deck can be.

1.    Sweep all dirt and debris from deck
2.    Mix cleaner with water in a bucket or pail
3.    Completely saturate deck with plain water using a garden hose
4.    Apply cleaner using a mop or pump sprayer to deck and wait 10 minutes
5.    Using a scrub brush, scrub each section of deck to loosen dirt and grime
6.    Spray and rinse your deck clean using a garden hose

It really is that simple and easy. We recommend that your deck periodically be cleaned to help extend the life of your deck.

Prevention is the most infallible defense against deck rot. The best measure is to build your deck out of rot-resistant lumber. Exotic hardwoods such as ipe or cumaru possess impressive decay-thwarting properties that will ensure a long deck life with minimal hassle.

If you’ve already built your deck without the benefit of these resilient woods, that’s OK. It simply becomes even more important that you regularly inspect your deck for signs of rot. Most rot manifests itself in hard to see areas (underneath the boards, where the deck meets the house, etc.), or areas that remain damp for any length of time. If the rot is extensive, it is time to replace the deck boards.

Standing water is a perfect breeding ground for the microbes that cause decay. Therefore, it is imperative in your battle against rot to deny them the moist environment they crave. Debris can capture moisture, so keep your deck surface free of leaves and dirt, clean out the spaces between boards, and make sure gutter spouts are directed away from the deck.

Another area you may not have considered is where the nails or screws have been driven through the board faces. Water can actually find its way into those holes and breed unsightly rot. An excellent solution to this problem is to use Ipe Clip® hidden deck fasteners which will keep your deck face free of holes for moisture to hide in.

Finally, to keep moisture from soaking into the wood itself, seal it with an oil or water based finish. We highly recommend Ipe Oil™ Hardwood Deck Finish to protect your backyard retreat.

Take good care of your deck, and it will remain beautiful and strong for you to enjoy in the years to come.

This summer has been hot….very, very hot. The heat has proven why installing deck fasteners is a smart and economical choice.

As you might imagine, the heat has taken its toll on a number of decks across the country. I’ve been reading on many home improvement forums about homeowners worried about their decking structural integrity. During a summer like this, decking can really take a pounding from intense heat and humidity. The worst complaints are coming from people who drove screws straight through their decking. They thought they were saving money, but in intense weather like this, cracks, splits, and warping can really be a problem.

The answer? For these deck owners, the best thing is to wait until the weather gets a little more normal, then get the deck inspected. If some boards need to be replaced, they can be done so without having to worry.

Not surprising, I haven’t been reading about these complaints with anyone who installed their decking with deck fasteners made by Ipe Clip®. Not to toot our own horn, but it makes sense. If you own or are building a deck with Ipe Clip® brand hidden deck fasteners, your hardwood or composite decking gets the best chance of acclimating to any weather condition better than if you had driven screws through the boards. This is because using a hidden fastener such as Ipe Clip® allows for the natural movement of the boards through the changes in the seasons and weather.

Pay close attention to how the decking reacts in the heat when you have deck fasteners installed.

Find your local Ipe Clip® deck fastener dealer and give your deck a long, healthy life.

Since decking contracts and expands, it’s recommended that you take a close look at your deck’s surface at least two times a year.

If you notice any screws that appear to be loose or starting to pop up, you can:

1. Drive the screw further into the joist with a 3/8’ countersink bit
2. Remove/sand down any material that protrudes from the surface
3. Cap it with a wood plug
4. Seal it with Gorilla Glue or any other outdoor wood glue

Doing this will help prevent the screw from popping up in the future and aid in keeping the board attached to the joist.

Are you going to install a new deck and wondering what your fastener options are?

You can prevent the above deck maintenance issues from ever occurring if you install deck fasteners.

Benefits of using deck fasteners to install decking include:

• A flawless deck surface
• Keep bare feet of guests & children safe
• Decreased chance of splits, cracks & splinters
• Greater structural integrity
• No nail or screw pops
• No unsightly screw holes or stain marks
• Automatic gap spacing

Locate your local Ipe Clip® deck fastener dealer today to get started on building your outdoor deck.

Face screwing a hardwood deck is not all it's cracked up to be.

One of the misconceptions about using deck fasteners that they are not as strong as conventional face nailing or screwing of deck boards. When one stops to think about this statement, it can easily be seen as false.

One of the thoughts behind this misconception is that when face securing deck boards, you have more strength because the screw or nail is going straight into the board and into the joist. What most people do not realize is that studies have proven that a screw ran at an angle has more holding strength when compared to one ran straight down. So when using a hidden fastener like the Ipe Clip^® Extreme™ where the screws are run at a 45˚ angle through the deck board and into the joist, you will have more holding strength from that screw.

Also think about this, when running screws and you want more holding strength or area, you can simply add a washer to achieve this. When installing an edge mount hidden fastening system like Ipe Clip^® the same principles can be applied, the more area you are holding down, the stronger it will be. An edge mount hidden fastener like Ipe Clip^® has much more hold down area than the head of a screw or nail so again the hidden fastener should win in a head-to-head competition.

Now that we know that the initial installation using hidden deck fasteners is more than strong enough to hold your deck boards, let’s think about what happens a few years down the line…you guessed it, when face securing your boards you get those cracks, or checks, everywhere a screw or nail penetrated the surface. This happened because water seeps into the holes made by the screw or nail when face securing. Now that there are cracks, even more water can soak into the boards causing mold, mildew, and even rot. Obviously everyone realizes that having rotten boards will weaken your deck dramatically.

An easy solution to prevent this problem? Use an edge mount hidden deck fastening system. Since there are no screws in the surface of the decking, the water cannot penetrate them and won’t cause you those problems in the future.

There you have it, with just a little thought and reasoning, you can come to the conclusion that the ideal way to fasten your next decking project is by using an edge mount hidden deck fastener such as Ipe Clip^® brand fasteners. They will give you the strength and durability you want so you can enjoy your beautiful deck year after year.

Introducing the latest deck fastener from the Ipe Clip® Fastener Co., The Extreme4™.

Finally, a hidden deck fastener for everyone!

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have attempted to take an order from a customer that had no idea what type of decking they were using. Sure, it’s easy enough to know if it’s hardwood, composite, or pvc; but when it comes to hardwoods, many customers don’t know if they have air-dried or kiln-dried decking.

I am more than capable of helping our customers choose which hidden deck fastener is best to use when they know exactly what they have. How then, can we help them choose when they don’t know? There lies the challenge. Should we recommend the Ipe Clip® Extreme™ for air-dried decking that will contract after installation? Or should we recommend the Ipe Clip® ExtremeKD™ for kiln-dried decking that will expand after installation. See the dilemma? What most customers do not realize is that depending on the moisture content of the wood, it can either expand or contract after installation.

The Ipe Clip® Fastener Company has just released the answer with the new Ipe Clip Extreme4™! This new deck fastener works with all types of decking and automatically spaces deck boards at a 4mm (5/32”) gap spacing. The Ipe Clip® Extreme4™ is made of the same quality and workmanship as the Ipe Clip® Extreme™ and the Ipe Clip® ExtremeKD™ including the stainless steel insert for reinforcement. By combining elements used to create our previous Extreme™ line of fasteners with this unique gap spacing, we can now offer a single fastener that can allow for the proper expansion and contraction associated with all hardwoods. The Ipe Clip® Extreme4™ can be used with the following types of decking:

• Air-Dried – allows contraction on the width of air-dried hardwoods
• Kiln-Dried – allows expansion on the width of kiln-dried hardwoods
• Composite – allows expansion/contraction along the length of composite decking
• PVC – allows expansion/contraction along the length of PVC decking

The Ipe Clip® Extreme4™ will help to solve some of these major issues by working with all 4 types of decking. So if you or your customer choose to build your deck with kiln-dried hardwood and you wish to have tighter gap spacing than typical or you choose to build a deck with air-dried hardwood and wish to have a larger gap space, then the new Extreme4™ is the perfect option for you.

It truly is the best of both worlds!