Most deck rebuilds start as something small that nobody dealt with. These are the five that matter.
1. Loose boards
A board that moves underfoot is working its fixings loose and letting water into the holes. Refixing takes minutes; leaving it turns one board into three.
2. A wobbly rail
This is a safety item before it is a maintenance one. The fixing at the post has usually loosened, and the timber around it may have started to soften.
3. Blocked gaps
Leaves and needles pack the gaps between boards and hold moisture against the timber. Clearing them with a putty knife once a year does more for a deck’s life than any product.
4. Standing water
If puddles sit on the deck after rain, the boards are cupping or the frame has settled. Both are worth looking at early, because both get worse in one direction only.
5. Where the deck meets the house
Look for staining on the siding just above the deck, and for anything soft along that line. Water getting behind the ledger is the most expensive problem a deck can have and the cheapest to catch early.
Doing them together
A visit carries the same travel and setup cost whether we fix one thing or eleven, which is why saving up a list is cheaper than calling twice.
Deck repair and handyman services cover both. Finished work is on our Facebook page.
