lgorman's Profile

Hello John,

This is all great news, however we were not able to get FSC certification documentation from Vifah when we asked them for it. There are many out there claiming to be FSC certified, if documents cannot be produced then it is simply a marketing ploy. Also I have never seen or heard of Ipe tiles from Vifah and highly doubt those would be very eco friendly if in fact they are using Ipe. We know of only one wood provider that has genuine FSC certified ipe lumber and that is Earthsourcewood out of San Francisco. They are the only ones we have come across so far that can provide FSC documentation from there Ipe. We have installed several decks with the Vifah product and most of them have not weathered well unfortunatly.

Sorry John,

Your blog doesnt make much sense, sounds like you may be representing Vifah or selling there product yourself,, You state "you personally visit the mills and factory" are you serious? when have you been to Ho Chi Min City Vietnam. That is where the factory is. As far as longevity of the product, I dont care if is shorea, eucalyptus or whatever, you wont get more than 2-3 years off the deck in NY or anywhere where it rains. I have installed several Vifah decks and they have all had warping issues, one of them warped the day after a hard rain in NC. I hate to say it but this goes for all the posts about cheap deck tile this and cheap that , you get what you pay for and you will have to pay again when the deck goes sour on you. no bitterness here though.

A few notes on deck tiles; We are deck builders/contractors and have used most of the above mentioned products at one time or another.

Vifah, Ikea, and some others are a good cost alternative but watch out for warped wood, and a deck that wont last very long.

The best product we have seen so far is Eco Decking Tiles we found through a distributor in CA these tile have been installed for over 5 years now with no problems and these guys will cut you the best deal we found.

So yes you can spend $99.00 for a pack of 20 low quality tiles but they wont last long. You are also supporting an illegal lumber industry unfortunatly. The Swiftdeck product seems to be a lower quality copy of the eco decking tiles. If you are going to compromise in quality then get the cheaper Vifah as the cost is way lower.