Ipe Deck Tiles Over Concrete Porch

This concrete porch was showing its age and could not be easily repaired, so my Father and I came up with a solution that ended up being a big improvement.

Rather than tear out and replace the concrete, we used Ipe deck tiles from Advantage Lumber to float a new floor made of beautiful Ipe wood over the old porch.

I filled the large cracks with concrete caulk after cleaning out debris and any loose mortar. To protect against water infiltration and minimize future freeze/thaw damage, I coated the hairline cracks and pitted areas with Ardex 8+9 sealer and crack isolation compound.

I had the Ardex left over from a tiled shower project, but it’s also rated for swimming pools and basement walls. Since this project runs the risk of “putting good money after bad,” we wanted to minimize additional damage and keep the porch level for as long as possible.

For best results we applied a coat of Ipe Oil finish to all sides of the tiles before installing. This is messy and takes time, but seems well worth it to protect this nice hardwood.

The tiles are locked together with plastic connectors which can be shimmed to level the floor. This system allows for future adjustment because it’s all held in place with gravity. You could glue them down, but it’s heavy enough that it feels very solid as is, and we liked the ability to make changes if the porch settles a little more.